“It is difficult to describe what it is like to serve time on Death Row knowing you are innocent. All you know is that what seems like an awful nightmare is now reality, a reality beyond comprehension.”
–Ray Krone, released from prison April 8, 2002
Shujaa Graham, the 20th Death Row exoneree, will speak at Brescia University, March 21, at 7 p.m. Prior to the talk, representatives from area churches are invited to attend an educational session beginning at 5 p.m. in the Science Building to learn about Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Witness to Innocence, and Journey of Hope, all organizations or movements involved in doing away with the Death Penalty and/or addressing the nation’s flawed criminal justice system.
Hosted by the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Graham will tell his story, “Witness to Innocence: From Death Row to Freedom” at 7 p.m. at Brescia University’s Taylor Lecture Hall, in the Science Building. Graham’s talk is co-sponsored by Brescia University, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Diocese of Owensboro, and the Owensboro Diocesan Prison Ministry Committee. The event is free and open to the public.
Shujaa Graham grew up on a Louisiana plantation in the ‘50’s. He moved to Los Angeles with his family seeking a better life than the sharecropping he left behind. Instead he was in and out of trouble and behind bars most of his young adult life.
Accused of killing a prison guard, Graham spent five years proving his innocence. Since his release, an additional 120 inmates have been exonerated and set free from death rows of various states. He is part of Witness to Innocence, a project challenging the American public to grapple with the fatally-flawed criminal justice system.