In a unanimous vote, the San Francisco Labor Council, which is affiliated with 150 unions, and represents more than 100 thousand union members and their families, passed a resolution this week calling on Gov. Jerry Brown to grant Kevin Cooper’s appeal for advanced DNA testing, “and grant him a reprieve from the death penalty.”
The resolution lists 13 reasons why Cooper’s case needs to be investigated, and DNA testing to be done including the fact that at least 11 federal judges, four law school deans, jurors from Cooper’s trial, the president of the American Bar Association, faith leaders, and former prosecutors have all stated that they believe he is innocent of four murders in San Bernardino County in 1983.
Cooper has been on California’s death row since 1985 for the murder of Peggy and Doug Ryen, their daughter, Jessica, and family friend, Christopher Hughes.
We have a profile of Cooper here, and an exhaustively-researched article about Cooper’s case that recently appeared in the NY Times here.