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Statement of Norman Hile, Attorney for Kevin Cooper, Condemning Assemblyman Hagman's Call for Execution Date as "Reckless"

"State Assemblyman Curt Hagman recently urged that an execution date be set for Kevin Cooper, a death-row inmate who has yet to get a fair hearing. It is unconscionable for an elected official to suggest that it is 'ridiculous' to follow the law before putting a human being to death. Assemblyman Hagman's reckless call for an execution date ignores substantial evidence showing that Kevin is innocent of the crime for which he is now sentenced to die.

"We can only assume that Assemblyman Hagman does not know that five federal judges found evidence that 'the State of California may be about to execute an innocent man' because of multiple instances of police and prosecutorial misconduct, including evidence that:

(1) Local police destroyed evidence;

(2) Local police planted evidence;

(3) Local police lied in their own testimony;

(4) Local police and prosecutors unconstitutionally withheld evidence from Kevin's lawyers at trial; and

(5) Local police and prosecutors misrepresented and shaped witness testimony.

"I challenge Assemblyman Hagman to meet me for a one-on-one public discussion of these facts before he rushes the execution of an innocent man. The Governor, Attorney General Brown, and the public deserve to know the truth, and Kevin deserves the fair trial he never received.

"What California needs is for more witnesses to come forward with additional evidence proving Kevin's innocence, not reckless calls to kill an innocent man."

To learn more about Kevin Cooper's case, including the unprecedented 103-page dissent by five federal judges, go to: http://www.savekevincooper.org/

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Norman Hile, 916-329-7900
or
John Pitts, 202-339-8605