A coalition of social justice activists in the San Francisco Bay Area has organized a Feb. 5-12 book tour for J. Patrick O’Connor, the author of “Scapegoat: The Chino Hills Murders and the framing of Kevin Cooper.” O’Connor’s new book provides a detailed analysis of Cooper’s case and exposes the broken criminal “justice” system in the United States.
Kevin Cooper has been on death row at San Quentin for over 25 years, falsely convicted of the murders of a California family and their house guest in 1985. “Scapegoat” demonstrates how the San Bernardino district attorney’s office framed Cooper for the murders, and how the court system has failed him at almost every turn in his long appeal process. If it were not for a court-ordered moratorium on executions in California over the lethal injection controversy, Cooper—with no appeals remaining—would have been executed by now. It is expected the moratorium will be lifted in late 2012.
J. Patrick O’Connor has been the editor and publisher of Crime Magazine since 1998. He was a reporter and bureau manager for United Press International, editor of Cincinnati Magazine, and an associate editor of TV Guide. He is the author of “The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal,” which was published by Lawrence Hill Books in 2008.
Tour sponsors include the Kevin Cooper Defense Committee, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, and many other groups.
Public forums with O’Connor and other prison activists will include Laney College in Oakland, 7 p.m., Wed., Feb. 8; UC Berkeley, 7 p.m., Fri., Feb. 10; and San Jose Peace & Justice Center, 2 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 12. For information on these and other meetings, contact: jmackler@lmi.net.
