VADP November 2015 Appeal / Dan Shaw recos 1
Draft 4 - 10-26-15
Some rationale points:
m I suggested you lead with the October execution, but I think
we need to just mention that, key off of it to the better
news of Virginia’s broader shift away from the death
penalty.
m We’re writing to people we know to be predisposed to our
cause, so we don’t need to explain everything. Talk to their
knowledge. If they don’t understand, they wouldn’t donate
anyway.
m™ Much of what we’re doing is moving people along .. buying
readership at every step .. making it easy to scan and read.
That’s the reason for the envelope teaser, formatting, and
brevity throughout.
Carrier Envelope.
Printed to the right of the window, in the same font as the
letter:
With your help, we can try to make sure this last execution, on
October 2", is actually the last execution in Virginia. Here’s
how
VADP November 2015 Appeal / Dan Shaw recos 2
Draft 4 - 10-26-15
LETTER
This last execution, on October 2, could be the last execution in
Virginia. But we need your help to make this come true ..
Dear <first name>,
Alfred Prieto should not have been executed on October 2™ not
just because of his intellectual disability, not just because a
stay was pending in the US Supreme Court, but also because...
The death penalty is now a retrograde throwback to Bad Old
Days .. a defeated notion, out of step with today’s judicial
systems, and contrary to recent legislative decisions.
As I'll explain, capital punishment is on the brink of
extinction in the Commonwealth. I write today to ask you to make
a VADP contribution that will help us push it over the edge.
Please send your donation today in the enclosed envelope.
Time is critical because, without fast VADP action, three more
people could be executed by the end of April 2016 EVEN THOUGH ...
#1. NOBODY has been sentenced to death here for four years!!
Local prosecutors now rarely even seek the death penalty. And
when capital charges are brought, Virginia juries refuse to
sentence even the most violent offenders to death.
#2 Prominent conservatives now reject the death penalty, like
former Attorney General Mark Earley and former U.S. Congressman
Tom Bliley.
#3. The Legislature denied access to execution drugs! A
bipartisan majority in the Assembly just defeated a bill that
would let the Department of Correction get otherwise unavailable
execution drugs from compounding pharmacies operating in secrecy.
After that decision, the Department of Corrections secretly
got the drug they needed to drug to kill Alfredo Prieto from
Texas. And legislators were FURIOUS that they defied the will of
the General Assembly!
Ten years ago, Virginia was #2 in executions. Today we’re
considered on the “short list” for repeal. And now ..
We need your financial support to push this over the line!
VADP November 2015 Appeal / Dan Shaw recos
Draft 4 - 10-26-15
VADP will lead the fight against the death penalty in the
2016 Legislature, opposing secrecy in executions plus any attempt
to bring back the electric chair, firing squad, or gas chamber.
We will also advance a proposal to ban the execution of
people with serious mental illness .. part of a strategy to expose
the most severe injustices and overturn them one at a time .. step
by step toward total repeal of capital punishment.
This is indeed a new day for Virginia. But VADP cannot
expand the abolition movement without your support.
We need you to continue to contact elected representatives,
and invite VADP to speak in your area. Yet right now ..
» we also urgently need your financial support.
Three of the seven remaining death row inmates — Ricky Gray,
Ivan Teleguz, and Thomas Porter — are nearing the end of their
appeals. The Commonwealth could execute these three men between
January and April of 2016 DESPITE all the positive trends I
mentioned.
I hope we can block these executions. I would like the last
execution, just a few weeks ago, to be, indeed, the last execution
in_our Commonwealth.
But for that to become true, we need your help today — your
generous tax-deductible gift returned in the envelope provided.
(You can also give with your credit or debit card at our secure
site: vadp.org “Donate”. )
With urgent thanks,
Michael Stone
Executive Director
P.S. As I explained, momentum is now in our favor, but three
lives are literally on the line. Time is critical. So please —
right now -- return your generous VADP donation using the form and
envelope provided.
