April 12, 2019
Dear <first name>,
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty has made history.
In January 2019 the Senate Courts of Justice Committee passed SB
1137, a bill to exempt people with severe mental illness (SMI)
from the death penalty, on an 8-6 bipartisan vote.
Weeks later the Virginia Senate approved this same SMI exemption
bill on an 23-17 bipartisan vote. Four Republicans joined all
nineteen Democrats in the Senate in supporting this important
criminal justice reform legislation.
This was the first time that a chamber of the Virginia legislature
approved a measure to Limit capital punishment in any way!
The bill received support from three Senators where VADP Field
Director Dale Brumfield has been organizing grassroots support
over the past 18 months. We are certain that this constituent
support for the SMI exemption bill was crucial in getting the
votes of these two Republican and one Democratic Senators.
It is only because of YOUR financial support that Dale's field
work has been possible.
This Senate vote in support of the SMI exemption bill, while
important, is only the first step that VADP will take.
For years we have targeted 2020 as the time when we would launch a
serious attempt to abolish the death penalty in Virginia once and
for all. The pieces have been slowly falling into place for this
effort to take place and to be successful.
Thanks to your faithful support for our work, VADP has built a
strong foundation of across-the-political-spectrum relationships
with Republicans, Libertarians, and Democrats.
A courageous group of murder victim family members are willing to
share their stories of deep loss and their desire to end the
misguided retaliation of capital punishment by the state.
VADP has engaged faith leaders from many different religious
traditions who are willing to assist our work within their own
faith communities.
Recently I had an exciting meeting with a man wrongfully convicted
of capital murder in Newport News who served 23 years in prison
for a crime that he did not commit. Although a conservative
Republican, he strongly opposes the death penalty because of his
own experience with the criminal justice system. And he pledged
to help VADP engage other Virginia exonerees in our work.
Together we are now ready and able to support a push for abolition
in the state legislature in 2020.
A recent public opinion poll from North Carolina voters revealed
some encouraging trends. Fewer than 10% of any group -- including
Republicans and Trump voters -- consider the death penalty to be
an important election issue. Only 25% of Republicans and 32% of
Trump voters would vote against a candidate of their own party
with a different opinion on the death penalty.
We hope to find the resources to fund a similar public opinion
poll here in Virginia. If the results were similar (and I
strongly suspect that they would be), such a poll could help sway
legislators who are on the fence about the death penalty.
In order to accomplish our audacious goal of death penalty
abolition, we need your continued support.
Please contribute whatever you can to ensure that VADP has the
resources it needs to push hard for an end to capital punishment
in Virginia in 2020.
Your last contribution to VADP was *, given on *. Please consider
increasing this donation by 25%, 50%, or even 100%.
To abolish the death penalty in Virginia, we need your generous
tax-deductible gift returned in the enclosed envelope as soon as
you can. (You can also give with your credit or debit card at our
secure web site: www.vadp.org “Donate”. )
With your continued support, we will become the first southern
state to abolish the death penalty.
Sincerely,
Michael E. Stone
Executive Director
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