KENTUCKY
COALITION to
ABOLISH the
DEATH
PENALTY
P.O. Box 3092 ¢ Louisville, KY 40201-3092 ¢ 502.636.1330 ¢
shekinah.lavalle@kcadp.org * www.kcadp.org
November 2015
Dear Friend,
My name is Mike VonAllmen. Like you, I support the work of KCADP to repeal the death penalty in
Kentucky. I know that our criminal justice system is not perfect and I can’t trust a fallible system with the lives
of my fellow Kentuckians.
Personal experience taught me the faults in this system. In 1983 I was convicted of rape and sodomy as a result
of faulty eyewitness testimony, the same type of evidence that accounts for 70 percent of all false convictions
in the U. S. For 27 years I tried to convince the state of Kentucky that I was innocent of rape and sodomy. I
spent 11 years in prison and 16 years on parole before I was exonerated in 2010 through the help of the
Kentucky Innocence Project and the Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program.
The Post Conviction DNA Testing Program is named for the first former death
row inmate exonerated by DNA testing, Kirk Bloodsworth. Kirk visited
Kentucky recently to share his story of wrongful conviction and exoneration with
people around the state. Kirk and I are two of 1700 people in the United States
who have been exonerated, and we know there are more in our prisons. This
kind of injustice is one of many reasons we must push to repeal the death penalty
in our state. We must ensure that these mistakes do not lead to the execution of
innocent persons in Kentucky, as it could have in the case of Larry Osborne who
was freed from Kentucky’s death row on August 1, 2002, after being granted a
new trial and found not guilty by a jury. As I write this letter, former death row
inmates freed from prison now number 156 individuals.
Your support has impact. Because of it, I was able to spend time with Kirk Bloodsworth last month when he
traveled to Pikeville, Crestview Hills, Maysville, Madisonville and Louisville. Your support helped put Kirk in
front of almost 600 Kentuckians who heard his story and signed up to join our efforts to repeal the death
penalty.
To keep up this momentum I am asking for your financial support. Our goal for repeal is achievable now more
than ever before. Think of the impact donations from supporters have made. There have been only three
executions in 40 years; no executions in the past seven years; and only one new death sentence since 2010.
And bills to repeal the death penalty are now introduced by both Republicans and Democrats. I encourage you
to use the enclosed envelope to return a donation by mail; or online you can visit www.kcadp.org/support-
us/donate to use our secure PayPal account.
Thank you for considering a generous gift.
Sincerely yours,
Micha lb Bobo
Mike VonAllmen
Working Together to End the Death Penalty
