| Veronza Bowers, Jr. How You Can Help |
After being approved for parole and given a release date numerous times, then having that date recinded at the last moment, the U.S. Parole Commission is once again promising to make yet another "final decision" on October 5, 2005 concerning Veronza's petition for Mandatory Parole.
Now is the time to make your voice heard!
Learn more about this latest travety of jusice.
Recommended Actions
(1) Stay involved: Write letters to the U.S. Parole Commission, the Attorney General and the National Appeals Board. It is very important to make your voice heard in this matter. Emphasize Veronza’s excellent record in prison and unquestionable legal entitlement to parole.
U.S.
Parole Commission
5550 Friendship Boulevard, Suite 420
Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7286
TEL.: (301) 492-5990 FAX: (301) 492-6694
Alberto Gonzales
U.S. Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
TEL.: (202) 353-1555 E-MAIL: AskJOJ@usdoj.gov
(2) Stay involved: Check Veronza’s
web site for action bulletins and updates on his case.
http://veronza.org
Do whatever you can to help. You input, ideas and suggestions are
welcome.
(3) Stay involved: Continue your generous financial support. Contributions to the Veronza Bowers, Jr. Legal Defense Fund make it possible for all of us to play an important role in correcting this injustice and winning his release from prison.
Veronza Bowers, Jr. Legal Defense Fund
2614 N. Tamiami Trail (PMB 201)
Naples, FL 34103-4409
(4) Spread the word
* Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper (link to sample
letter)
* Call local radio shows (link to discussion points)
* Distribute flyers at rallies and public events (link to downloadable
flyer)
*Post flyers on community bulletin boards, in book stores, on college
campuses, etc
* Tell everyone you know to check out Veronza’s web site
* Circulate petitions calling for Veronza’s release and send them to
(list addresses of Congressional Black Caucus, Innocence Projects, NAACP,
etc.)
* Speak to local groups, churches, synagogues, mosques, clubs, sororities/fraternities,
etc.
Get Involved! Stay Involved! You Can
Make a Difference!
Your opinions, ideas and suggestions are most welcome. Please send them
to veronzab@yahoo.com
What the Freedom Team is Doing
It is imperative that this latest impropriety by the Commission be addressed immediately on three fronts:
* First, in the pending proceedings before the National Appeals Board;
* second, through court action in the form of a writ of habeas corpus;
and
*
third, by confronting the Commission under the Freedom of Information Act
with its refusal to comply with FOIA requests made by Veronza’s
attorneys.
We will continue to press the U.S. Parole Commission and the National Appeals Board with our objections to its arbitrary and repeated denial of Veronza’s right to mandatory parole, most recently by granting the Attorney General a hearing in this matter at this late date. We also recommend that a writ of habeas corpus or other appropriate petition be filed with Judge Hodges as soon as possible, given the fact that there is no legal basis for the Commission to create, on its own initiative and without any statutory authority, the pending review by the National Appeals Board. It will be important to lay before this eminent jurist the Commission’s flagrant violation of his previous ruling in this matter.
When Veronza Bowers was 23 he was
- like many his age - an impressionable young man. The late 1960's were a time
of turmoil. College campuses across the country witnessed huge demonstrations.
Many groups formed on and off campuses to raise awareness of the conditions
suffered by minorities and the poor. Veronza Bowers listened to the protestors.
One convinced him that becoming a member of the Black Panther Party would enable
him to fix some of the many social ills in this country. He joined and he participated.
