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$100 A Day - Film Showing & Panel Discussion with Senator Joe SimitianSubmitted by Jesse McLaren on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 1:14pm.
The Santa Cruz Chapter of the ACLU Announces: $100 A Day - A Film Showing and Panel Discussion with Senator Joe Simitian. Filmmaker Gwen Essegian and Rick Walker. April 22, 7-9pm. Admission is FREE. To RSVP, please go to: http://santacruz100aday.eventbrite.com/ Background: On December 10, 1991, East Palo Alto resident Rick Walker was convicted of a murder he did not commit. Linked to the crime by false testimony and questionable legal tactics, Walker would spend th next 12 years of his life in some of California's most dangerous prisons. Once exonerated, he would face yet another barrier to justice: the California State legislature. Entitled to one hundred dollars for every day spent falsely imprisoned, Walker's attempts to receive his just due became caught in the partisan battle over the 2003 budget. On the last night of that year's legislative session, State Assemblyman (now State Senator) Joe Simitian challenged his colleagues to put aside their political differences and "show 35 million Californians that we have the right stuff." $100 A Day examines this story of gross injustice, political partisanship and the heroic struggle to prove Walker's innocence and help him rebuild his life. There is no charge for the event. It is co-sponsored by the SC Co. Democratic Central Committee, the Democratic Women's Club of Santa Cruz Co. and the Resource Center for Nonviolence.
For more info: contact Carol Fuller ( categories: )
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scary and inspiring at the same time
This was a great event - thanks to the organizers! The room was packed, and the presentations were excellent. It was very powerful to have the man who had been falsely imprisoned for 12 years right there adding his personal perspective to the film
I find the data and the anecdotal stories of errors in our justice system truly scary. As Rick Walker put it (when asked "what should we all take from your experience?") "This could happen to anyone, and it has happened to many not so fortunate as I as to be exonerated." (I paraphrase.)
And on the other side, the story of our deeply partisan state legislature finally coming together to offer a measure of justice to a single man so deeply dis-served by our justice sytem - well, that was surprising, refreshing, and, as one other attendee said to me afterwards, "inspiring."
I understand this independent film has been shown once on local PBS stations KUSP (831 476-2800) and KQED ((415) 864-2000end_of_the_skype_highlightin). With enough calls, these stations may be convinced to show it again. The messages here deserve to be spread to as many folks as possible.