The Conveyer Belt Spins Again

A 1700 MILE JOURNEY TO REPEAL THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE
USA: NM SOLIDARITY

April 19, 2008 at 10 AM ~ District Courthouse, Albuquerque, NM

Contact:

Christy Armell
Telephone: 505-299-2795
E-mail: Christyntruman06@aol.com

Capital X
Telephone: 218-818-8935
E-mail: projectrevolution2010@gmail.com

On March 31, 2008 Capital X, a well-known NYC hip-hop artist, activist and ex-con, began his 1700-mile trek, Walk for Life, from Trenton NJ to Austin, Texas, the death penalty capital of the USA. Traveling without an entourage and relying only on other activists for support along the road, X has been meeting and greeting thousands of people on this amazing trip. He has spoken to hundreds of university and high school students at the U of MD, in community centers and activists' homes and will continue to speak along the way, arriving in Texas in May and in NM where he will speak and perform in mid-June. X has been joined at gatherings by nationally recognized opponents of the DP like Bill Pelke of the Journey of Hope whose grandmother was brutally murdered, and Abe Bonowitz, co-founder and director of the National Coalition to Abolish the DP and board member of the US Section of Amnesty International (AIUSA). Sunday, April 20th, Capital X will be walking for Michael Astorga to help bring awareness to the state of New Mexico about the atrocity of the death penalty.

ON April 20th, Andre will be in North Carolina, where he will speak. Christy Armell, an Albuquerque activist vocally opposed to the death penalty, is holding a press conference in NM in solidarity with Capital X as he speaks about the treachery and inherent monstrosity of State murder and mass incarceration. The resent decision of the Supreme Court regarding the use of lethal injection will effect the two men currently sitting on death row in New Mexico, as well as any defendants that face the penalty of death in this state. One in a hundred Americans are now locked up and over 3,000 are in death row across the nation. Christy will be joined by other activists and prisoner families.

Andre will be available to ABQ media by phone, and together he and Christy will speak out regarding the current status of the death penalty in both NM and the nation. They will speak in support of Michael Astorga, as well as a young Texas death row inmate, Rudy Medrano, who was not at the crime scene but was convicted of a capital crime because he gave guns to murderers.

In addition, Christy will talk about the current death penalty crisis in NM: the trial of Michael Paul Astorga who sits in solitary confinement without any
outside contact whatsoever. His lawyer was recently denied a legal visit with him. Astorga is accused and faces capital prosecution for the murder of a sheriff's deputy in 2005. He has not been tried or convicted, yet he is assumed by many to be guilty.