Hi everyone, my name is Dina Qubain and I chose to do option four for my S4 presentation so today I will be talking to you about an event that I participated in.

Almost a month ago, on October 26th, the USF Law school decided to organize and host an event “Innocent on Death Row: A Conversation with Kevin Cooper”. Cooper is an African American 58 years old man who is currently in California’s San Quentin prison and under the death penalty. He was convicted of four murders that took place in the Chino Hills area of California in 1983. His execution date has been set however some still argue that he is innocent and had nothing to do with the murders. So, this event was held to tell the audience all about the evidence that these lawyers and FBI agents had gathered throughout all six years and then allow the audience to talk to Kevin Cooper on the phone just in case they had any inquiries.

My friend and I decided to attend the event to know more about the case and see what was going on. As soon as we entered they first introduced us to the panelists who were present at the event. Thomas Parker, who spent 45 years working with the FBI as an agent, and a national crime investigator was there. He was totally convinced that Cooper was innocent. Carole Seligman, who is a part of Kevin Cooper’s defense committee was also there. This was all presented by the University of San Francisco School of Law Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Criminal Law Society, and Keta Taylor Colby Death Penalty Project. They even told us, the audience, that they are going to record it all and stream it later.

At the end of the event, Kevin Cooper’s lawyer called him and put him on speaker. He told us that we were free to ask Cooper anything. One USF professor, raised his hand and asked “Kevin, you have been in prison since a very long time now and I am surprised how you still have hopes of getting out so how do you do it?” Kevin replied without even taking a minute to prepare or to think about his answer “I am innocent and I believe that every innocent person deserves to live a healthy life away from prison, I will be free”.

I chose to tell you about this event in specific because it affected me in a way and made me realize how I am missing out on a lot of things. All I do or think about is submitting my assigned projects/homework or going out on the weekends. Attending such an event made me feel somewhat different and made me want to know more about what is going on with the world around me.

kc