4/15/09

Angie Zapata Hate Crime Murder Trial Yesterday, Today...

Angie Zapata Hate Crime Murder Trial Yesterday, Today... (+)
by: Autumn Sandeen
Wed Apr 15, 2009 at 11:45:00 AM EDT
During the day, I'm microblogging/tweeting fact based statements about what's going on with the Angie Zapata Hate Crime Murder trial, and then also pointing people to what I'm writing at Pam's House Blend. Jen from ProgressNow Colorado has been adding helpful announcements (such as the one for the Angie Zapata Family Vigil) and links to other mainstream media articles on the subject.
So yesterday, it was all out-of-the-public view jury selection process. At least half of the day today will be the same.
This afternoon (at earliest), it's expected that mini opening statements will be given to potential jurors, and I should be able to be in the courtroom when the roughly 3-minute long synopsizes by both prosecutor and defense team.
At earliest, we expect opening statements to be given to the selected jurors Thursday morning.
So, this may also be a light day of news from the trial.
As the trial goes on, daytime will be for microblogging, and my evenings will be editing videos (if any), and doing that "new media reporting" -- which is reporting with a visible agenda.
My visible agendas will be 1.) reminding you, the reading public here at The Blend, that Angie Zapata was a young girl who went on a date -- no matter what happened during the date, she did not deserve to die a brutal, violent death. Angie, above all else, was a human being who didn't deserve this. And, 2.) Angie was a young, transgender woman, and the reason the admitted murderer gave in his affidavit for murdering her so brutally was because she was a transgender woman. This trial will have implications on national hate crime legislation coming up in Congress this year, so I'll be discussing why I believe hate federal crime legislation needs to be fully inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in relationship to this case.
So, I'm off to breakfast, and then off to court.
Autumn Sandeen :: Angie Zapata Hate Crime Murder Trial Yesterday, Today...

Torture Is A Moral Issue-Call The White House Today


The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the Obama White House might continue the Bush Administration policy of concealing key details about the CIA's use of torture. Please call President Obama immediately to tell him that he should not act to conceal our country's use of torture!

On Thursday, the Obama White House is expected to release a series of three 2005 legal memos that authorized the use of torture as an interrogation technique. These memos are crucial in order to understand exactly what torture techniques were used and how they were approved. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that these memos may be released in a redacted form - that parts of the memos may not be made public. This is unacceptable! Our nation's use of torture cannot remain hidden. The American people need to know exactly what was done, how it was approved, and how it can be prevented in the future. Please call President Obama TODAY at 202-456-1111, and tell his staff that you think that the legal memos authorizing the use of torture should be released in their full, unredacted form. Tell President Obama that you expect him to put an end to Bush Administration secrecy.

Thank you for your help,Sincerely,

Rev. Richard Killmer

Executive Director