Urgent Action for Gary Tyler urged by Amnesty International
"Earlier this year, a petition was filed with the Louisiana Pardon Board requesting that Gary Tyler’s life sentence be commuted to a defined number of years so that the outgoing state governor can authorize his release before she leaves office in January 2008. This may be Gary Tyler’s last chance for justice through executive clemency.
Despite his youth at the time of trial, and his exemplary record in prison, Gary Tyler has served more than three times as much as the national US average for a person convicted of murder or non-negligent manslaughter. As a life sentenced prisoner Gary Tyler cannot be granted release on parole unless his sentence is first commuted to a term of years by the Pardon Board and the Board’s recommendation is accepted by the Governor. High ranking staff at Angola have reportedly endorsed his latest application for a pardon on the ground that he has matured into a responsible citizen deserving of release. However, to date his name has not yet appeared on the parole board’s docket for a hearing, and it is feared that, without further pressure, he may miss the chance to be heard before the governor leaves office".
excerpt from AI action alert . . . 11.16.2007
download PDF of AI statement
link to AI action alert
previous Amnesty International Action Alert!
Notable Sports Figures Call on Gov. Blanco to Free Gary
The Nation Magazine has just published a statement signed by 19 notable sports figures calling for Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to pardon Gary Tyler. The statement, signed by Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Lee Evans, Jim Bouton, Bill "Spaceman" Lee and Dennis Brutus among others, can be read here.
The statement accompanies an article about Gary writted by Dave Zirin which can be read here.
The New York Daily News has covered this development as well. The article written by John Dellapina can be read half-way down this page.
Hear Gary in his own words, on Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! devoted almost an entire hour to Gary Tyler on Thursday, March 1. Amy Goodman interviewed Bob Herbert of the New York Times, along with Gary's mother Juanita and his sister Bobbie McCray. Read, watch or listen here. The audio is also available as a podcast from iTunes.
Bob Herbert on Gary Tyler
The columns that Bob Herbert of the New York Times wrote about Gary's case can be found here.
Jailed For A Crime He Never Committed
GARY TYLER, at one time the youngest person on death row, turned forty-eight years old this July. He has spent thirty-two of those years in jail for a crime he did not commit. The case of Gary Tyler is one of the great miscarriages of justice in the modern history of the United States, in a country where the miscarriage of justice is part of the daily routine of government business. “This case is just permeated with racism all the way through it,” declared Mary Howell, Gary’s longtime attorney, “from the initial event all the way up to the pardon process.” Yet, far too few people are aware of Gary Tyler’s case, which in the mid-1970s mobilized thousands across the country for his freedom and led Amnesty International to declare him a political prisoner. Over the last twenty years, hundreds of death row inmates and scores of others have been exonerated for the crimes they were falsely convicted of by racist and corrupt prosecutors. It’s long past time that Gary Tyler should have gone free.