[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----IDAHO...Mark Henry Lankford - imminent exoneree (?) - please act....

[Rick Halperin]

Dear Friends:

My name is Mark Henry Lankford. I am a fifty-one year old man who,since
2nd October 1983, has been incarcerated and who, since October 1984,has
been sentenced to death. I was innocent in 1983. I was innocent in 1984. I
remain in 2007 factually innocent of a crime of which I was convicted and
for which for more than two decades my own life has been on the line.
I need your help.

On 7th November 2006, I became close to jubilant. Freedom - that is,
glorious freedom and physical freedom - seemed legally within reach.
On 7th November 2006, a three member banc of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rendered a decision on my case which read as
follows:

"....The judgement of the district court is reversed and the case is
remanded with instructions to grant the petition for a writ of habeas
corpus, with appropriate instructions to retry Mark Lankford within a
reasonable time or release him...."
(http://caselaw.1p.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/9999015p.pdf)

Retry or release. The words seemed almost magical. They evoke something
close to ecstasy. Since, however, for close to twenty-five years I have in
Idaho been a factually innocent victim of a corrupt criminal court system
and corrupt criminal machinations designed to terminate in execution,
I have learned that no victory on paper is secure. I remain today as
sequestered behind concrete and steel as when too long ago I arrived
in this hell hole.

One of the ironies of the situation - and trust me, only one - is that
for more than twenty-three years the state of Idaho has in reference to
the crime of which I was convicted known, to use the vernacular, "who done
it."

Bryan Lankford, a younger brother, has acknowledged that he alone
committed the crime for which both of us were sentenced. Bryan Lankford
will perhaps forever remain behind bars. The case was long ago solved.

What from the state's perspective was not solved was what to so with a
wrongfully imprisoned man. I was and remain that man. In a rational
environment, a solution might to Idaho have seemed fairly obvious - that
is, someone who is wrongly imprisoned should expeditiously be released.
Idaho is not, however, rational. I appeal from behind bars.

Idaho knows that in reference to myself, there is no case to retry.
The legal foundation of the original conviction was decimated by a
conservative appointee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit.

There is no physical evidence connecting me to any crime. There are no
witnesses. There is a confession whose details conform to what is
known about the case. What course of action other than effecting my
release can Idaho reasonably take? Please believe that Idaho is
considering other options. Deputy Attorney General L. Lamont Anderson has
said as much.

You, however - that is, friends who have for years been solidly supportive
and new friends who feel viscerally averse to injustices and to their
perpetuation - can begin to drive a wedge between tactics designed to
abort and/or to delay my release and efforts by my legal team to liberate
me. You can do so by breaking the silence.

The silence can be broken is each friend communicates with the following
entities:

The Honourable Clement L. Otter
Office of the Governor
Post Office Box 83720
Boise, Idaho 83720, United States of America
telephone: +1 208 / 3 34 21 00
facsimile: +1 208 / 3 34 34 54
mailto:governor at gov.idaho.gov
salutation: Dear Governor

Kirk A. MacGregor, Esquire
Idaho County Prosecuting Attorney
Post Office Box 463
Grangeville, Idaho 83530, United States of America
telephone: (208)983-0166
facsimile: (208)983-3919
mailto:kmacgregor at connectwireless.com
salutation: Dear Prosecuting Attorney

Lawrence G. Wasden, Esquire
Office of Attorney General
Post Office Box 83720
Boise, Idaho 83720, United States of America
telephone: +1 208 / 3 34 24 00
fax: +1 208 / 3 34 25 30
salutation: Dear Attorney General

and if each friend focusses on the following issues:

- Mark Henry Lankford's prolonged incarceration as a factually
innocent prisoner
- a November 2006 federal court ruling, confirmed in October 2007,
that Mark Henry Lankford should be retried or should be released
- the absence of any legal foundation for a retrial for Mark Henry
Lankford
- the imperative that Mark Henry Lankford should in the service of
justice be released.

Copies of communications can be mailed to a national newspaper of your
choice and/or to the following:

Idaho Statesman
Post Office Box 40
Post Office Box 40
Boise, Idaho 83707-0040, United States of America
telephone: +1 208 / 3 77 64 32
fax: +1 208 / 3 77 64 49
mailto:newsroom at idahostatesman.com
and, if convenient, a blind copy can be electronically mailed to me.

You can make a difference! I thank you for your attention in reading this
letter. Exciting legal developments have begun to occur, developments
which will as updates on my web site appear. I close with felicitous
wishes to you and to your families. Please take care and as always in
peace. Namaste.

Yours truly,

Mark Henry Lankford
http://home.foni.net/~tm-stgt/Lankford/#GB
mailto:marklankford at comcast.net