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May 18, 2017 By OTSE Staff

LUSH COSMETICS TEAMS WITH OHIOANS TO STOP EXECUTIONS

OHIOANS TO STOP EXECUTIONS
MEDIA ADVISORY
May 18, 2017
For Immediate Release

Contact: Emily Schutz, OTSE: 614-747-1036
Jennifer Greybeal, Lush: 360-261-0428

LUSH COSMETICS TEAMS WITH OHIOANS TO STOP EXECUTIONS
Exonerated Death Row Survivor Kwame Ajamu to Appear at Polaris Lush Store This Saturday

Columbus – The Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics shop at Polaris Fashion Place welcomes Ohioans to Stop Executions and exonerated Ohio death row survivor Kwame Ajamu at a “Charity Pot Awareness Event” this Saturday, May 20th from 12pm to 4pm. This event is part of a national campaign calling for the abolition of the death penalty launched this past Monday by the company in its 200 stores across the United States.

Kwame Ajamu and two co-defendants were exonerated in 2014 after surviving a wrongful death sentence and decades in Ohio prisons for a crime they had nothing to do with. Ajamu is featured in the ten-minute film titled ‘Exonerated’ which accompanies the Lush Cosmetics company’s national campaign materials on its web site at http://www.lushusa.com/. He will be at the Lush Polaris shop to share his experience and answer questions.

“We are thrilled that the Lush Polaris shop is turning its local store into an organizing hub to help educate our community about how the death penalty fails us as a public policy,” said Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions. “We helped train the Lush employees to engage customers with Ohio information over the period of this campaign, and we look forward to providing Ohioans with the opportunity to learn more and take action this Saturday.”

Lyndi Grossman, a spokesperson at Lush Polaris, said “the more people learn about the death penalty, the less they like it, and we’re excited to be bringing this important issue to our customers for discussion.”

From May 15-25, Lush shops across the United Stares have been outfitted with special campaign lightboxes. Customers are being invited to sign petitions and take information with them. One hundred percent of the sale price of the campaign’s limited edition product – a bath bomb called 31 States – will benefit national organizations working to abolish the death penalty including the national partner the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Ohioans to Stop Executions, an affiliate of the National Coalition, is the recipient of a grant from Lush’s Charity Pot charitable giving fund, to assist in its public education efforts.

Kevin Werner, Kwame Ajamu and his wife LaShawn Ajamu will be available for interviews at the event. LaShawn Ajamu also appears in the video, and she serves as co-chair of Ohioans to Stop Executions Murder Victims Families Outreach Project. LaShawn Ajamu’s brother James Nero was murdered in 1997 in Canton. She has testified at the Ohio Legislature about the unmet needs of homicide survivors.

For more information, visit lushusa.com

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Filed Under: Press Releases

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RECOMMENDATION 52

Adoption of a rule directing that the trial judge is the appropriate authority for the appointment of experts for indigent defendants. The rule should further provide that the decision pertaining to the appointment of experts shall be made, on the record, at one of the prescribed Pre-Trial Conferences.

If defense counsel requests, the demand for appointment of the expert shall be made in-camera ex parte, and the order concerning the appointment shall be under seal.

Upon establishing counsels’ respective compliance with discovery obligations, the question of the appointment of experts (including determination of projected expert fees based upon analysis of expert’s time to be applied to the case as well as consideration of incremental payment of expert fees as case progresses) would be decided by the court, which decision would be subject to immediate appeal, under seal, to the appropriate Court of Appeals. The trial court judge shall make written findings as to the basis for any denial. Although concerns have been raised as to the ability of the Appellate Court to provide the anticipated, necessary expedited hearing within a reasonable time-frame, the Joint Task Force suggests that this issue be elevated to the status of a final appealable order and that the necessary expedited appellate process be spelled out in the statute.

RECOMMENDATION 54

Should the present process of appointment of indigent counsel by the judiciary continue, the main objective should always be to assure the best educationally experienced and qualified candidate, who is available (within the county or outside the county), and who is otherwise willing to take on the responsibilities associated with the case for an appropriate fee and accompanying expenses, is appointed. A uniform fee schedule for such services across the State of Ohio must be a necessary consideration to assure the equal protection and due process for the accused in a capital case.

RECOMMENDATION 55

Adoption of reporting standards to provide complete transparency of record, including requirements to ensure better record keeping by the trial judge and the provision of additional, detailed resource information necessary to assure strict compliance with due process, which information shall be submitted to the Supreme Court upon completion of the case. Such resource information may include unique Constitutional issues, unique evidentiary issues, significant motions, plea rationale, pre-sentence investigation, and any additional information required by the Rule 20 Committee or the Supreme Court of Ohio. Additional types of resource information could be developed as part of the mandated educational process conducted by the Ohio Judicial College.

RECOMMENDATION 56

The Joint Task Force believes that some of the recommendations above could be accomplished by the adoption of a separate Criminal Rule for Capital Cases. The Joint Task Force recommends that such a rule be adopted and provide for the mandatory training of attorneys and judges (Recommendation 49), the selection and appointment of indigent counsel in capital cases (Recommendation 51), and the enforcement of the ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases and the Supplementary Guidelines for the Mitigation Function of Defense Teams (Recommendations 11 and 12).

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