Jason Puracal thanks Change.org Petition Supporters

Change.org just released this campaign update, which includes this personal thank you note from Jason Puracal: 

To the thousands of Change.org supporters,

My sisters traveled to Nicaragua last week and told me about the 80,000+ signatures to my petition. The emotional, mental, and financial toll this has taken on my family is devastating. But knowing that 80,000 people would take the time to learn about my story and stand up for me gives me strength to endure this living hell.

 

Each day they visited, the first thing I would ask was for an update on the numbers. Knowing that the petition sends an email with each signature to our target U.S. and Nicaraguan representatives - it makes me feel as though thousands of fists are banging on the prison door demanding my release.

 

La Modelo is loud and overcrowded with prisoners, but it is a lonely place. It's humbling to ask for the help of strangers, but please keep banging on those doors for me.

 

Thank you,

Jason

80,000 demand release of Tacoma man imprisoned in Nicaragua

An update on the Jason Puracal Change.org Petition. The following is from a recent article:

The Change.org petition was launched by former DEA Director Tom Cash and Eric Volz, who was convicted of murder in Nicaragua but later released. Volz now heads The David House Agency, an "international crisis resource organization that provides services to Americans facing complex legal and political situations abroad."

The online campaign to free Puracal has garnered support from several members of Congress, the California Innocence Project, and a former FBI agent. They have demanded that the U.S. State Department intervene in the case on Puracal's behalf.

Read full article

Change.Org Petition for Jason Puracal sponsored by former DEA Director and Eric Volz

Last week Eric teamed up with former DEA Agent Tom Cash to sponsor a petition on Change.org on behalf of Jason Puracal. The petition has over 70,000 signatures and counting.

The miscarriage of justice in this case is astounding, and I hope you will add your name here.

__________________________________________________________

Tom Cash has over 35 years experience supervising major international drug and money laundering investigations. As a former DEA Director, he handled cases leading to the prosecutions of notorious drug lords, including Pablo Escobar.

Eric Volz was wrongfully convicted in the same Nicaraguan court room as Jason Puracal and spent 14 months in the same prison.

Former AG of Canada Intervenes in Jason Puracal Case in Nicaragua

I had the priveledge of guest posting on the Wrongful Convictions Blog on a story about American Jason Puracal.

The wrongful conviction of Jason Puracal in Nicaragua is monumental and serves as a chilling milestone in the emerging trend of international “show” trials.  This case has serious implications for citizens of the Global North studying, working, traveling, or retiring abroad...

Read the full article here.

Stories of Vindication - Innocence Project National Conference

I had the honor of attending this year's national Innocence Project Conference in Kansas city. This is my second Innocence Project conference, and I continue to be amazed by the men and women touched by this organization.

There are talented lawyers fighting wrongful convictions, advocates lobbying to update laws to protect the accused, and of course the men and women who have endured years of wrongful incarceration.

I wish I could name every person I talked to, but I did want to share a link with my community. Gloria Killian was a third year student at McGeorge Law School when she was convicted of murder. In prison she became a jailhouse lawyer, creating with the University of Southern California the first law project in a California women's prison. Since her release, Killian has become a worldwide prison activist, and published a book called, "Full Circle. A true Story of Murder, Lies and Vindication." You can learn more and purchase the book here. I can't wait to dive in to it myself.

There are too many amazing stories to list each one here, but I am looking forward to sharing more links of the great work the Innocence Project is doing.