“Power concedes nothing without a demand, it never has and it never will” Frederick Douglass.
We were all shocked on March 9th that Santa Clara DA Jeff Rosen would not acknowledge his office’s racial injustice and pattern of prosecutorial misconduct & release Marvin “Shaka” Walker. Shaka is now faced with additional years in prison. He is 62 and has suffered stroke symptoms and two heart attacks in the last year. While it was a blow, we are regrouping and strategizing with Shaka and his family, and we will continue to call on all of you to stand with us – and with Shaka.
Put this date on your calendar. April 20th 8:30 am
We will be back in court. And thanks to all of you who showed early this month inside and outside the Santa Clara Court House in San Jose to stand with Shaka. You are the power of the people. Thank you for demanding justice for Marvin “Shaka” Walker. A teenager, convicted by an all-white jury and sent to death row in 1979, 43 years ago.
The prison industrial complex is a machine designed to over incarcerate. The laws that have developed, the very laws that promise justice, often are written to all but extinguish the possibility of freedom. It is unbelievably hard to get folks out, even after decades.
Shaka is in pretrial detention at the Santa Clara County Main jail. His conviction has been overturned, his 43 years on death row.
We have not given up on freedom – and we will not. But now we have to stop for a moment and regroup, analyze our options and stay strong. His family needs him home, and we will find the way there.
Here are some things you can do to support him:
- Shaka’s next hearing is April 20, 2023 at 9 am in Dept 39 (on the sixth floor) of the Santa Clara County Courthouse at 190 West Hedding St in San Jose. Please join us!
- Order postcards here. Tell Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen that the public wants a timely resolution on this case that has already dragged out for so long. Send a letter to:
Jeff Rosen
Santa Clara County District Attorney
40 West Hedding St,
San Jose, CA 95110
Your request might read something like this:
Please allow Mr. Marvin Walker to come home to his family and community. We are ready to welcome him and help him transition gracefully to a life of freedom. It has been more than 2 years since his retry-or-release order from the federal court. Honor the principle of the Racial Justice Act: Send Mr. Walker home now.
- Make a contribution to his legal and re-entry fund.
Shaka (Marvin Pete Walker, Jr.) was 19 when he was charged with murder and sentenced to death by an all-white jury. Now at 63 he has spent the last 43 years, his entire adult life, in a tiny cell on San Quentin’s death row. His conviction has been tossed 3 times, most recently, in 2020 for striking Blacks from the jury. Shaka was hospitalized for nine days in critical condition with COVID, one of hundreds exposed because CDCR (California Dept of Corrections) disregarded medical experts and transferred 200 people to San Quentin in the first months of the pandemic. Shaka is a survivor. He is battling stroke symptoms and two recent heart attacks. Please check out this background brochure.
It is time to bring our Shaka and all of our elders home. Please join us.
Towards Justice,
Jennifer Beach
Prison Radio Co-Director
