Voices for Death Row Inmates Banner of Hope

Voices for Death Row inmates got together with London artist Carrie Riechadrt and came up with the idea of a Hankies for Hope banner ... this banner is made from cotton hankies .. hankies being something we wipe tears of sadness away with. During the time the death penalty was in practice in the United Kingdom, the judge when passing a death sentence would place a black hankie on his head as he did so .
Each hankie represents a soul , a soul awaiting their fate or already executed . The name, prison ID number and State is written on the hankie. There are also birds flying free. Bird cages ,hearts , angels , candl
es , leaves and flowers painted onto the banner, again all symbolic.
They have been stitched together with orange ribbons between each one , orange being the colour of oppression and the colour of the jumpsuit a death row inmate wears when being moved from one place to another ... so this banner is very symbolic in everyway
This banner has grown over the last few months …but we want people to add the names of their loved ones and pen pals to the Banner of Hope.

If you would like to add a name of an inmate who has been executed or is on death row please contact us via our facebook page or via our website
Below see our Banner of Hope SO FAR!! More names will be added soon


The Banner of Hope So far

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Saturday 8 September 2012

Man who spent 24 years on death row now free after judge clears him of 1988 murder of teenage boy


Man who spent 24 years on death row now free after judge clears him of 1988 murder of teenage boy


  • Michael Keenan and Joe D'Ambrosio were both convicted of 1988 murder of Tony Klann
  • D'Ambrosio was freed in 2010 after judge cited that evidence that could have exonerated him was withheld 
   Judge who freed Keenan cited same reason


He spent 24 years on death row, but has been named a free man once more.
Michael Keenan, who was convicted in 1988 for the stabbing death of 19-year-old Tony Klann in a Cleveland Park, had the murder charge against him dismissed by a judge.
The dramatic turn in events began yesterday, when the clean-shaven 62-year-old was ready to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges in a bid to get out of jail.

Free at last: Michael Keenan, 62, is again free after a judge dismissed a 24-year-old murder charge against him
Cuyahoga County judge John Russo dismissed the aggravated murder count against 62-year-old Michael Keenan after determining evidence that could have exonerated him was withheld from his trial attorneys.
He set Keenan’s bond at $5,000, a low sum that the Cleveland Plain Dealer notes will allow him to leave prison very soon.

Keenan’s co-defendant Joe D’Ambrosio was freed in 2010 by a judge citing the same reason. 
A federal judge ruled in 2006 that prosecutors in D’Ambrisio’s murder trial withheld vital bits of information that could have exonerated him.
Keenan was convicted twice of killing Tony Klann in a Cleveland park and then dumping his body in Doan Creek. 
Keenan's attorney says a priest who befriended the co-defendant helped uncover evidence favourable to both men.
Released: Joe D'Ambrosio was on death row until a judge exonerated him in 2010
Released: Joe D'Ambrosio was on death row until a judge exonerated him in 2010
A federal judge in April had ruled that Keenan must be retried or the verdict set side.
Throughout the two decades he spent on death row, he and D’Ambrosio maintained their innocence. 
A man named Eddie Espinoza pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection to the teenager’s death for a reduced sentence.
He was sent to prison in 2001, and died eight years later. 
He testified against them, saying that Keenan slit Klann’s throat while D’Ambrosio stabbed him.
The Plain Dealer notes that Keenan will again have to appear in court in October, but this time as a free man.

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