CADP's Annual Dinner is November 20, 2008
Abolitionist of the Year Award to Representative
Paul Weissmann, and Keynote Speaker Abe Bonowitz
Please join us on November 20, 2008 for
the annual CADP dinner where we honor Colorado
State Representative Paul Weissman as the
CADP Abolitionist of the Year.
Paul Weissman Honored as Abolitionist of
the Year
Representative Weissmann is a third term
Democrat from Colorado's 12th District and
has a long history of opposing the death
penalty and courageously introducing legislation
to abolish the death penalty in Colorado.
Most recently, Representative Weissmann
was the prime sponsor for House Bill 07-1094,
a bill that would have repealed the death
penalty as a sentencing option and created
a Cold Case Unit within the Colorado Bureau
of Investigation to assist local law enforcement
agencies in the investigation of homicides
that have been open for more than a year.
The resulting savings would instead be used
to catch criminals still walking the streets
of Colorado. While the House Judiciary Committee
passed the bill (7-4), it was unfortunately
killed by the House.
Introducing Representaive
Weissman will be Howard Morton, founder and
Executive Director of
Families
of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons.
Abe Bonowitz is
Keynote Speaker
Our keynote speaker will be Abe Bonowitz
who co-founded and directed Citizens United
for Alternatives to the Death Penalty from
1997 to 2008, when he took a position as
Director of Affiliate Support with
the National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Bonowitz has been working to educate
the public about human rights problems, in
particular the death penalty and the need
for alternatives to the death penalty, for
over 17 years. Bonowitz has gained first
hand knowledge of the issue by working in
the death penalty section of the Ohio Public
Defender Commission, with murder victims'
family members, and with death row inmates
in Alabama, California, Florida, Ohio, Texas
and other states as well.
He appears briefly
in the film "Dead Man Walking" and
has worked closely on several projects with
author and spiritual advisor Helen Prejean.
From 2005 until 2008, Bonowitz served first
as a consultant and then as Field Manager
with New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty, the organization whose work
was completed when NJ Governor John Corzine
signed the bill that abolished New Jersey's
death penalty in December 17, 2007.
