Lifer Temujin Kensu pushes clemency for hundreds of Michigan prisoners to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as holidays begin
Many prominent cases featured in Xmas Carol video above
VOD Field Editor Ricardo Ferrell among 12 with applications in through the Michael Thompson Clemency Project; he has done many stories on others
By VOD Staff (Diane Bukowski, Ricardo Ferrell, and welcoming Tamerra Washington)
December 21, 2022
Portrait of Temujin and wife Paula Kensu, done by a friend .
Tamerra Washington’s young nieces at Detroit rally June 4, 2021.
VOD interviewed Kensu at length Dec. 22, and will be publishing excerpts of that interview in an upcoming article.
MICHIGAN–Michigan lifer Temujin Kensu, convicted in 1986 for a murder he could not possibly have committed because he was 400 miles away, has sent the song above to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. It advocates for many others still incarcerated, many for life and many for decades, who could be released and sent home to finally celebrate a new year with their loved ones.
“We hope that Gov Whitmer will be issuing some pardons hopefully before Thanksgiving but definitely before Christmas, Kensu’s wife Paula told VOD. “Temujin’s clemency application was again submitted to Gov. Whitmer Aug. 28, after the state Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Conviction Integrity Unit denied his application for a new trial. We have eight Innocence Networks signing on in support along with his many other advocates.”
VOD Field Editor Ricardo Ferrell is among 12 Michigan individuals who have clemency applications in through the Michael Thomas Clemency Project, who have served up to five decades in Michigan prisons. VOD wishes all of them freedom in the new year, as we continue advocating for freedom for the people below whose cases and lives we have covered.
TO SEE VOD’S COVERAGE OF BATTLES BY THESE MICHIGAN PRISONERS AGAINST MASS INCARCERATION, put names of individuals in our search engine at the top of our home page.
These Wayne County men were sentenced to death in prison as children. Despite US Supreme Court rulings in 2012 and 2016 outlawing JLWOP, Wayne Co. Pros. Kym Worthy had kept them in prison, as of 2021. Some may have been released since then due to re-sentencings won by the Mich. ACLU and SADO.
GOV. WHITMER: SEE OREGON GOVERNOR KATE BROWN’S RECORD:
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown just commuted all 17 death sentences in the state.
“Last October, Kate Brown, the governor of Oregon, signed an executive order granting clemency to 73 people who had committed crimes as juveniles, clearing a path for them to apply for parole,” The Guardian reported.
“The move marked the high point in a remarkable arc: as Brown approaches the end of her second term in January, she has granted commutations or pardons to 1,147 people – more than all of Oregon’s governors from the last 50 years combined. The story of one US governor’s historic use of clemency: ‘We are a nation of second chances’ | Oregon | The Guardian
TO SEE VOD’S COVERAGE OF BATTLES BY MICHIGAN PRISONERS AGAINST MASS INCARCERATION, put names of individuals in our search engine at the top of our home page.
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