My Friend Efren: A Video Redux

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GOVERNOR JENNIFER GRANHOLM HERE.

Let me tell you about my friend Efren Paredes, Jr.

A Rogue’s Gallery Plus One

One night in early March 1989 in St. Joseph, Michigan, the grocery store manager at Vineland Foods was murdered and the store robbed. Five suspects quickly emerged in the police investigation. Four of the suspects were named in a phone tip received by the police. The phone tip, it turned out later, was made by the father of a fifth suspect. The suspects were composed of a 15-year-old Latino honor roll student – Efren – and the others a rogue’s gallery of thugs affiliated with the grocery store. Facing charges that could easily lead to life sentences, who do you think the thugs fingered – with constantly changing and conflicting stories – as the trigger man, or boy? Your American pedigree is confirmed if you guessed the 15-year-old Latino honor roll student.

The prosecutor did not hesitate to prosecute Efren to the fullest extent of the law with all the trimmings of American-style justice: A whirlwind trial, flavored with sensational coverage in the local media; totally circumstantial evidence, a chunk of it supplied by the plea-bargained thugs; a tainted jury foreman; an unbalanced legal system in a community known – then and now – to be tainted with racial overtones, and…well, fellow American, you can probably fill in other aspects of the story. I encourage you to read the jaw-dropping details of the case here. Ann Rule could not have written a more twisted true-crime tale than this.

Twenty Years Later

It’s been twenty years. Efren sits in prison, where he grew up. He self-educated himself in prison and has a commanding intellect. He has led an exemplary life in prison and is well- respected, to the point that even prison officials support his release (a very rare stance for prison officials). He is supported by respected wrongful-conviction experts and by many others across the country. Effectively, Efren has never been in trouble – before his trial or after his trial.

During the last 20 years, two of the murder participants were released from prison in 2005. One served only 6 months in a juvenile correctional facility. The other suspect was not charged at all. Finally, two of these criminals later committed other unrelated crimes.

At a parole hearing in December 2008, the former prosecutor of the case admitted to be without a good explanation for Efren's motivation for committing the murder, guessing it was a “thrill kill.” Law enforcement officials decorated this weak theory with words from some rap lyrics purportedly found in Efren's school locker. The circumstantial evidence is even thinner now than it was 20 years ago.

The Keys of Justice

Michigan continues to be a state that convicts juveniles – a vast majority of them minorities – and locks them up and throws away the key. There is no hope for rehabilitation, no hope for redemption. And, if you did not commit the crime, almost no hope for justice.

The Michigan State Legislature is currently considering House Bills 4518 and 4594-4596, which would end the practice of throwing way the keys on juvenile offenders. Opponents of these bills are currently painting a false and mis-leading – not to mention, desperate – campaign claiming these bills will give violent criminals an easy get-out-of-jail card. Don't believe it. The bills give juveniles convicted of crimes eligibility for a parole hearing after serving more than 15 years. Eligibility for a parole hearing is far from a free pass. I encourage you to read the bill summaries here and to contact your State Rep and State Senator in supporting these bills.

Finally, the keys of Justice are also held by Governor Jennifer Granholm. She has the power to commute sentences and to grant pardons. I've personally gotten to know Efren and I know, like some many people inside and outside of the prison system, that he is no threat to society -- never was and never has been. Please join me in contacting Governor Granholm by phone, email, or letter, in respectfully asking for justice for my friend, Efren.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

[Text abridged from my posting from May 29, 2009.]

My Friend Efren

Jason Argonaut has always claimed that my Facebook friends are somehow not real.

My Internet imagination run amok.

My pretend world pixilated.

That was far from true last year when a group of us greeted the Wheels of Justice Tour that rolled through Lansing and East Lansing.  Arriving on the bus were my four newest FB friends, Ceylon, Leah, Dan and Bill.  We met at New Aladdin’s Restaurant in the Frandor Shopping Center.  At the dinner table were approximately 25 people, many of whom were invited via FB.  Realizing this, I counted the number of my FB books sitting with me at the time:  Eighteen.  Eighteen live, breathing, laughing, eating FB friends.  If Jason could have seen me then.

It is special moments like the one at New Aladdin’s when my mind drifts – as it did that day – to one FB friend who is never present.  He is never at any gathering.  No Thanksgiving Day dinner at my house. No Christmas celebrations.  No time or place, day or night, is my friend ever physically present.  But he is real – very real – and ever-present.  

Let me tell you about my friend Efren Paredes, Jr.

A Rogue’s Gallery Plus One

One night in early March 1989 in St. Joseph, Michigan, the grocery store manager at Vineland Foods was murdered and the store robbed.  Five suspects quickly emerged in the police investigation.  Four of the suspects were named in a phone tip received by the police.  The phone tip, it turned out later, was made by the father of a fifth suspect.  The suspects were composed of a 15-year-old Latino honor roll student – Efren – and the others a rogue’s gallery of thugs affiliated with the grocery store.  Facing charges that could easily lead to life sentences, who do you think the thugs fingered – with constantly changing and conflicting stories – as the trigger man, or boy?  Your American pedigree is confirmed if you guessed the 15-year-old Latino honor roll student.

The prosecutor did not hesitate to prosecute Efren to the fullest extent of the law with all the trimmings of American-style justice:  A whirlwind trial, flavored with sensational coverage in the local media; totally circumstantial evidence, a chunk of it supplied by the plea-bargained thugs; a tainted jury foreman; an unbalanced legal system in a community known – then and now – to be tainted with racial overtones, and…well, fellow American, you can probably fill in other aspects of the story.  I encourage you to read the jaw-dropping details of the case here.  Ann Rule could not have written a more twisted true-crime tale than this.

Twenty Years Later

It’s been twenty years. Efren sits in prison, where he grew up. He self-educated himself in prison and has a commanding intellect.  He has led an exemplary life in prison and is well- respected, to the point that even prison officials support his release (a very rare stance for prison officials).  He is supported by respected wrongful-conviction experts and by many others across the country. Effectively, Efren has never been in trouble – before his trial or after his trial.  

During the last 20 years, two of the murder participants were released from prison in 2005.  One served only 6 months in a juvenile correctional facility.  The other suspect was not charged at all. Finally, two of these criminals later committed other unrelated crimes.

At a parole hearing in December 2008, the former prosecutor of the case admitted to be without a good explanation for Efren's motivation for committing the murder, guessing it was a “thrill kill.”  Law enforcement officials decorated this weak theory with words from some rap lyrics purportedly found in Efren's school locker.  The circumstantial evidence is even thinner now than it was 20 years ago.

The Keys of Justice

Michigan continues to be a state that convicts juveniles – a vast majority of them minorities – and locks them up and throws away the key.  There is no hope for rehabilitation, no hope for redemption. And, if you did not commit the crime, almost no hope for justice.

The Michigan State Legislature is currently considering House Bills 4518 and 4594-4596, which would end the practice of throwing way the keys on juvenile offenders.  Opponents of these bills are currently painting a false and mis-leading – not to mention, desperate – campaign claiming these bills will give violent criminals an easy get-out-of-jail card.  Don't believe it.  The bills give juveniles convicted of crimes eligibility for a parole hearing after serving more than 15 years.  Eligibility for a parole hearing is far from a free pass.  I encourage you to read the bill summaries here and to contact your State Rep and State Senator in supporting these bills.       

Finally, the keys of Justice are also held by Governor Jennifer Granholm.  She has the power to commute sentences and to grant pardons.  I've personally gotten to know Efren and I know, like some many people inside and outside of the prison system, that he is no threat to society -- never was and never has been.  Please join me in contacting Governor Granholm by phone, email, or letter, in respectfully asking for justice for my friend, Efren.   

-- Rico Thomas Rico

This is the first in a new series. A Friday Facebook Friends profile will be posted on my blog every Friday. 

Blogging for Justice: Ending Juvenile Life Sentences Without Parole

“We don’t need more legislation, we need to grow a soul,” the 94-year-old Detroit activist Grace Lee Boggs told us at the Michigan Policy Summit on May 16.

Well, in the case of ending juvenile life sentences without parole here in Michigan, we need both.

Michigan is one of the leading states that locks up juvenile offenders and throws away the key.  The United States of America is one of the few nations that locks up its youth in such a manner.  All civilized nations globally have ended the practice.

The Michigan Legislature is currently grappling with the issue.  The House of Representatives is considering legislation that will end juvenile life sentences without parole. A second round of hearings was held yesterday as the House Judiciary Committee took public testimony on pending House Bills 4518 and 4594-4596.

The House, during the last legislative session which ended in December, passed similar legislation with strong support.  The measures died pending before the State Senate.  So the process has started all over again.

As this week’s House Judiciary committee approached, the press grabbed onto the issue and gave some politically posturing local prosecutors a stage to inject scare tactics into the debate.  These local politicians certainly don’t want to be seen as “soft on crime” so justice-be-damned.

A number of opponents to the bills painted a picture that the legislation, if passed, would open the doors and let large numbers of violent killers loose on the public.  This is a convenient picture to paint as the cash-strapped state government is preparing to downscale the prison-industry complex and is set to release a number of prisoners for budgetary reasons.

The legislation does no such thing.  Passage of the bills would make parole available – many years down the road – to juveniles who are convicted of serious crimes.  Instead of just throwing away the key on the youth, these people will be given the chance to rehabilitate and prove themselves worthy of being released.  They would have to make a good argument – starting with a track record of good behavior in prison – before the parole board.  The legislation would give this opportunity to a limited number of prisoners currently serving no-parole life sentences that Michigan meted out to individuals as juveniles.  No one gets a free get-out-of-jail card.

I hold up the example of Efren Paredes, Jr., who has been incarcerated since he was 15 years old for a crime he did not commit.  He has grown up in prison and is now 36 years of age.  He is well-educated and very well respected both inside and outside the Michigan prison system.  Paredes, to start, deserves a medal for turning out to be a decent man having grown up in prison surroundings.  But more than that, he deserves Justice.  He was the first Michigan juvenile given a life sentence with no chance of parole.  Not only was his conviction wrong, but so was his sentence.

Paredes’s wrongful conviction should not detract from the larger point. Any under-aged youth convicted of a serious crime should not be denied the chance of rehabilitation. 

I encourage all of my readers to contact their state legislators to support the passage of these bills.  And I encourage everyone to contact Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to request the commutation of Efren Paredes, Jr.'s sentence.

Let’s not leave our sentencing guidelines for youth offenders a soul-less endeavor.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Peace Education Center Advocates for Efren Paredes, Jr.

at Lansing's Cristo Rey Festival May 22-23, 2009 

Mark Your Calendar: Next Online Discussion with Efren is May 26th, 6:30 p.m. EST

The next online discussion with the wrongfully-convicted Efren Paredes, Jr. will be Tuesday, May 26, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.  Participating bloggers who sign up on the Facebook event page will get the call-in number and you can pose your questions directly to Efren.  The program will be live online at www.mogulus.com/ricothomasrico. Viewers can use the chat function to ask questions during the program.

The Michigan House Judiciary Committee changed the hearing date from Wednesday (May 27th) to Tuesday, May 26th.  The hearing will focus on a set of pending legislation that would, essentially, end the use of juvenile life sentences without parole in Michigan.  The committee moved up the hearing by one day. We will stick to the schedule and have the online discussion with Efren Tuesday starting at 6:30 p.m. and bloggers are asked to post they commentary on Wednesday, May 27th, as originally planned.  

Please pass the word to any bloggers you know.  Check back here from additional information and details. 

P.S.  Mogulus is transitioning to Livestream.com.  So my online video channel can now also be viewed at www.livestream.com/ricothomasrico.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

RTR's 2008 Holiday Brag Letter

Dear Friends,

This is my first-ever holiday brag letter, which is an art form that I’ve never attempted. Over the years, certain friends have lightened up my holiday season with one, two, or three-page letters tucked in with the Christmas cards. The best ones – written on lonely winter nights with a couple of glasses of wine – scream TMI! Unfortunately for you, I’m only sipping a Diet Pepsi Max.

I characterize 2008 as time spent going back to the future. My 84-year-old father – Mr. Perfect, Sr. (photo below) – is now living comfortably in an independent living complex after finally leaving my boyhood home on the eastside of Saginaw (MI). Our family cleaned and closed the house, having moved everything out – including all the good memories of growing up in the dead end enclave that was Bagley Street. I couldn’t help looking back and visualizing those street baseball games, the dusty basketball games in driveway (the garage overhang was inbounds) and tackle football in the grass. Through all the chestnut fights in the fall and snowball fights in the winter, none of us – from the Rico, Simerson, Stellard, or Cook families – ever got a single eye poked out. The most serious danger back then was Mrs. Beach’s willow switch if she caught you in her cherry tree or rhubarb patch.

Coincidentally, my 30th high school class reunion – the Arthur Hill High School Class of 1978 (photo above) – was held over the summer, bringing back more good memories. The organizers (Mary and Mary, et al.) asked me to be a speaker at the reunion, which gave me the opportunity to ask my classmates, straight-up, “Who put the nasty in Sag-Nasty?” Also, I dispelled rumors that Ruth and I were showing off at the reunion by wearing fur coats – no, it was simply excess cat hair. In the end, it was great to see my classmates again. Email addresses were exchanged and Facebook and MySpace pages were created for the class. Classmates not familiar with tech stuff were instructed to get help from their kids or grandkids.

Speaking of Facebook, season greetings go out to my 323 FB friends! The Argonaut and Boy Thunder question some of these friendships. Yet, in one instance, they weren’t among the 18 FB friends gathered for dinner at the New Aladdin’s restaurant in October (photo above). The dinner company was an interesting mixture of activists from the Peace Education Center, Chicanos y Latinos Unidos, MEXA, and special guests from the touring Wheels of Justice. Friends all. All real.

One friend, Efren Paredes, remains locked up in a Michigan prison. At age 16, he was unjustly convicted of a crime he did not commit. That was 19 years ago. I testified on Efren’s behalf before the Michigan Parole Board, which will make a recommendation to the Governor regarding the commutation of the sentences. Like hundreds of supporters around the world, I personally will not rest until Efren is released. If justice is served, Efren will join us next year in person at New Aladdin’s.

For the second summer in a row, the boat sat in a pole barn in Fowlerville while Ruth and I worked together on various peace actions and activities. Ruth, in some cases, was like a favorite cat toy that I dragged around to different events. She is good sport, a great organizer, and a wonderful partner in all the craziness – please, thanks, you’re welcome Ruth! Be forewarned, I’m determined to get that boat out on the water next year.

Peace was elusive once again this year. Yet, the peace movement played a key role in convincing over 70% of the country the occupation in Iraq must end; it also was on the leading edge of the sentiment that swept Barack Obama into the White House. In concentrating on peace issues during the year, I did not get directly involved in any political campaigns. Yes, I was happy when Obama won the presidency and celebrated with the energized progressive community. Today I can tell you that come January 20, 2009, I will have the audacity of hope for peace and I can assure you that war escalation in Afghanistan or elsewhere next year will be answered by the American peace movement, regardless of who is in the White House. I hope it doesn’t come to that; I’d rather spend the time on my boat.

I must give a shout out to all my peacenik friends: the progressives, RadLibs, anarchists, democrats, social reformers, environmentalists, bloggers, community organizers, nonconformists, and other general hell raisers. I don’t have to name you, I’m sure the FBI, NSA, DOD, and CIA all have our names. Our names they may possess, but – as these agencies already know – fearlessly we will not concede our civil liberties, rights, or demands for peace. What part of freedom don’t they understand?

Special thanks go out to the peace and justice organizers at the Peace Education Center, GLNAWI, Michigan Peace Team, Fairness for Efren, Chicanos y Latinos Unidos, MEXA de MSU, NorthStar Center, IWW-GR, PAX Christi Michigan and Mid-Michigan Democracy for America. You are all an inspiration and personal heroes to me.

A BIG woo-woo goes to my crazy neighbors, the Kravitz Patch Sisters and newcomer, Junior Kravitz. Also, I offer a toast to the Orange Cyclones of 2007 – 2008 SHL Ice Hockey Champions – let’s do it again! Greetings go to my reliable spy, The Angie, and to Lois and Luna who moved up and out of blue collar Haslett – RB & I miss you! I have one good Michigan snowball reserved for the Georgia-D, Leslie. And, finally, a long-distance hug goes to my far-flung siblings, who had the rare opportunity to gather in Saginaw earlier this year – and the same to all the nieces and nephews who rarely contact their LLLU.

The next year will be a challenge – in more ways than one – but with family, friends, and community like ours, we can stick together and pull everything in a better, more positive direction.

Peace,

Rico Thomas Rico

The Orange Cyclones: 2007- 2008 SHL Champions

Community Members Announce Support for Wrongfully Convicted Efren Paredes, Jr.

Various members of the community -- from various parts of Michigan -- addressed the December 3, 2008, press conference regarding the wrongful conviction of Efren Paredes, Jr. They stood before the press and the gathered crowd at the NorthStar Center in Lansing and expressed and explained their support for Paredes. Cameras and recording devices were not allowed at the commutation hearing on Thursday, Dec. 4th, but the testimonials shown in the video below give you the flavor of sentiments expressed by community members who support the commutation and release of Paredes.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Community Members Express Support for Paredes's Commutation

Advocates Address the Wrongful Conviction of Efren Paredes, Jr.

Wrongful conviction expert Paul Ciolino was joined at the December 3rd press conference by Efren Paredes's parents and students from Michigan State University. Here the advocates for Paredes read statements to the press and Ciolino elaborates further on the case.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Paredes Advocates Address the Press

Wrongful Convictions Expert Explains Paredes Case

The nationally respected wrongful convictions expert Paul Ciolino held a press conference on Wednesday, December 3, 2008, to explain the case of Efren Paredes, Jr. Ciolino's press conference was a lead-in to the commutation hearing for Paredes on Thursday, December 4th. Below is the opening portion of Ciolino's presentation. I will continue to report on this case as it proceeds through the process, including an upcoming report on my observations of the dramatic, intense nine-hour hearing on Thursday.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Wrongful Convictions Expert, Paul Ciolino
on the Efren Paredes, Jr. Case