- Tampa zoo rushes Chompers the porcupine and others to safety as Milton nears
- Shanghai stocks pare early surge on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- New Japan PM to hold talks on ASEAN sidelines
- Record number of climbers chase 14-peak dream in Tibet
- Former South Korea clinic for US 'comfort women' to be demolished
- China holds off on fresh stimulus but 'confident' will hit growth target
- Chiefs battle past Saints to stay unbeaten
- Deal on climate aid hangs in balance at UN COP29 summit
- Royals hit back against Yankees, Tigers maul Guardians
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case faces verdict in sex crimes trial
- Top economic official 'confident' China will hit 2024 growth target
- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Australia moves to expand Antarctic marine park
- Tragedy of Madrid street sweeper highlights how heatwaves kill
- Survivors wait for aid as Trump's lies help cloud Helene response
- Fleeing Israeli bombs, Lebanon's displaced met with suspicion
- Jila Mossaed, from refugee poet to Swedish Academy
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- Drugs, people smuggling at heart of Mexico's raging violence
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Musk says he is 'all in' on Trump in US election
- Category 5 Hurricane Milton roars towards storm-battered Florida
- Carpenter bomb stuns Guardians as Tigers level series
- Harris, Trump and Biden mark Oct. 7 attacks as US election looms
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- US judge orders Google to open Android to rival app stores
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights 'sacred' multi-front war
- Nobel scientist uncovered tiny genetic switches with big potential
- Grammy-winning Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney, dies at 91
- UN biodiversity summit in Colombia aims to turn words into action
- Georgia Supreme Court reinstates six-week abortion ban
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Mexican mayor murdered days after taking office
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
RBGPF | 100% | 60.52 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
AZN | -0.78% | 76.87 | $ | |
NGG | -1.56% | 65.48 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 69.62 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.53% | 24.57 | $ | |
RYCEF | -0.15% | 6.87 | $ | |
GSK | -0.49% | 38.63 | $ | |
VOD | 0.31% | 9.69 | $ | |
BTI | -0.26% | 35.2 | $ | |
BCE | -0.54% | 33.53 | $ | |
RELX | -0.54% | 46.04 | $ | |
JRI | -0.76% | 13.18 | $ | |
BCC | 1.68% | 141.27 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
BP | 0.78% | 33.14 | $ |
From US death-row cell, he turns to music for salvation
Music has helped Keith LaMar survive the mind-numbing sameness of nearly 30 years on death row in a maximum-security prison in the US state of Ohio.
Now he hopes his love and involvement in jazz -- along with the intervention of musicians drawing public attention to his case -- will help him escape execution for a murderous crime he insists he did not commit.
LaMar, who turns 53 on Tuesday, is accused of killing or ordering the killing of five fellow inmates during an 11-day prison riot in 1993.
His execution is already scheduled -- for November 16, 2023.
LaMar said he has spent the past 30 years preparing himself psychologically, morally and legally for whatever comes next.
"So, if and when the time comes, and I am an unfortunate victim of the state ... it won't be because I didn't try to do everything in my power to prevent that," he told AFP by telephone.
During those decades behind bars, though, he has become a huge jazz buff.
"Music is a big part of my life," he said.
He is particularly a fan of the music of John Coltrane, saying iconic albums like "A Love Supreme" have helped him cope with his anger and isolation.
The very first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning in a cell "the size of a closet" is to put on a CD, he said -- that, and write.
- Jazz concert from behind bars -
LaMar pleaded guilty for the crime he was originally arrested for at 19: the murder of a childhood friend -- an addict who had tried, at gunpoint, to steal drugs LaMar was selling.
He says he tried to turn his life around during the early years of his original 18-year sentence, completing a high-school equivalency degree before enrolling in university classes from his cell.
But he wants his case around the Lucasville Prison Riot to be reopened, contending that trial was gravely tainted by judicial irregularities.
In that regard LaMar is no longer alone. In addition to a team of lawyers working to reopen his case, several jazz musicians -- including the Spaniard Albert Marques -- have come together to demand "Justice for Keith LaMar" and raise awareness of his case.
Last weekend Marques's group gave a concert at New York's Jazz Gallery to celebrate release of the CD "Freedom First," composed jointly by LaMar and Marques. Some of the proceeds will cover LaMar's legal expenses.
During the concert, the firm but seductive voice of LaMar himself could often be heard over the speaker system.
Marques said LaMar, who wrote several of the song lyrics, narrating his life and commenting on his fate, "is part of the band and earns the same as the musicians."
"The idea is not to play for Keith, it's to play with Keith," Marques told AFP.
But how could LaMar participate from a death-row cell hundreds of miles away?
"He can make calls from jail, for which he has to pay," Marques said, adding with a touch of sarcasm that the guards "can't prohibit something that they can't imagine happening."
Marques said the band wants to "raise awareness" about a case involving one of his "best friends," whom he has visited in maximum-security Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.
- 'Meaningful, purposeful things' -
LaMar says in his book "Condemned" -- written in his cell, then dictated by phone to a friend -- that he has been "trying, with all my might, to redeem myself." And he explains his version of what happened during the riots, which changed his life forever.
According to LaMar, prosecutors wrongfully withheld interviews with 13 inmates who witnessed or took part in the riots; evidence was destroyed; and prosecutors failed to disclose information that might have proved his innocence.
Prosecutors and appeals court judges, however, have insisted LaMar's guilt is proven.
"When you (are) poor, Black and in a racist country, you plead guilty," he said, referring to limited recourse he believes African Americans have in the justice system.
In a country which has seen stunning cases of wrongful conviction, "the truth can only set you free when you have enough money," LaMar said.
But music can also deliver truth. Musician Marques has been "one of the blessings of my life," LaMar says, and his last, best hope of drawing wider attention to his case.
Above all, he says, he has gained a "friend."
"I'm trying to stay caught up with meaningful, purposeful things," LaMar said, because that gives some sense to his life -- and ensures those who believe in his innocence also "believe in me as a human being."
Ch.Kahalev--AMWN