Petition to FREE Keith LaMar, Wrongfully Convicted Death-Row Prisoner
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine
We are petitioning Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio to act NOW before he leaves office in January by issuing a pardon to Keith LaMar. Keith is INNOCENT and has spent 31 years on Ohio's death row (in solitary confinement since being falsely accused 33 years ago!) fighting for the truth to come out. He was deprived of a fair trial when prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence, including eyewitness statements and confessions that PROVE Keith LaMar did NOT commit the crimes that led him to death row. In fact, there is ZERO forensic (DNA) or physical evidence connecting him to ANY of his charges because the Ohio State Patrol contaminated the entire crime scene and destroyed some 22,000 pieces of evidence to cover their crimes; only the unreliable testimony of PAID JAILHOUSE INFORMANTS secured Keith's conviction by an ALL-WHITE jury and judge. Justice was NOT served, and we, the public, will not stand by and watch another innocent Black man be executed in our (the taxpayers') names. This is not the Ohio, United States of America, or world within which we wish to live.
Based on the 2011 Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio's Death Penalty–a body convened by the Ohio Supreme Court–we now call on Governor DeWine to pardon Keith. After all, it is this independent task force who in their #18 recommendation said, "that no one should be indicted, let alone sentenced to death, based solely on the uncorroborated testimony of jailhouse informants." Why, then, should we accept Keith LaMar's death sentence? We do not! Even the Hamilton County Prosecutor at the time of Keith's trial, Joe Deters (who has since been appointed an Ohio Supreme Court Justice by Governor DeWine) sat on that task force and agreed to this recommendation, which received a unanimous 19-0 vote.
Throughout his over three continuous decades of being tortured in solitary confinement, Keith has endured brutal beatings, deprivation, humiliation, starvation, harassment, poisoning, and dehumanization. And, yet, he has managed to find a way to project light into an otherwise dark world, overcoming all attempts by a hostile penal system to break his spirit. Indeed, he continues to fight every day to grow and thrive, spreading love and human decency at every opportunity. He even started his own literacy program for at-risk youth while imprisoned, and for nearly two decades has generously given countless hours to the task of helping juveniles avoid the pitfalls he knew all too well growing up poor and Black. Keith is a teacher in the truest sense of the word, uplifting all types of people who need hope. He has served his original sentence more than abundantly, and deserves to go home to his family and community, who desperately need and love him.
In addition to signing this petition, you can make an enormous difference with a (tax-deductible!) donation toward our campaign for Keith (Justice for Keith LaMar is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization); while we call upon Governor DeWine to do the right thing, every day of Keith's prolonged captivity is torture. Our most urgent need is to get Keith back into court for a re-trial, and the only way to accomplish this is TOGETHER. Please give what you are able, knowing that your effort matters. We thank you in advance. Please go to: http://www.keithlamar.org/donate.
Keith is still breathing. Let's not wait for him to become a hashtag!
What Happened to Keith?
In 1989, Keith LaMar (aka Bomani Shakur) came to prison at age 19. He had been living in Cleveland, Ohio, where he sold drugs as a means of survival in the crack-infested streets he knew as home. On a day that would forever change his life, Keith was robbed at gunpoint and exchanged gunfire with his robbers. He was shot in his legs and hit one of the other men in the chest. That young man, a childhood friend, died. Keith believes in truth and justice and was sentenced to prison for 17 years-to-life.
Six years later, while attempting to put together the broken pieces of his life at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Keith LaMar was once again ruled guilty, this time by an all-white jury in an all-white county in southern Ohio. To this day, Keith maintains his innocence of crimes he was framed for by the State of Ohio, crimes he can prove he did not commit during the 1993 Lucasville Prison Uprising at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. In spite of his innocence, Keith continues to be held indefinitely in solitary confinement in a steel cage no larger than a closet, where he has spent the past two and a half decades. In all this time, he has not been able to see or touch grass or feel the wind blow against his skin. For sixteen of those years, Keith wasn't even allowed to touch a loved one until his 2011 hunger strike finally afforded him access to semi-contact visits (thick glass separation with just a small hole). It would be eighteen years in all until he could his family again when full-contact visits were granted.
In spite of being made to suffer inhumane conditions these three decades, Keith continues to pour love and knowledge on friends and strangers alike, inspiring them to find ways to live their lives with purpose. He has founded the Native Sons Literacy Project to help kids caught up in the school-to-prison pipeline discover that reading will open doors they never could imagine. Through his efforts, Keith has been able to get hundreds of meaningful books in the hands of at-risk juveniles. He exchanges calls and letters with high school and college classes, inspiring people to live their most meaningful lives while they can.
Keith LaMar’s is a story about racialized injustice, State corruption, struggle, perseverance and truth. He has laid it all out in Condemned, a soulful, fiery, and captivating book. In it, he traces how the prosecutors fabricated a case against him, then goes on to dismantle their lies by highlighting their inconsistencies. Keith shows clearly how his Constitutional rights were violated by the State of Ohio's willful withholding of evidence favorable to his defense. Most importantly, he compels readers to consider their place within the larger social system, inviting those who would stand on the side of social justice to join him, not just on his behalf, but also for the countless nameless, faceless people caught up in the struggle for humanity. Order Condemned here: www.keithlamar.org/condemned
Sponsored by
To:
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine
From:
[Your Name]
Ohio Death Row prisoner Keith LaMar is scheduled to be executed in Ohio, his date recently moved to January 16, 2030 through a reprieve you granted. Thank you for taking that step toward justice. I am joining the choir of engaged and informed citizens who believe in Keith's innocence and who are now calling on you to use your power to pardon Keith LaMar before you leave office.
Keith's attorneys are fighting his case through the courts, and we believe they will prevail if justice truly and finally takes place. However, he has been made to suffer an unbearable torture for the past 33 years being held in solitary confinement all this time, and deserves to not have that cruelty go on another day longer. They need your help.
Please, Governor DeWine, do not turn away. I ask you to look into the particulars of Keith's case, as he was deprived of a fair trial in 1995 following the prison uprising at SOCF. Evidence that proves his innocence has been uncovered, including a confession to a murder given in the early aftermath of the riot, an inmate's life for whom Keith is paying the price. This evidence was never turned over by the prosecution, a clear violation of Keith's Constitutional Rights, and, thus, has never been heard in any court. Jailhouse informants were incentivized by the State to lie at trial, in spite of gross inconsistencies with their earlier interviews. Not one bit of forensic or physical evidence against Keith was ever found, because there was none. And Keith was convicted by an all-white jury, a Batson violation. Indeed, in over three decades, Keith LaMar has never once wavered in his insistence that he was not involved; that is because he is innocent.
Based on recommendations set forth by the 2011 Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio's Death Penalty – a body convened by our Ohio Supreme Court and made up of retired judges, attorneys, and college professors (including Joe Deters, whom you appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court and who led Hamilton County's prosecutions in 1995) – "no one should be indicted, let alone sentenced to death, based solely on the uncorroborated testimony of jailhouse informants." This was unanimously voted on 19-0, becoming recommendation #18. Why, then, should Ohioans accept Keith LaMar's death sentence? We do not!
Governor DeWine, I respectfully ask you to consider the fact that Keith LaMar would have more than likely been home by now based on the humility, courage, and remarkable personal growth he has demonstrated during his 37 years in prison. The original crime that landed him in prison as a teenager was a tragedy borne out of poverty and desperation, one to which he confessed at the time (and of which we also now know was improperly advised--he should never have copped a plea to "murder" for something that clearly was not at all premeditated). We ask you to give weight to the fact that he has spent past 33 years in indefinite solitary confinement in spite of his innocence, and these years have been exceptionally cruel and unusual. This man has been punished enough, which is why we are asking you to fully pardon him. Life without the possibility of parole would not repair the harm of the injustice that has been allowed toward Keith LaMar for over three decades in our names.
In spite of everything that Keith has endured, the 57-year-old man we know today is a true asset to society. He manages to bring an incredible amount of love and hope to the people whose lives he touches. He is a generous educator who has founded a literacy project for at-risk youth. Keith is surrounded by the support of family and friends, many of whom teach at America's finest educational institutions, serve in law enforcement, provide community care as faith leaders, work in the arts, and save lives as frontline nurses and doctors. In fact, over 100 university professors and students nominated Keith for a Nobel Peace Prize in January of 2026! Indeed, we are eager to welcome and help him acclimate back into society, as we have no doubt that Keith is a much-needed light in this dark and confusing world. After all, we have experienced Keith LaMar; he has saved many of us in our darkest hours by offering us encouragement and friendship.
Sir, you are in the unique position to save and restore the life of someone most deserving. We appeal to your faith in God (which you make so apparent!) and your sense of human decency to set this travesty right. The public cannot be asked to watch another innocent Black man be executed in our names. We also cannot throw him away into a life without the possibility of parole situation. This is not the Ohio, the United States of America, or the world within which we should hope to live. Please do the morally righteous thing, and pardon Keith LaMar fully before you leave office and allow him to be as physically free as he is mentally and spiritually.
God bless you for your service to Ohio, particularly during these most trying of times.