Our Client and Friend Clinton Walker is Free After Decades in Prison
We started working with Clinton Walker nearly seven years ago, just three years into our work as a nascent movement lawyering and organizing project. We spent countless hours over the years driving to and from SCI-Rockview in Bellefonte, PA to visit with him.
Today we celebrate his freedom! Sentenced to die in prison at the age of 17, he spent his entire adult life behind bars. After two landmark US Supreme Court rulings that found mandatory juvenile life without parole unconstitutional, we at Amistad Law Project began working with Clinton. We represented him at his resentencing in 2018 along with our colleagues at Abolitionist Law Center. Our current legislative director Sean Damon led the effort to assemble his mitigation report while he was represented in court by our executive director Kris Henderson and Abolitionist Law Center staff attorney Quinn Cozzens. Clinton had served 19 years at the time of his resentencing and received a 25 to Life sentence. Subsequently, Amistad Law Project legal fellow Sadye Stern and our policy director Nikki Grant supported him in preparing for the parole process. Having lived on the honor block for years, he was granted parole at his first eligibility.
We are flooded with emotion today. Clinton is a shining example of the need for second chances. Deeply remorseful for his crime, he has worked to steer his life in a positive direction. As someone who is passionate about restorative justice and mentorship we know that he will be a force for good in the community now that he is released. We are overjoyed that he has come home to the community and happy to have played a part in his release alongside Clinton who fought for his freedom for 25 years.
As Clinton adjusts to life on the outside we are doing everything we can to ensure he has support for a soft landing. Join us and donate today to show some love to a very good person who is really getting his first chance at a peaceful and decent life.
