OK-CADP Membership & Awards Dinner with Keynote Speaker Gil Garcetti April 20, 2013

The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP) is pleased to announce that former Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti will be this year’s keynote speaker at the 22nd Annual Membership Meeting and Awards Dinner. The event will be held in Oklahoma City on Saturday, April 20 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Conner Center, 3214 N. Lake (1 block west of Western Ave. and 31st St.). A reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the dinner following at 6 p.m.

Garcetti's speech, titled "Turned Off" refers to the slang used when the ladder upon which a condemned man had climbed was kicked out from under him.

As District Attorney, from 1992 to 2000, Garcetti headed the largest local prosecutorial office in the United States with more than 1100 prosecutors, 200 investigators and support staff of almost 2000. The office annually prosecuted over 280,000 cases and had a budget of approximately $260 million.

A world renowned photographer, Garcetti has published 7 photo books and has been featured in numerous exhibitions including The United Nations in New York, UNESCO in Paris, the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Millennium Museum in Beijing. He is also a Consulting Director for TNT's two series, The Closer and Major Crimes.

In March 2011, Garcetti wrote an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times expressing his opposition to the death penalty.

He was then asked by members of California Proposition 34 to become a spokesperson for the ballot initiative that sought to repeal the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Also known as Safe California, Prop 34 was narrowly defeated by a vote of 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent.

Garcetti is particularly concerned with the effect death row cases have on families and close friends of the victim.

Garcetti added, “We cannot bring back a murdered loved one, but we can help prevent future similar tragedies by using our very limited financial resources in smarter ways than to finance a law that serves no useful purpose. If you can focus on working to keep kids in school and help them to graduate, you’ll reduce crime generally, and I’m sure you’ll reduce the number of homicides.”

Tickets are $45 for adults, students are $20 and sponsorships are available. Reservation deadline is Friday, April 12. To purchase tickets, register online at www.okcadp.org or call 405-948-1645. Checks payable to OK-CADP can be sent to P.O. Box 713, Oklahoma City, OK 73101.