Weez is free! Need money!

WE DID IT!! WEEZ WILL BE FREE BY THE END OF APRIL!!!

We thought we would have to hit you up for more lawyer fees, but we're happy to be able to hit you up for FREEDOM MONEY!!

Weez aka Glenn will walk free by the end of April after spending 17 years in prison. Because of your GoFundMe contributions, a generous lawyer, and new DA who wants to correct old wrongs, his 40 years have been reduced to time-served and he gets out of prison at 35 years old instead of 57.

The flat rate for this legal work is $10,000. Our lawyer was able to attain his freedom for $2500.

We have $350 left over from our first GoFundMe, so now we need to raise just another $1300 to pay for:

1. A plane ticket to Oakland.
Healing, meaningful work and safety await him here. Weez has an aunt and uncle here in Union City who have a spare bedroom and lots of love for him. JR got him a job at Youth Spirit Artworks, a service oriented art program for kids on the street.  JR works there and many kids there and in various schools have been penpalling with Glenn for years so he will be welcomed by many.

2. Some non-prison issue clothes.

3. Some cash for Weez's new pocket.

3. A cell phone. 

4. An extra tip for our lawyer Jane Hammond, who gave so much for so little payment.

Please give what you can and help Weez enter his new life as a free man.

Much thanks from all of us here at Team Weez
(Cate, JR and Kimberley)


If you don't know the story of how we got here, read the original GoFundMe campaign below...



This is Glenn Robinson, aka Weez.

He's 34.
He has been in prison since he was 19 when he was given an absurd 40 year sentence by a Louisiana judge and D.A. who have since been charged with crimes of corruption. 

He will be locked up in prison until he is 59 years old unless we come up with $2500 to pay a lawyer. 

This is the story...Glenn grew up in the struggle on the streets of New Orleans. At age 19, he committed a non-violent crime and like many young black men, fell victim to racist railroading and ended up with a preposterous 40 year sentence. 

He has spent the last 16 years locked up, unable to afford legal representation. 

My friend JR became his penpal years ago and started a website  where he published excerpts from Glenn's letters. I contributed illustrations to accompany Glenn's words. JR developed this project into Beyond This Prison,  a series of school programs and community workshops all based on Glenn's writing and wisdom. Youth connect with Glenn through letters and he writes back to every single child personally. Last week he told me he had 55 letters to write. All by hand. He is devoted to doing whatever he can to keep at-risk youth from being caught up in the system. 

As I was reading and illustrating Glenn's writing, I was so moved by his compassion, wisdom and struggle that 16 months ago I decided to go with JR to Lousiana to meet him.

The couple hours we spent with Glenn in the visiting room made it even more clear to me that for this 34 year old man to spend the next 24 years in prison would be a true abomination. We've been trying to find him legal help ever since. 

I spoke with the current judge of the parish where he was convicted. She was dismayed at Glenn's plight and acknowledged the racism and corruption at work that brutalizes so many young black men with lengthy prison sentences. She was eager to be able to review his case. To bring his case into her court, he needed a lawyer.

Only people with money can hire lawyers. Neither Glenn nor his family have any. There is NO pro-bono post conviction legal help in Lousiana. 

A week ago, I found a passionate young lawyer who will take his case. Very few lawyers do this non-lucrative post-conviction work, so we are lucky to find this lawyer and she is willing to give us a cut rate.

She is visiting Glenn for free, but after they talk we need $2500 for her to begin her preliminary research to determine whether there is enough wrongdoing to bring his case before the current judge. 

Glenn is the personal face of mass incarceration.  He was born into a whirlwind of destructive forces beyond his control. As a child he did the best he could to survive. To incarcerate him on the cusp of adulthood for virtually the rest of his life is yet another injustice, but one we have the power to reverse.

Please give what you can. 

We need to raise this money asap.