DENVER: Two days after the launch of an emergency campaign to stop the retrial of Clarence Moses-EL, who spent 28 years in prison for a crime he did not commit and now faces a highly controversial retrial by outgoing Denver DA Mitch Morrissey, a coalition of community activist groups and concerned citizens will deliver a petition signed by thousands of Coloradans demanding that Morrissey end this persecution of an innocent man.
“Clarence Moses-EL has already spent 28 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit,” said ProgressNow Colorado Executive Director Ian Silverii. “The facts and irregularities in this case are overwhelming. No physical evidence tying Clarence to the crime has ever been produced. Another man convicted in separate sexual assault cases has confessed to the crime.”
“There’s no easy way to say it: railroading an innocent man while the public’s attention is on the elections makes a mockery of the justice DA Morrissey is sworn to uphold,” said Silverii. “We’re calling on Morrissey to end this misguided persecution of Clarence Moses-EL. Anything else would be a grave miscarriage of justice.”
“Mitch Morrissey’s decision to drag Clarence Moses-EL back into court when clear evidence points to his innocence amounts to reckless and unnecessary prosecutorial zeal,” said ACLU of Colorado Executive Director Nathan Woodliff-Stanley.  “As a public official sworn to uphold justice, Morrissey should listen to the thousands of concerned citizens who are encouraging him to stop this bogus trial before it starts."
WHAT: Delivery of petition calling on DA Morrissey to drop the Moses-EL case
WHO: ACLU of Colorado, ProgressNow Colorado, NAACP Statewide Coalition, Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR), coalition of community groups and citizens
WHEN: 3PM, Friday, November 4, 2016
WHERE: Denver District Attorney's Office, 201 W. Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80202
For more information, visit thisisnotjustice.org

Statement of ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein

“The ACLU of Colorado calls on Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey to immediately retract his misguided threat to prosecute voters for taking and sharing “ballot selfies.”  Recent court cases in New Hampshire and Indiana have affirmed the right to take ballot selfies and share them, citing the First Amendment right of voters to express support for a candidate and to communicate that support to others.  Legislation in seven additional states expressly authorizes “ballot selfies.”
What is more dangerous about Mr. Morrissey’s announcement is the false implication that all voters are restricted from sharing information about their ballot with others, and the impact that could have on the elderly, people who are disabled, and non-English speaking voters at the polls.  The Colorado Voter Access and Modernization Act specifically gives voters who need assistance a right to bring a friend, a family member, or any other designee to help at the polls, and they cannot be challenged when that help requires them to show their ballot to someone rendering assistance.
Mr. Morrissey’s misguided statement could confuse both voters and election monitors.  It poses the risk of chilling voters who need assistance from asking for it if they fear that showing their ballot will violate the law.  It should be retracted immediately.”
Read: Judge Says New Hampshire Ban on Ballot Selfies Violates First Amendment and Common Sense