If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you’ll know that I was initially sentenced to death, but due to an unconstitutional issue in my case, and a judge that went against a jury’s recommendation, my sentence was overturned to life in 2022, life without parole. (The resentencing hearing was stressful, because the jury unanimously recommended for me to be sentenced to death again, but the judge decided to go against the jury’s recommendation and sentenced me to life, LWOP.)

I’m still fighting, and actively trying to get my life sentence overturned as well. I haven’t exhausted my appeals, and currently waiting on a ruling from the court for the latest petition that was filed in my appeal process.

Even though I left death row years ago, I’m still fighting a death sentence. In the state of Florida, there’s no path to freedom when you’re sentenced to life without parole unless you get relief from the courts, and we all know the odds on that happening. LWOP, in theory, is a death sentence. The only difference is, with a death sentence you know the exact day, and time, that your life will come to an end.

Not that my priorities have changed since leaving death row, because I still very much want to see capital punishment abolished in my lifetime, which I truly believe will happen, but now that I’m living it, I’ve also added seeing LWOP sentences abolished in my lifetime as well.

With that being said, I don’t want to sit around and hope that something changes as the years steadily fly by. Instead, I want to be proactive and be a part of the movement, and hopefully be able to make some changes. I’m very aware of how challenging it is taking on such an ambitious endeavor under my current circumstances. I’ve never been one to let things, including prison walls, stop me from doing what I set out to do, and getting involved in this movement is no different. I’m not even sure where to begin, or what that process will look like, but I have to do something other than talking about how things need to change.

Most important, I’ll need to build up a network of relationships, and resources, in order to get any traction on something of this magnitude. This is my plea for advice, guidance, or ideas on how I can go about this. I’m open to all suggestions. I want to connect with individuals, or organizations, that are passionate and active in this movement. I’ll need all the help I can get to make this possible. (If you know of anyone, or of an organization, that’s passionate about this movement, please send me their contact information, or have them reach out to me directly through the Securus app.)

In the meantime, along with trying to get my sentence and conviction, overturned, I’ve been trying to stay as productive as possible through programs offered here at this prison, and correspondence courses. I’ve been focused on self improvement since my years on the row, and that won’t change, because I believe that there’s always room for improvement. I want to be as prepared as possible if the opportunity of freedom ever presents itself. I’m limited and a lot of things are beyond my control, but self betterment is something I can control, and that’s something no court, law, or individual can deny me of. For me, having a life sentence isn’t a reason to give up, or get discouraged. If anything, it’s a reason to want to be, and to do, better. To show that I’m much more than my worse decisions, even if I’m having to do that from a prison cell.

Thank you always for taking the time to read my entries, and like I said, if you can help me build that bridge to like minded people, your help will be greatly appreciated.

One love

David

Editors note: you can also contact me with any recommendations for people or organisations for D to get involved with – karenchandler123@aol.com