LOS ANGELES,CA - The California State Capitol building in Sacramento was the center for the “Reform-A-Nation” panel where preliminary meetings with the legislative teams from Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, and others discussed the epidemic of wrongful convictions and its potential solutions. Indian-Americans Rajendra and Sonal Vora of the Jain Social Group International Federation were among the participants.
Assemblywoman Patty Lopez, who authored AB1909 for reform described the prosecutorial misconduct in the Indian-American designer Anand Jon Alexander’s case as “utterly shocking.”
While the case is currently pending at the Federal District Courts for relief based on newly discovered and previously withheld evidence of factual innocence, as well as due process violations that include despicable prosecutorial misconduct invoking racial bias and use of false evidence, the panel is urging Governor Newsom to commute Anand Jon’s draconian sentence of 59 years. An award winning fashion designer who was picked as “Who’s Next in 2007?” by Newsweek, Anand Jon’s portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, donated by projectpaint.org, was featured at a UCLA festival recently “Call to End Mass Incarceration“, connecting art and law.
Fresh off their meeting in Sacramento, some of the panelists met with Senator Holly Mitchell and actor Danny Glover at the UCLA festival. Sonal and Rajendra Vora briefly discussed solutions for prevention of wrongful convictions at the festival. At the UCLA event, ‘The Art From the Inside’ booklet featured Anand Jon’s art and his words:“Growing up in India, I was a bit awkward about acknowledging Gandhi as a “role model” because he did not represent the cool alpha male six-packed, buffed “Heroes” that was popular culture. However, when I was wrongfully convicted and struggled to get back on my feet and slowly made progress towards freedom - it was Mahatma Gandhi’s “Ahisma”, Satyagraha and strategic patient dismantling of the greatest/colonial empire in the world that inspired me. I enforce that indomitable will ... what is not just fighting and dying for but worth living for.”
While the case is currently pending at the Federal District Courts for relief based on newly discovered and previously withheld evidence of factual innocence, as well as due process violations that include despicable prosecutorial misconduct invoking racial bias and use of false evidence, the panel is urging Governor Newsom to commute Anand Jon’s draconian sentence of 59 years. An award winning fashion designer who was picked as “Who’s Next in 2007?” by Newsweek, Anand Jon’s portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, donated by projectpaint.org, was featured at a UCLA festival recently “Call to End Mass Incarceration“, connecting art and law.
Fresh off their meeting in Sacramento, some of the panelists met with Senator Holly Mitchell and actor Danny Glover at the UCLA festival. Sonal and Rajendra Vora briefly discussed solutions for prevention of wrongful convictions at the festival. At the UCLA event, ‘The Art From the Inside’ booklet featured Anand Jon’s art and his words:“Growing up in India, I was a bit awkward about acknowledging Gandhi as a “role model” because he did not represent the cool alpha male six-packed, buffed “Heroes” that was popular culture. However, when I was wrongfully convicted and struggled to get back on my feet and slowly made progress towards freedom - it was Mahatma Gandhi’s “Ahisma”, Satyagraha and strategic patient dismantling of the greatest/colonial empire in the world that inspired me. I enforce that indomitable will ... what is not just fighting and dying for but worth living for.”
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