LWOP

David Paul Hammer's Life Without Parole Campaign
A Federal Executive Clemency Petition

Thank you!

David Paul Hammer, on federal death row in Terre Haute, Indiana, is invoking executive clemency as the means to commute his death sentence to one of life without the possibility of parole. We, his friends and supporters, are working with him to construct an exetensive project for federal clemency which we hope will not only save David's life but might also be used in the future as a model by other prisoners facing federal execution. Letters and petitions are being assembled, to be submitted as attachments to his petition for executive clemency from the President of the United States.

David Paul Hammer was born in Holdenville, a small town in Oklahoma on October 9th 1958, the oldest of three children. His family lived in poverty, moving constantly to follow work in the fields and to evade bill collectors. David attended at least twenty-one different schools, several of them more than once, before dropping out of high school after his sophomore year. Abuse was endemic in the household. Throughout childhood and youth, he was abused verbally, physically and sexually. In growing up, he assumed that this brutality and constant violation of his own humanity was a normal way of life. When he was thirteen, he ran away from home, for several weeks, but was later returned to his family. By the age of fifteen, he was living on the street, working at low wage jobs, drifting, hustling, pushing and abusing drugs. His search for acceptance led to an ill-fated marriage at sixteen.

David has been in prison for more than half his life for an array of felonies. Convicted of the murder of his cellmate, Andrew Marti, in a Pennsylvania prison, David was condemned to death. He was transferred to the Death Row Unit at the Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute in July of 1999.

During his many years of incarceration, David has earned his GED as well as three associate degrees in criminal law, psychology and as a paralegal. He has used his legal knowledge to give invaluable help to many prisoners.

Because of his abuse as a child, David has a great interest in helping abused children. He and Sister Camille D'Arienzo, a Sister of Mercy, have collaborated in producing two Christmas cards, generating a net profit of over $6000. The proceeds went to three institutions caring for abused and neglected children. David is in the process of writing his autobiography, and any sales from its publication will also be designated for abused children.

David has experienced a religious conversion, expressing profound sorrow for his heinous crimes. He writes, "I can never make amends for all the pain, hurt and suffering which I have caused, nor can I bring back to life the man I killed. All I can do is strive to make a difference and to influence others in a positive way." He was received into the Catholic Church by Archbishop Daniel Buechlein on October 27, 2000.

Send your letter to us so that we can attach it, with all letters and petitions to David's executive clemency file. The address is:

The LWOP Campaign,

c/o Tom Kramer,
11820 West Youth Camp Rd
Columbus
IN 47201

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