The event is intended to move District Attorney Rachael Rollins, who could support Angela Jefferson’s motion for a new trial.
Families for Justice as Healing is organizing a standout for Angela Jefferson, a mother and grandmother who has been incarcerated at MCI-Framingham for 30 years. She is serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for an act of violence that she has said she regrets. Jefferson was imprisoned after defending herself while being in a relationship that was physically and mentally abusive. The incident happened in 1990, when she was 21 years old, and the man she killed was Anthony Deas.
Jefferson has filed a motion for a new trial because her first trial did not take into account substantial mitigating evidence about her life experience and background. Decades ago, Jefferson had a trial that many have considered to be unfair. She was prohibited from sitting at the counsel table because she was in tears. She was tried by an all-white jury, when she is a Black woman. The standout in support of Jefferson will me held on Oct. 18 from 10 am – 12 pm, and it will be taking place at 1 Bullfinch Place. At the standout, supporters of Jefferson will stand in solidarity with her and ask Rollins to grant a new trial.
“Ms. Angie has long since repented for the harm she committed over 30 years ago,” said Andrea James, Founder & Executive Director of the National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women & Girls, in a press release. “She has completed a college degree. She has mothered countless women in MCI-Framingham, not to mention her own children and grandchildren who have been separated from her their entire lives. Keeping Ms. Angie locked up serves no purpose except to make our siblings behind the wall feel like, no matter what they do, they are never coming home.”
WHAT: Rally in Support of Angela Jeffersonn’s Motion for a New Trial
WHEN: Monday, October 18th 10am
WHERE: Suffolk County District Attorneys Office 1 Bullfinch Place
Shira Laucharoen is a reporter based in Boston. She currently serves as the assistant director of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. In the past she has written for Sampan newspaper, The Somerville Times, Scout Magazine, Boston Magazine, and WBUR.
