Social Justice Conference 2002: Death Penalty

Chris Fitzsimon is Executive Director of the Common Sense Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy foundation whose mission is to expand the policy debate in North Carolina to include the views and voices of those traditionally locked out of that debate. He appears weekly on N.C. Spin, a North Carolina news talk show viewed by 250,000 people across the state and has been quoted in scores of national publications including the New York Times, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, the Nation, and Columbia Journalism Review. He is co-chair of North Carolinians Against the Death Penalty and supervised a study of race and the death penalty in North Carolina. Chris was an award-winning television news reporter for nine years in Raleigh covering government and politics. He has a B.A. in Journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Ted Frazer
Charlotte Coalition for a Moratorium Now.

Henderson Hill joined the law firm of Ferguson, Stein, Wallas, Adkins, Gresham & Sumpter in 1996 following a 15 year career in criminal defense and in the teaching of trial advocacy, first in Washington D.C. and since 1991

in North Carolina. He obtained his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. In 1998 Henderson served as a Lecturer teaching a seminar on the death penalty at Duke Law School. A member of the North Carolina State Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, the Mecklenburg County Bar Association, the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, Henderson previously served on the Board of Governors of the NCATL as Vice President for Legal Affairs. Henderson received the Paul Green Award from the North Carolina Civil Liberties Union in 1999, the Lawyer of the Year Award from the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers in 1999, and was named Lawyer of the Year by the George W. White Bar Association, Durham in 1996.

Ari Kohen is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Duke University. His area of concentration is political theory and he is writing his dissertation on human rights and ethics. He has been a member of Amnesty International for 7 years and currently serves as alternate to AIUSA's Board of Directors. In addition, Ari is a member of several of AIUSA's national committees and is State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator for North Carolina.

Rev. David McBriar is pastor of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Durham, was one of a delegation of death penalty opponents who had visited with former Gov. Hunt seeking mercy for Carter. resulting in the only commutation of a death penalty sentence during Hunt's four

terms in office. He also wrote to the Pope about condemned inmate John Hardy Rose's case and brought a message from the Pope appealling to Governor Easley for clemency last November.
Gerda Stein
Gerda Stein is a social worker with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, where she has worked for the last ten years. For the first eight years she served as a mitigation specialist on the defense team in capital cases, investigating the social histories of death sentenced or eligible people. Since then she has been in charge of public education and media relations for the Center. She is a member of the Wake County Coalition for a Moratorium Now, a member and former co-chair of North Carolinians Against the Death Penalty, a board member of the Fair Trial Initiative, and served on the board of the ACLU-NC for six years. She is a licensed social worker and obtained her MSW from the University of California at Berkeley. Gerda lives in Raleigh.
Margaret Toman chairs the Wake County Coalition for A Moratorium Now, is an officer on the board of the Interfaith Alliance of Wake County, and holds Certificates of Appreciation from the National YMCA Scuba Headquarters, the United States Olympic Committee, North Carolina Amateur Sports, and other organizations. Born in New York City, Margaret was reared around Union Square during the winters and in Aberdeen, North Carolina during the summers, a background which forged a strong social consciousness, a sturdy work ethic, a passion for the arts, and eclectic interests. She was trained as a classical dancer and accepted by Balanchine's New York City School of Ballet. She is a commissioned Stephen Minister/Stephen Leader and a passionate advocate for a moratorium on the death penalty.

Mel Watt has been a member of the U.S. Congress from Charlotte since 1992. During this time he has been a passionate spokesperson for social justice issues.

Bill Wilson is the Director of politics and government relations at the NC Academy of Trial Lawyers. In that position he lobbies the NC General Assembly, and coordinates the political action committee work for the Academy. He spent ten years at the NC Association of Educators, the state affiliate of the National Education Association; the last five years as the director of government relations. He is a member of the executive committee for the NC Democratic Party and was the former PAC chair for the NC Chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League. He has a degree in journalism from UNC and a masters in information studies from Syracuse University. He lives in Durham.