Keith Lamar: the man sentenced to death in the United States releases a song to celebrate the date of his non-execution

Life, at the end of the road, gave Keith Lamar another chance. Had the decision been implemented before July this year, his days in prison would have ended on Thursday, November 16, 2023.

Lamar is still on death row in the United States. Four months ago, his sentence – the death penalty, the death penalty – was postponed until January 2027.

Keith LaMar’s execution, scheduled for November 16, was postponed until January 2027 due to a lack of lethal injections, N+ reported.

Thursday, November 16, was not just another date for the singer. That’s why he decided to celebrate it the way he knows how: by composing.

The AFP agency highlights the fact: LaMar is publishing this Thursday “The Journey”, a song he wrote with the Catalan musician Albert Marquès, who formed a jazz band to publicize his story.

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Why is Keith Lamar in jail?

In 1995, an all-white jury found LaMar guilty of killing five of nine inmates and a murdered guard during one of the worst prison riots in U.S. history, which took place in 1993, the European agency reported.

At the time, Keith LaMar was “serving time for the murder of a teenage friend like him in a drug dispute in his native Cleveland.”

So he spent his life in prison. LaMar “has spent 35 of his 54 years behind bars.”

The AFP agency points out that this African-American man defended his innocence in the book ‘Condemned’ that he published in 2014.

Six years later, in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of jazz musicians came to his aid, including Marquès, who suggested he record an album.

Despite being on death row, he doesn’t give up. In addition to his recourse to music, he does not stop recourse to the law, to justice.

LaMar assures – AFP reports – that he had no proper defense and that he was the victim of a “mockery of justice” in a trial in which exculpatory evidence was hidden and other prisoners were “rewarded” with remission of sentences so that they accuse him : “black and poor.”

“However, LaMar now has the support of prestigious human rights attorney Keegan Stephan, of the firm Beldock Levine & Hoffman, who is gathering evidence to appeal to the Ohio legal system.”

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Music, like life, goes on

Cadena SER published in September 2023 that Lamar is in a relationship with New York-based jazz pianist Albert Marqués. He also emphasizes that this connection resulted in an album and a book that was recently published, ‘Jazz Sounds on Death Row’.

The book “tells how Lamar has been involved in robberies, unstructured environments, crime, drugs and fighting since his youth.”

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step (…) locked in a small cell (…) in hell itself.”

Keith Lamar song

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The pianist has his opinion on the death penalty: “Since the death penalty was introduced in the United States in the 1970s, 1 in 9 people on death row have been declared innocent by the American legal system itself before or after the execution. “The death penalty is irreversible and that is why I believe it should be abolished.”

The AFP points out that “a year and a half ago the CD ‘Freedom First’ was released with lyrics by the prisoner and music by Marquès, who has brought his story to concert halls in Europe, South America and the United States.

Before, LaMar joins by phone from the jail in Youngstowna small town in Ohio, in an unprecedented partnership.

“Music has brought my business to a wider audience and achieved things I wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. And with that comes more support and more public interest,” he says.

Criticism and optimism

Lawyer Stephan tells AFP about this case: “I think there are many reasons to assume that he is innocent and that in any case he did not have a fair trial” in a “highly politicized” case in which many political and institutional conflicts took place. to put pressure on ‘there would be guilty convictions’.

“There was a significant amount of exculpatory evidence that was not presented to Keith and his defense team (…). Added to this is a “racist” criminal justice system, with bias against blacks (…),” he added.

LaMar shows the world his production, “The Journey,” and says he’s trying to stay “healthy, mentally and emotionally, on solid ground.”

Perhaps he is following the advice of his pianist friend: “Take the time to take care of yourself, because if you don’t, you can’t help anyone.” Music, Albert Marquès emphasizes, is a tool for people who have difficulty expressing themselves and for the audience to empathize with them. In short: “music also saves.”

(JO)