Hooman

HOOOMAN PANAH written by my cousin Saghar~ For every guilty man arrested and put behind the bars, an innocent man has, is and will end up next to criminals that deserve to be there. Well friends it happens all the time. This happened to a very close person to me, my cousin Hooman Ashgan Panah. I am here today on his behalf to ask for your help to prove his innocence by adding him on myspcace, signing the petition linked to his myspace and donating to the foundation funding for a better representation.On Saturday November 20th 1993 an 8-year-old girl by the name of Nicole Parker was reported missing. She was visiting her father Ed parker at his Woodland Hills apartment complex. Her brother last saw her at approximately 11:15 A.M. speaking to a man in his 50’s in front of Hooman’s apartment, but was later reported missing at 12 P.M. The same day Hooman Ashgan Panah, at the age of 22, was taken into custody as the murderer of Nicole Parker. At this time her body was still missing and the LAPD had yet to find her location. Hooman’s one bedroom apartment, which he shared with his mother, had fully been searched three full times with different search dogs within the first 24 hours of her missing. Nothing was found. Approximately 36 hours into her missing her body was found in a suitcase stuffed into Hooman’s closet. When her body was found the LAPD placed her body on top of Hooman’s bed and sheets where he sleeps at night and most likely had sexual relations with his girlfriends. As Bill Conroy stated in an On-line journal, “Additional evidence released by the prosecution since Ashkan Panah’s conviction shows that the handling of the crime scene itself was, at best, like a Comedy Central episode of Reno 911.” The police did not even bother to finger print the suit case or crime scene, which is ridiculous especially since they were not able to find the body there the first 3 times they searched the apartment with search dogs that are trained to find a dead body in even an Avalanche. When her body was found her muscles were tense and stiff. About 2 to 4 hours after death the muscle cells of the human body run out of ATP, which is adenosine triphosphate. Some of the muscle cells survive and tense up because they are trying to produce ATP on their own and eventually die which is after the time frame of 4 hours, no longer after can the muscles manage to be stiff, they will then become lose and extra soft. Hooman was in custody since November the 20th and her body was found in such conditions in his bedroom 36 hours after her missing on November 21st. Making it impossible for Hooman to physically kill her. In court it was said that she died in three different ways. First, she was knocked in the head, which cause internal bleeding in her brain, second that she was chocked, and third which is my favorite theory they had which was that she had been raped from her anal area. A doctor even testified saying they had read in a book that there is a nerve that can be touched from the anal area that can cause death if pushed the wrong way. How does an 8-year-old die in three different severe ways? DNA tests were requested by Hooman but prosecutor had the refused to bring them forward with the reassurance of Hooman’s attorney himself with reason to believe it be for his best interest. When Hooman objected to the judge he was advised to listen to his attorney because he knows best. Bill Conroy worded, “The prosecution, knowing full well that the DNA tests would work against their case, chose instead to present testimony from “experts,” who provided their opinions on the physical evidence. Among those experts was a serologist (a blood-work specialist) with a bachelor’s degree in biology who only two years earlier had been assigned to the LAPD’s narcotics and alcohol analysis unit. He had never before worked on a death sentence case. Still, with confidence, that expert, William Moore, testified under oath that blood and body fluid evidence obtained from the crime scene were “consistent” with a mixture of body fluids taken from Ashkan Panah and the victim. That left the jury with the impression that there was physical evidence linking Ashkan Panah to the sexual assault.” Well I guess in this case the doctor reading somewhere that the nerve from the anal causing the death was a more reliable source then some stupid DNA tests and fingerprints. The man that was last seen with her was a family friend of my auntie that was visiting on a business trip. He had a pair of keys that allowed him to leave and come back anytime he pleased. The day of her missing he told the police that he walked down to leave then realized he forgot his keys to the apartment and had to walk back up to get them and then grabbed a suitcase and a bag. As he walked to leave he saw Nicole Parker staring at him with a weird daze. He said they stared at one another for 25 seconds which was the most beautiful experience for him. He then asked her if she was lost and she just walked off. But later in court when he testified saying he walked back up for his wallet but never had keys to the apartment and that the girl directly asked him for Hooman Panah. Keep in mind he said that this 8-year-old girl is asking for him by his full name. About one month after he testified in court, the family friend was found murdered. Now let me give you a little background about the policies of death row and immigrants. In order for the U.S. to have a fair trial for someone on death row, by law they must notify the immigrant’s country of citizenship so they would have the chance to provide them with an appropriate attorney. In this case Iran was not notified and Hooman’s attorney was provided by the State of California. Nicole Parker had been adopted two years prior to her death by the Parkers. Her mother had been working at the courthouse where Hooman was prosecuted 30 years prior to this case. His attorney was on the same side as the prosecutor. Today Hooman's new attorney physically has a letter written by his original attorney to the judge claiming that if he takes the case he would guarantee that Hooman would plead guilty and therefore save the court tax money. He had the right to have copies of them from the beginning of the trial. The prosecutor denied having any paperwork that Hooman did not already have and claimed the DNA results to be lost. With all of Hooman’s hard work finally last year all the copies were sent to him. There is now evidence that indicate an old lady last saw Nicole with two young males on Sunday the 21st. Nicole Parker’s mother received money from the State and the prosecutor was promoted from Hooman’s case to become Supreme Court judge. He was late a few times to court with weird excuses that made the court suspicious. They looked into it to find out the prosecutor had never been to the Vietnam war, he had never worked for previous law firms he had claimed to, he had never handled a murderer case, it gets better, he failed the board exam over 5 times and had never even attended law school. He confessed to be a compulsive liar without his own control. This was the man that sent my cousin to prison on death row. Is this what justice is? What happened to Hooman Ashgan Panah’s rights? Why was Iran not notified? Why was he not good enough for a fair trial? Hooman is now 35 years old. His appeal date was August 31 2007. The paperwork has been sent to the Federal court and hopefully sooner than later this case will be opened back up and my cousin’s innocence will be proven to the world. CONCLUSION In conclusion, Instead of the U.S. trying to go to war maybe they should step back and work from within to help their own justice system before trying to “help” other countries. How does the U.S. expect to spread this idea of freedom and justice when they don’t practice what they preach? This hasn’t only happened to my cousin, but to many others that we may never know about. Why do we always have to wait until it happens to us or someone close to us to realize un-justice? All for someone to make money and step all over others in order to climb a ladder of “success”! For 13 years my auntie has been driving out to San Francisco every other week religiously to see Hooman and not one day stopped fighting for her only son’s freedom. Hooman can’t do it alone and neither can we his family. There are writers like Bill Conroy seeking to help Hooman and fighting for his innocence. I am and will be doing any and everything I can personally do to help and that is by asking you to participate in Hooman’s case. Online he can be found on google.com and www.myspace.com/hoomanpanah. There is a direct link to a petition supporting his innocence and a direct link for his foundation. We really appreciate everyones support and help. We are the future of this country so lets let it be known that we will fight for our rights.