Friends, On Wednesday, the Facebook group FreakOutNation posted a link to an October story from CounterCurrentNews on Keith Cooper's case. Since Wednesday, FreakOutNation's post has had just short of 4000 shares. The original CounterCurrentNews article, written as a summary from other reports and put online on October 5, has had about 30,000 shares. What these shares add to our effort is simply more exposure to the injustice Keith Cooper has experienced and to Mike Pence's role in it. However, these shares haven't reset our effort with an infusion of new signatures to this petition and additional people committed to making phone calls, writing letters to editors, emails to prosecutors, legislators, and Pence, and social media activism. What if 35,000 people tweeted the CounterCurrentNews article tor Donald Trump, just to provoke his reaction? What if, indeed? Facebook outrage only really helps if it motivates an effort to correct the injustice. Calling Mike Pence a racist pig in one's own Facebook post on one's own page with a link to FreakOutNation is rather limited action, with limited usefulness. Furthermore, with the national discussion focused only on Pence, these reports are overlooking the cronyism that contributes to Pence's motivations--his misplaced "law and order" commitment and support for Curtis Hill, Indiana's new Attorney General, and Vicki Becker, the new Elkhart County lead prosecutor (replacing Hill there). Both Hill and Becker have had direct roles in maintaining Keith Cooper's felony conviction, and they will still be here in Indiana opposing Cooper's exoneration when Pence is no longer governor. I take the point of view that every day Cooper remains a convicted felon is an additional day of injustice. It is also a violation of the Constitution of the State of Indiana, Article 1, Section 18: "The penal code shall be founded on the principles of reformation, and not of vindictive justice." What can be more vindictive than Curtis Hill, Vicki Becker, and Mike Pence blocking Cooper's exoneration because of Pence's professed "respect for the judicial process"?!? It is not enough that Cooper has been out of prison since 2006. The Elkhart Truth newspaper has reported that Cooper was recently put into a police line-up in Illinois because he is a convicted felon resembling a suspect. On January 2, 1997, Keith Cooper was first arrested in Elkhart County for resembling the suspect in a purse snatching. After he was cleared of that charge but before he could leave the jail, Cooper was re-arrested for the armed robbery charge this petition effort has been about. A week from next Monday will be the 20th anniversary since this injustice first began. Much as I would like to see Cooper's exoneration completed before January 2nd, it would require Mike Pence not to act as he has always done throughout this effort. Anyone who can forgive Donald Trump for declaring his sexual assaults on women while at the same time not exonerating Cooper is operating with principles I cannot discern. Or maybe I can, but they are racist and sexist. The principles seem nothing to do with Pence's profession of Christian faith. While I don't think Pence will pardon Cooper, Indiana's next governor, Eric Holcomb, made a sort of commitment to pardon Cooper once he is in office. Copied and pasted, with my apologies that it is in all capital letters, this is what Holcomb has said: REVIEWING WHAT I HAVE ON THIS CASE, WHICH HAS -- I AM NOT GOVERNOR YET, I WANT TO MAKE SURE I TALKED TO MR. COOPER AND REVIEW THE FACTS OF THE CASE. I UNDERSTAND WHERE GOVERNOR PENCE IS COMING FROM. KNOWING THE FACTS AS I DO NOW, AND WANTING TO ACCUMULATE MORE, I WOULD LOOK FORWARD TO QUICKLY EXONERATING SWIFTLY IF THE FACTS BEAR THAT OUT. Governor-elect Holcomb does not have to wait until he governor to arrange a meeting with Keith Cooper. In fact, in my opinion, I am not persuaded that a meeting before a pardon is necessary; most of 112,000 of you have been persuaded to sign this petition without meeting Keith Cooper personally because the evidence is on the side of his exoneration. However, take the steps as he wants them, I do not want to see Governor-elect Holcomb slack away from what he has said, and especially if he starts to hear from Curtis Hill. Within the next week, I hope to write an editorial to send to a few Indiana newspapers, calling on Holcomb to more forward on Cooper's pardon. This effort will need your involvement, but it can wait for now until after the first of the year. I am leaving this petition online, but unless I have some news to offer, I will not post another update until 2017. Thank your for your help this year. One of my resolutions for 2017 will be to see Keith Cooper exonerated. Cheers, Jack Heller