ADP marked the organization’s 45th anniversary October 27, 2007 with an award banquet at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Des Moines. Dennis Fritz, author of Journey Toward Justice. Exonerated from a life-sentence for a rape and murder he did not commit, Fritz shared his story – made famous by John Grisham in The Innocent Man – with more than 150 people at the IADP banquet and also with groups at the University of Iowa College of Law, the Drake
University Law School, St. Catherine of Sienna Catholic Student Center in Des Moines and at the Coralville and West Des Moines Barnes and Noble
Booksellers.
The event honored four individuals with the second Gov Harold E. Hughes Award for their advocacy work in helping maintain Iowa’s position as a non-death penalty state. The recipients were Gov. Tom Vilsack, University of Iowa law professor David Baldus, Des Moines attorney James Benzoni, and the late Sen. John Ely.
“Each of these individuals has worked valiantly to keep Iowa from reinstating the death penalty and they deserve our recognition,” said IADP president, Dennis Barnum of Gowrie, Iowa.
