Jarvis Jay Masters
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Jarvis Jay Masters (b 1962) is an American Buddhist currently on death row at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, California. He arrived at San Quentin in 1981 charged with armed robbery.
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[edit] Death Penalty Case
In 1985, Sergeant Hal Dean Burchfield was stabbed to death at night on the second tier of a cell block. It is notable that Jarvis was on the fourth tier at the time of the murder. Three men were tried for Sgt Burchfield's murder. Andre Johnson was tried for actually stabbing him while Lawrence Woodard was tried for ordering the murder. Jarvis was accused of sharpening the piece of metal that was used in the murder. Of the three men, only Jarvis was given the death penalty. The other two were given sentences of life without parole. Jarvis Masters has been on death row since 1990.
[edit] Finding Buddhism
In the early 1990s, a member of Jarvis' legal team, Melody Ermachild Chavis, began talking to him about Buddhism and they began studying together. About a year later, she arranged for HE Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche to come to the prison to give Jarvis a Red Tara empowerment. He has been practicing ever since.
[edit] Writings
Throughout his incarceration, Jarvis has been writing essays about his time in prison and on death row. His first compilation, Finding Freedom, was published in 1997.
[edit] Works
- Finding Freedom, Jarvis Jay Masters, Padma Publishing. ISBN 1-881847-08-X
[edit] External links
[edit] Update, March 2007
The California Supreme court has issued a preliminary decision on Jarvis’s appeal with two of the Justices ruling he be released on factual evidence that he is innocent, and that he never should have been on death row. All the justices ordered the State be given 30 days to show cause why he should not be released. It is very rare that there is a unanimous decision from the California Supreme Court. In effect, Jarvis is a free man; but, the State may ask for six month extensions to make its case. His conviction was based on the testimony of a now discredited “jail house snitch.” San Quentin death row officials have ordered he be transferred from the Adjustment Center isolation, where he has been held for seventeen years, to the general death row population as soon as space is available. His latest book, “That Bird Stole My Wings”, “ Autobiography Of an Innocent Man”, is at the publishers.
