San Jose State University students gather for on-line petition in death of 17-year old farm worker girl
San Jose, Calif.—Students, faculty and members of the community will gather at San Jose State University on Monday to e-mail their opposition, with the help of laptop computers, to a proposed plea bargain deal for criminal defendants responsible for the 2008 heat death of 17-year old farm worker Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. The “Bring Your Own Laptop” rally will be held inside the Student Union, Table 13 at San Jose State campus at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, March 7.
The rally will start with a news conference followed by an entire day of sending e-mails to San Joaquin County District Attorney James Willet. The e-mails will oppose a plea deal for the defendants who ran a now-defunct farm labor contractor firm in case of the 17-year-old female farm worker who died of heat stroke. The plea bargain allowing defendants to escape any jail time could set the precedent that farm workers’ lives do not matter, rally organizers say.
A hearing on sentencing of two of the three defendants in the Maria Isabel case is set for March 9 in Superior Court in Stockton. News reports say the two defendants have asked for a plea bargain and possibly will only be sentenced to community service and probation instead of serving any jail time for the girl’s death. A third defendant fled the country.
On May 14, 2008, Maria Isabel collapsed after working in the blazing sun for nine hours without accessible water or shade at a Farmington, Calif. vineyard. Instead of calling for medical aid, Merced Farm Labor Contractors told the girl’s fiancé and father of her unborn child to take her to a clinic in Lodi. By then, her core temperature was 108 degrees on a day when the state work safety agency issued a heat-danger warning to employers. She lost her child and died two days later. The contracting firm had been fined for similar violations of the state heat regulation.
WHO: SJSU Chicano Commencement Groups, faculty and community members.
WHAT: “Bring Your Own Laptop” rally where San Jose State students, faculty and others will send e-mails to San Joaquin County District Attorney James Willet urging him to reject a plea bargain for criminal defendants who caused the death of a 17-year old pregnant farm worker.
WHEN: 10:00 a.m. news conference, day of e-mail petitioning, Monday, March 7, 2011.
WHERE: Inside the Student Union, Table 13 at San Jose State University, One Washington Square San Jose, CA 95192
Once on campus the Student Union is a 5 minute walk from the 7th Street Garage. Simply exit the garage past the Event Center and Music Building. Take a right at the second fountain and walk about 50 yards. The Student Union will be on your left hand side.
Click to see chronology on heat death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez