Some of Britain's most notorious cases have been tried at London's Old Bailey, including those attracting the death penalty until the punishment was abolished in the 1960s. This week, capital crimes returned to the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, with a musical protest proclaiming the innocence of a prisoner who has spent decades on death row in the United States. Tuesday's jazz concert in the hallowed halls of the imposing court featured Spanish pianist Albert Marques, with Keith LaMar joining from his cell at a maximum state prison in Youngstown, Ohio, reading poems. "Concerts create an empathy that sometimes encourages people to get involved," Marques told AFP in an interview before the show. "That's the power of music." Marques, 38, has lived in New York since 2011 and learned about LaMar's story from a book that he wrote from solitary confinement, "Condemned", published in 2014. In it, LaMar mentions that the music of jazz musician John Coltrane kept him sane. "So I came up with the idea of doing concert-demonstrations," said the pianist, who grew up near Barcelona. LaMar, who is black, was convicted by an all-white jury in 1995 of playing a key role in the deaths of other inmates in a 1993 prison riot, one of the worst in US history. Marques said he is convinced of his innocence and joined forces with a campaign group calling for his release. "I think everything we're doing will lead to his release, which will also clear up similar cases," he added. "That's why they (the US authorities) are so resistant. It's a house of cards and if he succeeds, everything falls."
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