On New Year’s Eve of 2013, Luke O’Donovan attended a house party in Reynoldstown, a neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. Luke was seen dancing with and kissing other men at the party. Later in the night he was insulted with homophobic slurs, and attacked by several people at once. Luke unsuccessfully attempted to escape, at which point several witnesses reported watching between 5 and 12 men ganging-up on Luke and stomping on his head and body, evidently with the intent to kill him. Luke was called a faggot before and during the attack. Throughout the course of the attack, Luke and five others were stabbed. Luke was subsequently imprisoned and charged with five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as well as one count of attempted murder. He spent two and a half weeks in jail without bond before being released under bond conditions that drastically affected his life. None of the other individuals involved in the altercation were charged.
Luke is a young queer man previously residing in metro Atlanta. At the time of his arrest, Luke was a student at Georgia Gwinnett College and planned on transferring to Georgia State University — a plan he subsequently had to abandon because of legal fees, medical costs, and bond conditions. The conditions of Luke’s bond caused him to move out of the house he was staying in, as well as preventing him from interacting with a large section of his community in Northeast Atlanta.
Luke’s trial concluded on August 12, 2014, when he accepted a plea deal. The negotiated deal was as follows: Luke will be in the Georgia prison system for 2 years beginning on August 12, after which he will begin eight years of harsh probation. At the time of sentencing, the judge added to the negotiated plea that Luke will be banished from the state of Georgia for the eight years of his probation.
Going forward, our support and yours will be needed in a number of ways:
– We need to raise a large amount of money over the next two years. Because he has chosen to remain vegan while in prison, Luke will need as much commissary as possible in order to purchase extra food. He will also need money for telephone calls, stamps, and other amenities. We encourage everyone to choose a recurring donation, as we will need to send him money every week. You can donate here.
– Please, please, please write to Luke. One of the worst parts of prison is the isolation, so we must do everything we can to keep him as connected to his community and supporters as possible. We encourage folks to organize letter writing nights so they can write to Luke (and other prisoners if they so choose) together. He will appreciate all supportive communication he gets.
Luke is now at his permanent facility at Washington State Prison in Davisboro, GA. His address is:
Luke Patrick O’Donovan
#1001372271
Washington State Prison
P.O. Box 206
Davisboro, GA 31018
If you’ve never written someone in prison before, you should check out these tips.
– Regarding books and packages: Luke is pretty limited as far as receiving packages goes. We are able to send him packages periodically through an inmate package service, but this service is only available to those on Luke’s visitation list. Donating money to the PayPal account helps us get these packages to Luke which can contain clothing, cds, and other items he wants or needs. While Luke can receive books, he has asked us to help control the flow of books coming in as he is currently limited to having a maximum of eight books at a time. If you are interested in sending a book to Luke, please send us an email and we will help you. Please remember that nothing other than letters can be directly mailed to Luke’s address. Thank you!
To contact Luke’s support team,
letlukego@gmail.com
