When I was illiterate to corruption in our judicial system, I believed that malicious prosecutions of innocent people only existed in movies and fiction books. That was until a crooked cop would change my life forever. My nightmare began when I was charged with murder for being present when a murder took place. The crazy part is I was not the state when the murder took place. At every stage of my proceedings, I believed that it was all a mistake and that the judicial system would correct my wrong.
Once I became literate to law, I became aware that I was drowning in corruption and suffering from a bad case of ineffective assistance of counsel. Every step in my case, evidence of my innocence and corruption, was being hidden from me. My trial and direct appeal attorney did nothing to help me and everything that helped the prosecutor. It took 16 and a half years for me to obtain an attorney who believed in freedom, justice, and equality. At this point in time, a solid appeal of mine was pending in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Little did I know, but, two of the three judges saw my injustice and ordered my release, barring a retrial.
Less than six months of being united with my family, the United States Supreme Court heard a late filed appeal by the prosecution and reinstated my wrongful conviction based on a technicality. Their decision was per curiam [an opinion by a whole jury rather than a single judge] , and they did not allow my attorneys to file an opposing brief or orderly argue, which is normal procedures. Once again, I entered a nightmare I lived in for 16 and a half years, only this time my legal team will uncover the evidence of my innocence and corruption. After filing my new appeal, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office prosecuting my case agreed to investigate my innocent claims.
That’s what they led society to believe. A sore tactic that’s commonly used in wrongful convictions was in full effect. After four 90 day continuances, two 60 day continuances, three 30 day continuance, and one
4 day continuance and two, 2 day continuance on Christmas Eve, 2014, the Attorney General’s Office replied to my claims by denying any wrongdoing. This comes as no surprise. What do you expect from the culprits of a wrongful conviction. Once again, my fate resides in the hands of the same judge who found me guilty. Will the justice system work this time? Until it does, 19 years of torture and counting. The pain within. Free the innocent.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
