PBCBA BAR BULLETINS pbcba_bulletin_january 2019 | Page 18

INNOCENCE P r o j e c t
18 People – 350 Years - It is Time to Stand Up
NELLIE L. KING
“Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
It is that time of year again. The time
when I ask for your financial support for
the Innocence Project of Florida. The time
when I convey to you the importance of IPF’s
work which serves as the stopgap when
we get it wrong. The time to be reminded
that IPF is woefully underfunded. The
time to acknowledge the human capital at
stake when even one wrongfully convicted
person languishes in prison, or, worse yet, is
executed. I ask you to join me in supporting
this effort which represents hope to the
unlawfully incarcerated.
Please consider a firm or individual
sponsorship to the Third Annual Stand
Up for Innocence Comedy Event to be held
February 8, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. at the Kelsey
Theater in Lake Park.
Partner sponsor: $2,500
•
Ten tickets to the reception and comedy
show with preferred seating
• Recognition in event promotional
materials and IPF newsletter, at the event,
on the IPF website for one year, and in
promotional materials
• $2,500 dollars could pay for expert
reexamination of evidence and in-court
expert appearance
stories.
The accounts of exonerations
of the wrongfully convicted cannot be
ignored. Every few months there is a media
release featuring an exoneree’s smiling face
turned towards his family as his lawyers
accompany him on that long-awaited walk
out of prison. Many of these exonerees
spent decades in prison for crimes they
did not commit. I have met some of these
men and women. What strikes me is
how they seemingly have no anger or
resentment after their release. They kiss
their mother, if their mother was still alive
to witness their freedom date, send prayers
of thanks towards the sky, and marvel at
the things we take for granted, things like
fresh fruit and the quiet that should define
nighttime. Rebuilding a lifetime lost is
difficult. Cell phones and online job sites
stir their curiosity and overwhelm them.
They have lost loved ones, meet children or
grandchildren for the first time, and must
live with the knowledge that, although
deemed actually innocent by the courts,
there is always someone judging them
because of the past they didn’t create.
Exonerees wake up from a nightmare, only
to be confronted with a reality they are often
ill-equipped to handle.
Derrick as the perpetrator. Despite this
evidence, it was not until 2011 that the
state dropped its charges and Derrick was
exonerated after serving 18 years for a crime
he did not commit.
William Dillon:
William Dillion was
wrongfully conviction of a 1981 murder in
Brevard County. Using DNA taken from the
perpetrator’s yellow t-shirt at the time of
the crime, the Innocence Project of Florida
was able to exclude Dillon as the killer. In
2008, Bill was freed after serving 27 years in
prison for a crime he did not commit.
Anthony Caravella: In 1983, Anthony
Caravella was wrongfully convicted of
rape and murder in Broward County. After
multiple coercive interrogations by the
police, Anthony made a false confession to
the crime. It was not until 2010 that he was
exonerated through DNA testing that proved
his innocence. Anthony spent 26 years in
prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
And there are more: Jerry Frank Townsend,
mentally retarded with the mental capacity
of an 8-year old, was exonerated for six
murders and rape in Broward County after
DNA testing positively identified a different
perpetrator was responsible – but not
before Townsend spent 22 years in prison.
And some never make it out, like Frank Lee
Smith, who died in prison after serving 14
years unlawfully. Smith was exonerated of
rape and murder in Broward County after
exculpatory DNA testing identified the true
perpetrator 11 months after his death.
James Bain: In 1974, James Bain was
wrongfully convicted of rape in Polk County.
Despite maintaining his innocence, it was
not until 2009 that the Innocence Project of
Friend sponsor: $1,000
• Four tickets to the reception and comedy Florida was able to test DNA on the victim’s
underwear that excluded James as the
show with preferred seating
assailant. At the time of his release, James
was the longest serving exoneree in the
• Recognition in event promotional country: 35 years in prison for a crime he
materials and IPF newsletter, at the event, didn’t commit. James went in when he was How can this happen?
Eyewitness
on the IPF website for one year, and in just 19 and he was released at the age of 54. misidentification testimony was a factor
promotional materials
in over 75% of post-conviction DNA
Derrick Williams: Derrick Williams was exoneration cases, making it the leading
• $1,000 could pay for DNA testing of one wrongfully convicted of rape in Manatee cause of wrongful convictions in the U.S.
County in 1993. Law enforcement collected Improper or “junk” forensic science played
sample of evidence for a client
various pieces of physical evidence from a role in 50% of wrongful convictions, false
Since my message to you last year, the the victim, including the assailant’s t-shirt. confessions led to wrongful convictions in
number of IPF exonerees has risen to 18 However, none of these items were used at approximately 25% of cases, and the role
citizens who collectively served more than trial despite the availability of DNA testing of snitches contributed to 19% of wrongful
350 years for crimes they did not commit. at the time. In 2009, the Innocence Project convictions.
(story continues on pg 24
There is a face, a family, a story behind of Florida tested the long-forgotten DNA
each one of the Innocence Project success on the t-shirt which effectively excluded
PBCBA BAR BULLETIN 18