PBCBA BAR BULLETINS PBCBA Bulletin - January 2020 | Page 7

INNOCENCE PROJECT
21 People – 460 Years - It is Time to Stand Up
NELLIE L. KING
“Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice
Everywhere.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
As lawyers, we cannot turn a blind eye
when we encounter injustice. It is our
obligation as members of the Bar to
challenge and change the criminal justice
system when the innocent are wrongfully
incarcerated. It is the end of the year, time
for my report on the annual work of the
Innocence Project of Florida (IPF). 1 It is also
time to request your support in aiding the
continued success of IPF, an organization
woefully underfunded, yet vital to righting
the wrongs in Florida’s criminal justice
system. Join me in supporting this effort
which represents hope to the unlawfully
incarcerated.
Please consider a firm or individual
sponsorship to the Fourth Annual Stand
Up for Innocence Comedy Event to be held
February 6, 2020, at 7:00 p.m. at the Kelsey
Theater in Lake Park and co-hosted by the
Innocence Project of Florida and the Palm
Beach County Bar Association. Individual
tickets are also available at a rate of
$100 (general admission) and $ 50 (Public
Interest lawyers and students). Admission
for judges is complimentary.
Partner sponsor: $2,500
• • Ten tickets to the comedy show and
reception with preferred seating
• • Recognition in event promotional
materials, including the IPF newsletter
and social media, the IPF website for
one year, and in the event program and
sponsor boards
• • $2,500 dollars could pay for expert
reexamination of evidence and in-
court expert appearance
Friend sponsor: $1,000
• • Four tickets to the comedy show and
reception with preferred seating
• • Recognition in event promotional
materials, including the IPF newsletter
and social media, the IPF website for
one year, and in the event program and
sponsor boards
• • $1,000 could pay for DNA testing of
one sample of evidence for a client
The photos above are of Clifford Williams (pictured in striped shirt) and his nephew, Hubert Nathan Myers who were exonerated
after serving almost 43 years in prison for a crime they did not commit. They were released from prison on March 28, 2019.
2019 has been a big year for Innocence.
Last year, the number of IPF exonerees
totaled 18 citizens who collectively served
more than 350 years for crimes they did
not commit. This year, the Project count
rose to 21 wrongfully convicted people,
serving more than 460 years in prison.
These numbers are astonishing when one
considers the opportunity costs to these
innocent individuals - the opportunity
costs associated with isolation, loneliness,
the inability to access family, education
and jobs, and, simply, the loss of dignity.
There is a face, a family, a story behind each
one of the Innocence Project successes.
One highlight of IPF this year was the work
to secure exonerations of Hubert Nathan
Myers and Clifford Williams after the two
spent 42 years wrongfully incarcerated.
Myers and Williams represent the first
exonerations in Florida initiated by a
Conviction Integrity Review Investigation
(CIR), led by Fourth Judicial Circuit State
Attorney Melissa Nelson. Mr. Myers and Mr.
Williams were convicted and sentenced
to life in prison in 1976 for the murder
of Jeanette Williams (no relation to Mr.
Williams) and attempted murder of Nina
Marshall. Mr. Myers was just 18 years old
at the time of the conviction, and his uncle,
Mr. Williams, was 34. In September 1976,
mere months after their arrest, the State
jointly tried Mr. Myers and Mr. Williams.
After a two-day trial, the jury found both
men guilty. Defense counsel waived
opening statements, presented no
PBCBA BAR BULLETIN
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significant witnesses, and entered no
evidence. The only evidence the State
presented was testimony from the
surviving victim, Nina Marshall. No
physical or scientific evidence linked the
defendants to the crime, and no witnesses
provided any testimony to corroborate
Marshall. The State’s Conviction Integrity
investigation into Mr. Myers’ and Mr.
Williams’ case revealed both previously
unpresented evidence, including favorable
physical evidence, and multiple alibi
witnesses, as well as evidence discovered
since the time of trial, including multiple
confessions to the murder by another
man linked to the scene by the original
investigation. Additional evidence from
a crime scene reconstruction, sound
experiments, and additional witness
interviews, along with evidence available
at trial, discredited the State’s trial theory
and only material fact witness. The CIR
report concluded, “A jury presented with
the evidence known by the CIR could not
conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that
either defendant committed the shooting
and murder,” and that there “is no credible
evidence of guilt, and likewise, there is
credible evidence of innocence.”
Seth Miller and Krista Dolan, attorneys
with the Innocence Project of Florida, filed
a motion to vacate Mr. Myer’s conviction
and sentence, while George E. “Buddy”
Schulz Jr. of Holland & Knight filed a nearly
identical motion on behalf of Mr. Williams.
(Continued on next page)