“What happened to Justice in America? I have spent the past 25 years in prison for a crime that never even occurred. Almost everyone who takes the time to look at the evidence in my case say they believe me to be innocent. Yet, the courts routinely deny my appeals for some of the littlest excuses they can find. Has everyone who works in the judicial system become so cynical that they just dismiss a claim of actual innocence out of hand? Are they really so afraid to release people from prison?”
Archive for July, 2021
Justice in America? A Prison Post from Shane Crum
Saturday, July 31st, 2021Documents Withheld; Help Needed — a Prison Post from Shane Crum
Friday, July 23rd, 2021“In my case, the prosecution withheld a lot of information they were supposed to give us with our discovery. The discovery is when the prosecution is supposed to give the defense everything they intend to use against the defendant. They are also supposed to provide any and all exculpatory evidence. The little trick they used was to give the documents back to the agencies that generated them during the investigation. The reason for this is to say that the prosecution did not have them in their possession, and therefore could not turn them over to the defense. An example of this was two statements we discovered around 2003 from Christopher and Mark Mowery. Apparently, my daughter said that these two individuals witness me abusing her. When the police interviewed them, they both said the events she described never occurred. The court ruled that had my original attorney done his due diligence, we would have discovered them prior to trial. Therefore, it was a harmless error. An innocent man in prison is a harmless error.”
Confronting the Registry
Tuesday, July 20th, 2021On July 6, 2021 NCRJ Director Emily Horowitz joined an important discussion of sex-offender registries. Eastern State Penitentiary is a former prison in Philadelphia and is now a National Historic Landmark, open to the public for tours seven days a week. They also sponsor several special events each year, such as “Confronting the Registry.” Please watch the video of this illuminating discussion. Posted with permission from Eastern State Penitentiary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ehqeXABcQk
The State Convicted Him of Child Abuse. A Medical Expert Said It Was Likely Diaper Rash
Thursday, July 1st, 2021
“Newton’s theory of the crime—the basis of the prosecution’s case—was impossible, according to Winfield’s appellate legal team.
“During the 2018 evidentiary hearing, Winfield’s attorneys presented testimony by physician and burn expert Stephen Milner. He had previously been director of the Johns Hopkins Burn Center, surgical director at the Johns Hopkins Wound Center, and director of the Michael D. Hendrix Burn Research Center. He testified that he had performed over 5,000 burn-related procedures. In the Superior Court’s ruling, the judge wrote that the ‘court infers that Milner has seen many more burns and genital burns in children and infants than [Newton].’
Read the article by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg in The Appeal.
