[Note: Friends of Justice is a personal blog. I speak only for myself.]
Dear Friend of Justice,
I recently received this email from my good friend Carol Tavris:
“I spoke this morning to JD Tomlinson, who, as you see, is up for reelection as DA against a challenger likely to use JD’s release of Joseph — and the apology he made to Joseph — as an attack. How dare a prosecutor apologize to someone falsely convicted?
“He will let me know what we might do closer to the election, in terms of writing letters of support to the newspaper or an op-ed. Of course all contributions gratefullly accepted.
“Incidentally, he would also be interested in speaking about the Allen/Smith case in any lecture venue—law students included. He was a defense attorney for 10 years and thinks that experience was invaluable in countering most DA’s inclinating to withhold exculpatory evidence and jump to conclusions about a defendant’s guilt.
“Do feel free to send his message to anyone who might be interested.
“Healthy new year to all,
“Carol”
If you need refreshing about the Smith-Allen case, here is detailed information.
In brief, during the great childhood sex panic of the 80’s and 90’s a white school bus driver named Nancy Smith and an uneducated black man named Joseph Allen were convicted of horrendous crimes against children. crimes that never occurred.
The prosecutors were ambitious, ruthless, and less than ethical. The trial was a horrendous miscarriage of justice.
For twenty years, all efforts to correct this injustice were thwarted by the Lorain county prosecutor, the Ohio Supreme Court, and the Ohio Attorney General. All were dedicated to the belief that convictions must be preserved — justice be damned.
But the convictions were finally thrown out, largely due to the efforts of J.D. Tomlison, a person of honor and integrity. Let’s do what we can to keep him in office.
Here is his campaign website.
