Keeping people IN who should be OUT is a crime that our Criminal Justice System inflicts upon the society it is assigned to protect. Nick Yarris, released in 2004 after spending 22 years on death row, and Thomas Doswell, released in 2005 after spending 17 years in PA prisons, are among those proven innocent with DNA evidence. However, 90% of wrongly convicted cannot be helped with DNA evidence as the errors in their cases come from problems such as coerced confessions and witness errors.
           
Art for Justice acknowledges the establishment of an Innocence Commission, sponsored by Senator Stewart Greenleaf, (Republican, Montgomery County) approved by the Pennsylvania Legislature in 2007. The Innocence Commission will study the causes and circumstances that lead to wrongful convictions and report its findings and recommendations to the full Pennsylvania Legislature.

Cases of Individuals Claiming Wrongful Conviction

DNA evidence has made it possible to prove the innocence of some individuals who have been wrongly convicted. It is estimated that only 10% of those who are wrongly convicted can be assisted with DNA evidence. The other 90% of wrongful convictions result from various sources such as coerced confessions, faulty eye witness accounts and faulty information from informants.

The Pennsylvania Innocence Commission will study the causes and circumstances that lead to wrongful conviction and report its findings and recommendation to the full PA legislature.

Art for Justice is seeking to develop resources to assist individuals who claim wrongful conviction but cannot seek relief from DNA evidence. As a first step Art for Justice will present case studies of some offenders who claim such circumstances. The accounts are solely those of the offenders. Art for Justice offers this space to further the dialogue about this critical issue, but does not have the resources to make independent investigations to verify each and every detail that is presented.

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A Brief History of my Case
by Charles H. Lawson (Zafir)

In 1974, at age 17, with only truancy on my record, I was beaten by police and forced to confess to a crime I did not commit. With no parent or attorney present, two statements were taken from me. After the first statement was taken I was allowed to see my step-father and sister for a few minutes. My stepfather saw inconsistencies in the statement which were that I had been in Wildwood, New Jersey that day when a fight broke out in Philadelphia. The murder was thought to be in retaliation for that earlier fight. I had no motivation to commit the crime. When the police became aware of the inconsistency they asked my family to leave the room and rewrote the confession. Without parent or attorney present, I then signed the second statement.

On the basis of the confession, with no other evidence against me, I was convicted of First Degree Murder and sentenced to life in prison. I spent five years in prison for a crime I did not commit. The conviction was appealed and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned it. The Court acknowledged that my rights were violated because there was no parent or attorney present during the interrogation.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court awarded me a new trial. Even though I had given the police the name of the person who committed the crime, there was no one else in custody to prosecute for the crime five years later when the retrial was granted. I was given two alternatives, accept a plea bargain to Involuntary Manslaughter with a deal for the five years I had already served, or they would take the case back to trial. They assured me that because I was now an adult, I would be convicted again to life.

Being in prison for five years for a crime I did not commit, was not a good education. After my release I was able to build a productive life, working as a pipe fitter and later as a draftsman, but I also had a drug addiction. In 1990 in an incident involving drugs I deeply regret that in self defense I shot a man and he died. All witnesses at the trial testified that prior to the incident a clear threat had been made on my life. However, my defense was poorly represented and I was found guilty of third degree murder. The life sentence was imposed because of the plea bargain made in 1979 ( for the crime I did not commit ). There is a law that states, "Anyone who was ever convicted of any degree of murder in this State and is once again convicted of murder of any degree except first degree, shall receive a sentence of life in prison regardless of any other law to the contrary." Had this been explained to me in 1979, I would not have accepted the plea bargain.

I have been imprisoned now for over 20 years total. I filed an appeal pro se (on my own) based on new information discovered from a witness. The information claims that there was tampering of evidence (a gun was removed from the scene of the crime). The witness was ill advised by the defense and did not come forward with complete information at the time of the trial.

In October, 2006 I heard back from the federal courts telling me that there is merit in the appeal. However, I had filed the case under the wrong petition and was required to re-file it with the Third Circuit of Appeals in May, 2007. In June, 2007 I heard back from the Third Circuit that the petition was denied.

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Giovanni Reid
A Brief Case History

On August 10, 1991 at the break of dawn, Mr. Robert Janke, was robbed and cruelly shot execution style by a lone stranger at the intersection of 17th and South Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; he dies later that same day. The miscreant who robbed and shot him was later identified as Dwayne Bennett.

Although five people were with Dwayne Bennett on that fateful morning, none of the five was near him or in his immediate space when he robbed and shot Mr. Janke. 16-year-old Giovanni Reid along with his friends, brothers - Tyrone Mackey and Richard King - were all in the vicinity when it happened. Two of the murderer's cousins were there as well - Dajuan and Carlton Bennett.

Immediately after the incident, Mr. Tyrone Mackey reportedly stopped by a relative's home to report the crime. He would also be the one to later initiate contact with the police. All five young men identified Dwayne Bennett (his cousins included) as the lone culprit; just the same, Giovanni Reid and Carlton Bennett would end up being tried together as Dwayne Bennett's accomplices. The Government's key witness, who purportedly eyewitnessed the crime as it unfolded, testified in court that she saw three, dark-skinned Black males surround the victim before he was shot.

A death-qualified jury was seated. However, the day before the trial was to get underway, in a desperate attempt to escape the penalty of death, Mr. Dwayne Bennett accepted a plea bargain of life in prison without the possibility of parole. So, how did a then sixteen-year-old, visibly light-skinned Giovanni Reid end up in a courtroom seated at a defense table? And, how did he wind up receiving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole? Though Dwayne Bennett (the confessed murderer) has always maintained that no one else knew what he was contemplating, it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Since Giovanni's conviction in 1993, new evidence continuously surfaces that proves his innocence. It has since been discovered that the district attorney paid hundreds of dollars to its witnesses that testified at trial. It was also discovered that a Commonwealth witness told the district attorney that Giovanni was innocent; yet the district attorney ordered him on the witness stand to testify to the contrary. In 2006, a new and untapped eyewitness came forward to say that he eyewitnessed the crime from a distance and testified via video deposition that Giovanni and his co-defendant Carlton Bennett are innocent.

For more information on this case, please visit: www.giovannireid.com

George Ivan Lopez

George Lopez has always maintained his innocence. In December, 2007 he was granted a new Evidentiary Hearing to review his case in the Pennsylvania Courts.

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