All I ask is that you hear me out before you pass judgment upon me. Many people say, what’s in it for me? I have nothing to offer, merely the facts of the case and my innocence. If this could happen to me, it can happen to you.
When I was young, I believed in our justice system. I never thought innocent people would be incarcerated. I wasn’t very educated at the time, but I have learned now. It’s about political careers. It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong. This is sad. The system says it guarantees the people that it will protect their constitutional rights. It states that everyone will receive a fair and impartial trial, and that the prosecutor has a code of ethics that he or she will follow. The attorney who represents the accused has a code of ethics that he or she must follow as well, although my attorney did not follow through on his end of the bargain. In this case, it was predetermined that justice would not be served; merely a conviction would be had at any cost.
On December 31, 1978, I was in an auto accident. An individual drove through my side door and I was hospitalized in the intensive care unit for a while. Then, on March 2nd, 1979, I was in another car accident. Again, I was hospitalized. On June 2nd of the same year, while at a birthday party, I was shot by a drunk and once again, I was hospitalized. Finally, on June 26th, 1979, I was arrested and charged with being present when an individual shot and killed a human being and wounded two others. My life was turned upside down.
It proved impossible to obtain an unprejudiced jury for my trial. Jury selection began on March 13th, 1980 and continued everyday until April 6th, 1980. Even then prejudiced jurors were impaneled. One woman based my guilt simply because I had long hair and was allowed to remain on the panel even though it was known that she had a fixed bias and prejudicial opinion.
The prosecution’s witnesses established only that a crime had occurred, but not the identity of the perpetrator(s). The commonwealth’s case rested on the testimony of one eyewitness, George Lawrence. He was not even able to identify the race of the perpetrator(s)! Before the trial, he had given three different false statements to investigating officers. He then perjured himself at the preliminary hearing. The District Attorney, Barbara Christie, knew that the testimony was false, but she failed to correct it and willfully joined in the deceit.
At trial, George Lawrence again committed perjury. Again the prosecutor, knowing the facts, covered it up. A district attorney’s duty is not just to win cases, but to uphold the law and the integrity of the judicial system. She is required to avoid impropriety and even the appearance of impropriety. In my case, the prosecutor’s conduct raised serious doubts as to her integrity. She undermined the judicial process, betraying the trust of the citizens of the commonwealth. There were points in the trial where the court had to repeatedly tell the prosecutor to “shut up”.
At the time he testified at trial, George Lawrence was wanted for armed robbery, a very serious felony. He was also an escaped fugitive from the state of New Jersey. He’d been convicted there of another armed robbery and then escaped from prison. He and the prosecutor told the jury he would return to New Jersey and serve at least seven years of his term. Apparently, in exchange for his perjured testimony, within a month after my trial, the armed robbery charge from Montgomery County was dismissed. He was returned to New Jersey and immediately paroled from the other armed robbery conviction as well. He was never charged with the escape! The court refuses to address the matter. Many false and unethical factors seemed to conspire to convict me. George Lawrence went on to commit further crimes, namely kidnapping elderly people and holding them for their social security disability funds.