freerodneystanberry.com Blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEVURKsGoMI (a news report about Rodney’s case)

April 21, 2013

I want to bring to your attention this very important occurrence, a prosecutor who is being held criminally responsible for withholding evidence that led to Michael Morton spending 25 years of his life in prison for crimes he did not commit ( http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/ken-anderson-court-of-inquiry-resumes/nXRLm/). A warrant was issued for now Judge Ken Anderson following a hearing by the Texas Court of Inquiry hearing about whether Anderson withheld key evidence that could have prevented Morton from spending 25 years of his life behind bars for crimes he did not commit. The judge made a very brave and necessary ruling, he made a ruling not just in favor of Michael Morton, but in favor of the system of justice that far too many prosecutors corrupt when they opt to cut corners to get a wrongful conviction and then work for years, even decades, to be sure that the wrongful conviction isn’t overturned or that the wrongfully convicted isn’t granted parole.

Michael Morton has gotten justice, although this can’t possibly take away the 25 years he spent in prison, being disowned by his own family because the Williamson County, Texas District Attorney’s Office convinced them that Morton was guilty. He has gotten compensated, a bill named after him by the Texas Legislature designed to help prevent prosecutors from withholding exculpatory material, the Texas Bar Association’s ongoing lawsuit against Ken Anderson, a hearing by the Texas Court of Inquiry, and now the prosecutor in his case having to be held accountable, as a criminal would be held accountable for his crimes (by the way, I wrote this blog a couple of years ago entitled “The Prosecutor and the Criminal, the blog isn’t against prosecutors as I think most are good, decent, hard working people who truly want to stamp out crime and put away the bad people, but some prosecutors act like criminals- read to see my rationale http://freerodneystanberry.com/blog/2011/08/11/the-prosecutor-and-the-criminal/-). But for Morton, the “sense of justice” he received did not stop with what is happening to the original prosecutor in his case, Ken Anderson, but Anderson’s successor, John Bradley, was defeated by Jana Duty, who had support of the family of the victim of the same man who murdered Morton’s wife. When prosecutors do not get the right person, that person goes on to commit other crimes. As District Attorney, Bradley mocked Morton’s quest to get a bandana containing DNA tested, mocked Morton for claiming he is innocent, and continued to convince Morton’s in-laws that they had the right man. Bradley was defeated by Jana Duty, in part, because the victim’s family (the second victim) supported Duty, frustrated that the Williamson District Attorney’s Office, in pursuit of Morton, let the actual killer free to kill again (that man was just found guilty by a jury, but not before Morton spent the 25 years in prison.) Michael Morton was innocent and incarcerated AND he was the victim’s family, it was his wife who was murdered. Let that sink in for a moment.

Rodney K. Stanberry and the Withholding of Evidence

My interest in wrongful convictions comes from the fact that my cousin, Rodney K. Stanberry, is in his 17^th year of a wrongful conviction. He will be 44 on April 27, 2013. He was nearly 23 when arrested for the crimes for which he is currently serving time. He has had to spend half of his life living a nightmare, innocent, wrongfully accused, arrested and convicted. Wrongfully accused in that Rodney did everything a law abiding citizen is asked to do, he went to law enforcement to help them locate the people he knew to be involved, including providing photos and a telephone number for a detective in New York to help the people from New York to be brought back to answer from the crimes he committed. Because he was perceived to be too helpful, he became a suspect. Rodney worked at the same job from 1989 until just before he began serving his prison sentence in 1997. On March 3, 1992, the day after the brutal crime against the victim were committed, he took the only personal day that he’d taken off to go to the police knowing that they still had time to apprehend the people from New York before they left the bus station as they jumped on the bus from Mobile back to New York as Rodney confronted them. The detective told the victim’s family that he wasn’t at work on March 2^nd, instead of March 3^rd. This could have been easily been corrected, but when they let the guys in New York go and when Jordan gave immunity to the person who confessed, it became convenient to ignore Rodney’s work records and supervisor/co-workers placing him at work.

Wrongfully arrested in that prosecutor Buzz Jordan conducted a full interview with Rodney without reading him his Miranda rights (http://freerodneystanberry.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Jordan20bfi1.161162558.pdf – at the end Rodney actually you are starting to act as if I am the one who did this, you’ve already established that I was here at work and interaction between Rodney’s trial attorney and Judge McRae about the interview: http://www.freerodneystanberry.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/mcrae1.161162953.pdf). Wrongfully convicted in that the confession was kept from the jury and evidence of innocence was ignored or suppressed by the Mobile District Attorney’s Office because the District Attorney’s Office had a murder-for hire theory that they could not prove, because there was no such plot. But, as it relates to the purpose of informing you of the judge’s ruling to hold former prosecutor, now judge Ken Anderson criminally responsible for withholding evidence that led to the conviction of Michael Morton. The prosecutor in Rodney’s case travelled from Mobile, Alabama to Rikers Island Prison in New York to interview the person he claims shot the victim in Rodney’s case. He said, under oath at Rodney’s Rule 32 Post Conviction hearing, that he was in New York while on vacation and just went to the prison to see if Rene Whitecloud, known as “Ponytail” existed He says no notes were taken, even though he talked to him (http://freerodneystanberry.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/20100914155013.256151941.pdf). If there were an Alabama Court of Inquiry, and if the Alabama Bar Association took interest in this case, I’m sure you’d see similar headlines that you see in Michael Morton’s case (http://www.freerodneystanberry.com/exculpatory_evidence). It isn’t just that the original prosecutor pursues a wrongful conviction, but it is the subsequent district attorneys in the office that work hard to uphold the conviction and to convince the victim’s family that the person convicted is guilty. In Michael Morton’s case, his own son, when he turned 18, changed his name to distance himself from a father that the prosecutor had told his family killed his mother.

When District Attorney Ashley Rich was running to replace John Tyson, Jr., she talked about the integrity of the conviction. She said that if an attorney withheld exculpatory evidence then that prosecutor’s career would be over, it is something that she would not tolerate (http://www.freerodneystanberry.com/key_documents_in_rodneys_case)

But as District Attorney, she is following into the pattern that many fall into (you can see here for a statement from her office about Rodney’s case: (http://newsone.com/1809115/rodney-k-stanberry-is-alabama-still-the-land-of-jim-crow/). Part of the problem, I believe, beyond the convict and uphold the conviction at all cost culture is that she has worked closely over the 14 years that she served as ADA before becoming District Attorney with the people that she would have to talk about these wrongful conviction. I explain it here (http://freerodneystanberry.com/blog/2012/11/21/another-judge-grants-a-new-trial-in-mobile-alabama-a-reaction-to-the-lagniappe-article-on-william-zieglar/ and http://freerodneystanberry.com/blog/2011/11/16/reaction-to-article-in-lagniappe-about-the-toby-priest-case/. When former Assistant District Attorney Eucellis Sullivan was fired by Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich it was done so because she didn’t win enough cases (http://www.local15tv.com/news/local/story/Ousted-Asst-D-A-Says-Firing-was-Unjust-D-A/_k_jw7YebUuoBnZ-_2FUAg.cspx). She’d worked in the District Attorney’s Office for just a few years, as I recall. Can you imagine Rich going to the head of her White Collar Crimes division (Martha Tierney, the ADA on Rodney’s Rule 32) and saying what was your ACTUAL rationale for making sure that the person who confessed to being with the person who shot our victim when he was shot didn’t say anything? Did you really remain quiet when Jordan said he was on vacation when he interviewed the person we said killed our victim? Imagine. Or if she went to her protégée Jennifer Wright (see Toby Priest case) and say were you really sure he was 100 percent guilty before you prosecuted him? Or if she went to long-term ADA Deborah Tillman with Judge Sarah Stewart’s order in the William Zieglar case and said, can you explain this to me (http://blog.al.com/live/2013/02/how_the_system_failed_william.html). And then go to her personal office, think about why she fired Sullivan and then show the same sense of outrage she felt that this person couldn’t win cases would be directed towards those involved in putting innocent people in prison. Imagine that mentality. But, it is just a pipedream- and, by the way, I don’t want people to be fired, I want a recognition that wrongful convictions have occurred and that she needs to put a mechanism in place to address past cases and to prevent them from happening again. In Williamson County, Texas, Jana Duty, a Republican, defeated Bradley and her Democratic general election challenger, the issue of Michael Morton’s case was front and center. Listen to what DA Jana Duty has to say about the need to pursue justice, open files, and prevent wrongful convictions: http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/video?videoid=2ece7fae-8e7e-4ec7-a623-f9fd0b53ca11#tscptmt. Simply a breath of fresh air.

44

Rodney is about to spend his 44^th birthday in prison. He has another parole date in July and because he will not say he is guilty and remorseful for crimes he did not commit, he likely will be denied parole. His mother died last year; hopefully his 79 year old father will live long enough to see his son a free man. If Rodney were guilty, he likely would be out of prison right now, either he would have taken a plea or he would have been paroled- it seems that going before a parole board as a guilty person who shows remorse is preferable to the parole board than going before the parole board as an innocent man.

It is rare that I will say this, but if Texas Justice, as practiced in aftermath of Morton’s release of prison, would come to Alabama, there will be fewer innocent people in prison and more prosecutors instituting reforms in their respective offices. It is never too late to do what is right, fair, and just.

Sincerely,

Artemesia Stanberry

For more information about Rodney’s case, please read this Boston Review investigative article http://www.bostonreview.net/BR38.2/beth_schwartzapfel_valerie_finley_innocent_convictions.php

TV Report about Rodney\’s Case and the latest investigative report:http://www.bostonreview.net/BR38.2/beth_schwartzapfel_valerie_finley_innocent_convictions.php

Rodney K. Stanberry- Innocent and Incarcerated: Year 17 Begins

March 24^th, 2013

Today marks the completion of Rodney K. Stanberry’s 16th year in prison for crimes he did not commit. The Mobile DA’s office had evidence of Rodney’s innocence, it didn’t fit the prosecutor’s theory, so Rodney remains in prison and an injustice continues. Please keep Rodney, his family, and the victim’s family in your thoughts/prayers, as the Mobile County District Attorney’s office has done both families wrong. No one wins when the wrong person is convicted.

Rodney was arrested in 1992, convicted in 1995, and began serving his prison sentence in 1997.  He was approximately just shy of 23 when arrested, 26 when sentenced, and one month shy of his 28^th birthday when he spent his first day under the Alabama Department of Corrections.  Imagine what his 28^th birthday was like, innocent, incarcerated, and away from his parents, his new baby, his wife, his sister and his loved ones. He is currently 43, he will be 44 on April 27^th, 2013.   Rodney’s father was 58 when Rodney was arrested, 61 when Rodney was convicted, 63 when his son spent his first day in prison, and he is 79 on his son’s 16^th complete year in prison. Rodney has a son who is now a teenager, and his mother died on September 8, 2012, cared for and surrounded by his father and his sister. His parents’ retirement years were taken away over this ordeal. Rodney came from a solidly two-parent, middle class household.  His parents were married for as long as he has been alive. He did not have a criminal record, he had a steady job that he worked at until began serving his prison term, he had a bank account, an excellent reputation as a law abiding citizen, his entire future ahead of him, close friends and family and so on.  If the Mobile DA’s office had followed the evidence instead of a theory, this ordeal would have been over long ago.  Instead, on March 25^th, 2013, he will begin his 17^th year in prison for crimes he did not commit. While a book can and will be written to fill in what occurred during each of the years below, only some highlights are provided for your review.

Although calls to the Mobile District Attorney’s Office seem to be futile, your calls are needed to let District Attorney Ashley Rich know that you are concerned about the continued incarceration of Rodney K. Stanberry. She can be reached at (251) 574-6685 or ashleyrich@mobileda.org or her Chief Investigator Mike Morgan at (251) 574-8400 or mikemorgan@mobileda.org.

March 24^th 1997- March 24^th 1998- Year 1 Adjusting to Prison Life- A Foreign Concept to an innocent man who had never been in prison.

March 24^th 1998-March 24^th 1999- Year 2 (1^st letter from NAACP stating that they could not assist in this case)

March 24^th 1999- March 24^th 2000- Year 3 (1^st letter from the Mobile District Attorney’s Office: http://freerodneystanberry.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/20100914154832.256154014.pdf)

Rodney “celebrates” his 30^th birthday in prison

March 24^th-2000-March 24^th 2001- Year 4

March 24^th 2001-March 24^th 2002– Year 5- Rule 32- Post Conviction Hearing for New trial Denied

March 24^th 2002-March 24^th 2003– Year 6

March 24^th 2003-March 24^th 2004- Year 7 “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” WKRG TV- 5 (Mobile, AL Report (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEVURKsGoMI)

March 24^th 2004-March 24^th 2005- Year 8 (October 18, 2004-Parole Hearing- Parole Denied)

March 24^th 2005-March 24^th 2006– Year 9

March 24^th 2006- March 24^th 2007– Year 10 Important Interview on Dr. Wilmer Leon’s show, featuring Rodney’s supervisor who testified and provided work documents during trial that Rodney was at work (he also spoke at Rodney’s second parole hearing): http://freerodneystanberry.com/blog/?attachment_id=119

March 24^th 2007- March 24^th 2008- Year 11

March 24^th 2008- March 24^th 2009– Year 12 Election & Inauguration of First African American President- a lot of change since Rodney’s arrest in 1992.

March 24^th 2009-March 24^th 2010– Year 13  (July 8, 2009- Parole Hearing- Parole Denied)

Rodney “celebrates” his 40^th birthday in prison.

“Time Served, Or Justice Denied in Alabama,” An article in Lagniappe Mobile written by Bill Riales about Rodney’s case. (June 2009, http://classic.lagniappemobile.com/article.asp?articleID=2332 )

March 24^th 2010- March 24^th 2011 Year 14 Ashley Rich is elected to replace Mobile District Attorney John Tyson, Jr.

During the campaign she was asked about what she would do if a prosecutor withheld evidence- You can listen to her response here: http://freerodneystanberry.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/u7am0916AshleyRich1.mp3.

She seemed very adamant about the issue and said that the integrity of every conviction is important to her.

March 24^th 2011-March 24^th-2012 Year 15

Shortly after her swearing in, Rodney K. Stanberry supporters from around the country called her office and signed a petition in support of his release. This put Rodney’s case on her radar screen as District Attorney, not simply as candidate for the office. As stated: [District Attorney Ashley Rich] has received so many calls that she asked her new investigator to call around to see why people were calling. In honor of her first year as DA, I am asking that people call to follow up to see what she is doing with regard to [Rodney’s] case. More importantly, I’m asking people to ask her to take steps to either get the Attorney General to investigate Rodney’s case, retry or release him immediately. http://newsone.com/1809115/rodney-k-stanberry-is-alabama-still-the-land-of-jim-crow/

Journalist Kirsten West Savali was able to get District Attorney Ashley Rich’s Office on record to discuss Rodney’s case. You can read that interview here: http://newsone.com/1809115/rodney-k-stanberry-is-alabama-still-the-land-of-jim-crow/

March 24^th 2012- March 24^th 2013 Year 16

LagniappeMobile calls for an innocent project, the editorial includes the following: “Another case I believe needs an independent look is that of Rodney Stanberry, who has been in jail for murder for roughly 20 years now. A Lagniappe story in 2009 detailed the very shaky circumstances surrounding his conviction.” (Nov 2012: http://classic.lagniappemobile.com/article.asp?articleID=5978)

March 2013: Investigative Journalist Beth Schwartzapfel completed and published her investigation in the Boston Review. You can read it here: “Who Shot Valerie Finley: Why Is One Man’s Innocence So Hard to Prove” http://www.bostonreview.net/BR38.2/beth_schwartzapfel_valerie_finley_innocent_convictions.php

In this article, she includes the confession by Terrell Moore, a confession that the District Attorney’s Office worked to suppress BEFORE Rodney’s trial, even as he confessed in front of the prosecutor and was given immunity from prosecution if he did so, AGAIN, before Rodney’s trial. You can read the confession here: http://freerodneystanberry.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/20100914155256.256155350.pdf.

But here is a portion of investigative journalist Beth Schwartzapfel’s article as it relates Moore appearing before Rodney Rule 32 Post Conviction Hearing:

Aside from Mike Finley, Taco Jones, Tyrone Dortch, and five of Rodney’s coworkers who testified at Rodney’s trial, there was one additional person who would not have corroborated everything that Valerie said: Terrell Moore. Hoping that Terrell would finally “come clean,” as he had promised Ryan Russell he would, Knizely called him to the stand at the hearing. Terrell seemed prepared to testify.

But Knizely had no sooner asked Terrell his name than Martha Tierney, the assistant district attorney, jumped in. “Judge, I hate to interrupt Mr. Knizely, because I have the world of respect for him,” she began, “but if Mr. Moore is going to testify about the things we anticipate he will testify about, and I’m concerned this is a state forum, and that he would take this stand unrepresented and with no grant of immunity to make statements that could have life consequences for him. I just wish that the Court be apprised of that and our concern about that, sir.”

Knizely was incredulous. “Judge, from our understanding, the State’s [position is that] the man—he has no credibility. And are they are telling us now they are going to prosecute him if he confesses to it?”

It was a good question. If the district attorney’s office truly believed, as it had maintained all along, that Rodney was guilty and Terrell was (for some inscrutable reason) lying about his involvement, then why threaten to prosecute him? To prosecute him, the state would have to believe he was guilty. It would have been almost impossible for both Terrell and Rodney to be guilty, since one story contradicted the other. And yet Tierney was simultaneously defending the verdict against Rodney and threatening to prosecute Terrell. It seemed she was trying to scare Terrell off the stand in order to preserve Rodney’s conviction. The Mobile District Attorney’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment, submitted via email, by phone, and in person.

Tierney pressed on. “If he comes in here and says ‘it’s me pals,’ then it’s goodbye sunlight for the rest of his living life, and he’s young,” she said.

Finally, after some additional back-and-forth, Knizely was allowed to proceed. “Mr. Moore,” he began, “you recall whenever a lady named Mrs. Finley was shot? Do you remember back in those days when you were called as a witness in this case?”

Tierney interrupted again. “Judge, may I object sir, for one minute? Could you just, Your Honor, if I may respectfully ask that at least you instruct him that he does have the right under the Fifth Amendment not to make any statements.”

“I thought I just did that,” McRae said, “but I’ll do it again. Under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” he told Terrell again, “you do not have to answer any question which could even possibly incriminate you. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, sir, I understand it.”

“Okay, proceed,” McRae said. But Tierney interrupted again.

“And that the State would use anything he says today, Your Honor, against him.”

“The State can and may,” the Judge said.

“Yes, Your Honor, I understand,” Terrell said, “and I plead the Fifth Amendment.” http://www.bostonreview.net/BR38.2/beth_schwartzapfel_valerie_finley_innocent_convictions.php

As Rodney begins his 17^th year of incarceration on March 25^th, 2017, will Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich work to release Rodney K. Stanberry? Rodney has his third parole hearing on July 2013. District Attorney Ashley Rich has worked to block paroles during her time as District Attorney. While one can understand blocking the parole of those who are truly guilty, but to keep an innocent man in prison is far from understandable. When inmates come before the parole board, the parole board wants to hear that they are guilty and express remorse. Rodney refuses to say he is guilty for crimes he did not commit. It doesn’t matter that he has jobs lined up, family support, sponsors, supporting letters from co-workers, friends and even, as occurred during his previous parole, a letter from the arresting officer, the parole board wants to hear that a person is guilty. This is a true travesty of justice, and, as the New York Times carried about the innocent prisoner’s dilemma: http://www.nytimes.com/video/2010/06/04/nyregion/1247467961918/the-innocent-prisoner-s-dilemma.html.

Contact Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich at (251) 574-6685 or ashleyrich@mobileda.org or her Chief Investigator Mike Morgan at (251) 574-8400 or mikemorgan@mobileda.org.

Peace and Sincerely,

Artemesia Stanberry

http://www.yourblackworld.net/2012/11/black-news/black-community-rallies-to-re-open-the-case-of-rodney-k-stanberry/

Please join us on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Rodney-K-Stanberry/228205690552328 and https://www.facebook.com/groups/freerodneykstanberry/

Another Judge Grants a New Trial in Mobile, Alabama- A Reaction to the Lagniappe Article on William Zieglar

November 20, 2012

The State Did Nothing Wrong, Or So It Says

I wrote a blog about a year ago following Judge Charles Graddick’s granting of Toby Priest a new trial (http://freerodneystanberry.com/blog/2011/11/16/reaction-to-article-in-lagniappe-about-the-toby-priest-case/). The reaction from the Mobile District Attorney’s Office was typical- we did nothing wrong. On November 15, 2012, last week, Lagniappe Mobile shared another case where Judge Sarah Stewart granted William Zieglar a new trial. If you read the Lagniappe piece (http://classic.lagniappemobile.com/article.asp?articleID=5961&sid=1 ), you would be very saddened, it reads like a true travesty of justice. I want to read the 200 page order Judge Stewart issued. In typical fashion Assistant District Attorney Deborah Tillman said- we did nothing wrong. You’ve gotta read the Lagniappe piece. If Rodney K. Stanberry didn’t have the same judge for his Rule 32 hearing (where both Priest and Zieglar were granted new trials) as he did for his trial, perhaps he, too, would have had a judge express grave concern that the Mobile District Attorney’s Office suppressed a confession for no reason but that it did not fit its theory, that an Assistant District Attorney can be on the witness stand during said Rule 32 hearing and say he was on vacation when he travelled from Mobile to Rikers Island Prison in New York to visit the person he says was the shooter, that evidence went missing before trial, that a “photo line-up” in a hospital took place as the victim was recovering from a coma that resulted in the victim pointing to someone she knew, as she was asked to do, and so on. Even so, the Mobile District Attorney’s Office would say- the State did nothing wrong.

But I am thinking that this is more than about the State not admitting that it was wrong, rather, it may be about the head of the state, in this case, the head of the Mobile District Attorney’s Office, not wanting to say that her co-workers and friends actually engaged in prosecutorial misconduct- intentional or unintentional. ADA Jennifer Wright prosecuted the Toby Priest case. According to what I read in the Mobile Bay Times, she is a protégé of Ashley Rich’s. And, as someone who closely followed Rich’s campaign to replace former DA John Tyson, Jr., I can say that Wright was heavily involved with her campaign. ADA Deborah Tillman states in the Lagniappe article that she has been doing her job for 20 years. Specifically she said “I respect her (Judge Stewart) right as a judge to issue the ruling, but I and this office strongly disagree with it,… I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years and I know that I did not do anything wrong in terms of prosecutorial misconduct.” Assistant District Attorney Martha Tierney has also been in the Mobile District Attorney’s Office for years. During Rodney’s Rule 32 hearing, she essentially told Terell Moore, the person whose confession was suppressed and who pled the 5^th on the witness stand during Rodney’s trial, that he could get life if he said what she thinks he will say when he appeared at Rodney’s Rule 32 hearing to testify. In other words, we gave you a “get out of jail free card, don’t say anything.” (http://freerodneystanberry.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/marthtierney.115133154.pdf ) She also listened to Buzz Jordan, who prosecuted Rodney’s case for the Mobile District Attorney’s Office, make the comment about visiting a prisoner while on vacation, so he didn’t take notes. She was promoted under DA Rich to head the White Collar Unit. And then there is JoBeth Murphee who was on John Tyson, Jr.’s “Murder Team,” a team that credited Rodney’s case as a victory and that claimed that the person they claimed was the shooter, Rene Whitecloud, had been brought to Mobile to stand trial (http://freerodneystanberry.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/mobileregister.256104348.pdf . The Mobile Press Register article is dated April 22^nd, 1995, shortly after Rodney K. Stanberry was convicted.) Certainly members of the Murder Team knew this not to be true, Murphy currently heads the Murder Team unit in the Mobile District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney Ashley Rich was sworn in to be the DA in 2010, but she worked in the Mobile District Attorney’s Office as Assistant District Attorney for 14 years prior, meaning that reopening Rodney’s case would further expose what Graddick stated in the Priest case and Stewart in the Zieglar case, and that simply is not going to happen. It refers back to the “us v. them” mentality. Truth and justice matters less than covering up and denying misbehavior among prosecutors.

Prosecutors Are Necessary and Are Very Valuable, But Accountability is Necessary

I am not saying that any of the individuals are bad prosecutors or that they do not go out of their way to protect the community from the really bad people that are out there, I am saying that in the cases when they are wrong and misconduct did occur, the fallback response should not be that the jury made its decision, we did nothing wrong, end of story. This is precisely why a Conviction Integrity Unit is needed, where there is an independent voice working in the Mobile District Attorney’s Office. Dallas County, Texas District Attorney Craig Watkins leads District Attorneys around the nation in freeing the innocent. And guess what, he was reelected! The Mobile DA’s office is in a dispute with the Mobile County Commission about funding. I’ve asked members of the Commission to not increase funding without an integrity unit attached- http://freerodneystanberry.com/blog/2011/07/26/mobile-da-mobile-county-commission-rodney-stanberry-make-the-call/). Merceria Ludgood, who is now President of the County Commission, is also in leadership role with the Mobile Bar Association (ASB Commissioner at Large – Merceria L. Ludgood)– She can show leadership on this. How much does it cost to keep prosecute and incarcerate an innocent person? If justice isn’t the concern, if humanity isn’t concern, perhaps monetary matters will be.

Campaign Talk, Prosecutor Inaction

During the campaign to replace John Tyson, Jr. as the District Attorney for Mobile County, candidates Ashley Rich and Mark Erwin, her primary opponent, was asked if they would be willing to work with innocence projects when presented with cases where there was evidence of innocence. Mark Erwin said he would be willing to and said that while he doesn’t believe there are many innocent people in prison, that he is willing to work with outside groups to free the innocent. Candidate Ashley Rich said during her campaign when asked on a radio show that the DA’s office already looks at cases and feel no need to work with outside groups. She talked about the integrity of the conviction and that she would reopen a case if she discovers that exculpatory evidence was withheld: (http://freerodneystanberry.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/u7am0916AshleyRich.mp3)

I had an email exchange with Mark Erwin that demonstrated to me that he would have been the one to pursue justice as it relates to wrongful convictions. I would love to share his response, but I like to respect the privacy of people, particularly if they aren’t public officials, although our email exchange came about when he was running for office. Here is my portion of the exchange:

March 22, 2010

Dear Mr. Erwin:

I hope you are doing well. In October of last year you on a local radio show(the Uncle Henry Show). You were asked about your thoughts on those who have serious claims of innocence and whether you would work with Innocence Projects. You expressed the importance of ensuring that the right/guilty person is convicted and that it doesn’t serve society to keep an innocence person in prison. You also stated that you’d be open to working with innocence projects. Your opponent was also on the show but because of the new format, few calls were taken, thus she wasn’t asked the question. However, I did ask the question via email. She said that her office investigate claims of innocence, but didn’t say whether she’d work with innocence groups. I think every candidate for DA should establish a wrongful convictions/convictions integrity unit as DA’s in some areas are starting to do. I ask this question because of a family member who is serving time in prison for crimes he did not commit. I am posting information about him here and will send a hard copy of information to you and others within the next couple of weeks. I hope you at least read and think about these cases. Rodney will begin his 14th year of incarceration on March 24th, his father is 76. He was denied parole this summer even as he had everything a parole board asks for, including letters of support from potential employees, a former member of Congress, the arresting officer, and so on. He will not admit to guilt for crimes he did not commit, and for that, he remains in prison. It is a travesty of justice. You are on facebook- there is a Free Rodney K. Stanberry facebook page.”

Peace, Artemesia

March 27, 2010

Greetings:

You did not respond to my email below. I restrained myself from calling while you were on the Uncle Henry show to ask about wrongful convictions again. You sound sincere in wanting to change the direction of the office; changing the direction of the office also means recognizing that there have been people who were wrongfully convicted and choosing to do something about it, as opposed to allowing someone to languish in prison for political reasons. ADA Rich says that the DA’s office needs a prosecutor, not a politician, indicating that you were the latter. It is easy to play politics on the issue of wrongful convictions because it plays well to the public to say let’s lock them up, keep them locked up and throw away the key, but it takes integrity to recognize when a wrong was done and then to correct, no matter the consequence. It costs on average, I read, $13,000 to keep someone incarcerated in Alabama. At 13 full years as an innocent man incarcerated, Rodney has already cost the taxpayers $169,000. I will send you (and others) a hard copy of the information I posted below making the case that whomever enters the DA’s office should seek to establish a wrongful convictions unit AND that John Tyson, Jr. should not leave office without reopening Rodney K. Stanberry’s case.

Peace, Artemesia

PS I am really sincere when I say that you sound like an honest man who is concerned with the DA’s office fighting on behalf of its citizens. I was impressed by both of your appearances on the Uncle Henry Show and will continue to monitor the race.

I really want to share you Mark Erwin’s response to my email above. It was an excellent response. I don’t know Mr. Erwin, but he seems like the person who would have been more willing to address wrongful convictions. A new face possibly would have changed the culture of the office. Just as I mentioned that if Rodney’s trial judge (Judge Ferrill McRae) wasn’t also his Rule 32 judge, perhaps he would have gotten a new trial; by the same token, if someone who was not immersed in the culture of the Mobile District Attorney’s Office to deny that wrongful convictions exist, that perhaps Rodney and others would have found relief from a wrongful conviction. This isn’t to say that Erwin or anyone else would not have been extremely law and order, it is to say that an outsider would have less incentive to ignore the actions of their prosecutors when said actions lead to innocent people being convicted.

The Toby Priest and William Zieglar rulings made by judges who reviewed the cases and the responses of the two assistant district attorneys provide insight into why candidate Rich responded the way she did, about reviewing cases in-house. If you have your current prosecutors to review cases, the response is going to be, Jordan, for example, did no wrong. It would be bad for morality to say otherwise. Law Professor and author Angela J. Davis responded to a New York Times question “Do Prosecutors Have too Much Power.” She wrote:

“We live in a democracy in which we hold accountable those to whom we grant power, but we have fallen short when it comes to prosecutors. State and local prosecutors are presumably held accountable through the electoral process, but few voters know enough about the prosecution function to make a meaningful decision at the ballot box. When prosecutors run for office, they don’t talk about their charging and plea bargaining policies (if such policies even exist). With a few notable exceptions, most prosecutors run on a “tough on crime” message, providing little, if any, information about anything else. There is even less accountability on the federal level where U.S. attorneys are appointed by the president.

….Unchecked power in the hands of prosecutors is as much a threat to our democracy as it is with any other government official, if not more. Prosecutorial decisions often result in a loss of liberty and even life. We must do a better job of holding prosecutors accountable — at the ballot box and through bar counsel prosecutions, when appropriate.”

( http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/08/19/do-prosecutors-have-too-much-power/federal-proscutors-have-way-too-much-power)

This is very powerful. DA Deborah Tillman is quoted in the Lagniappe piece that Zieglar should have taken a plea bargain like the others. If the man knew he was innocent, why would he take a plea? If the DA’s Office knew he was innocent, did they simply offer a plea to mark it down as a conviction? Reforms are needed, accountability is needed, District Attorney Ashley Rich must be willing to establish a Conviction Integrity Unit, the culture doesn’t allow for change to come from within.

Sincerely,

Artemesia Stanberry

www.freerodneystanberry.com Please sign this petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/mobile-district-attorney-ashley-rich-reopen-and-reinvestigate-rodney-k-stanberry-s-case

Below is the full petition letter that can be found at . http://www.change.org/petitions/mobile-district-attorney-ashley-rich-reopen-and-reinvestigate-rodney-k-stanberry-s-case.  Please share the petition widely.

November 2012

Rodney K. Stanberry is an innocent man serving time in prison in Alabama for crimes he did not commit. He was arrested in 1992, convicted in 1995, and began serving a prison sentence in 1997 for crimes he did not commit. On March 25th, 2013, he will begin his 17th year of incarceration.

Rodney was convicted solely based on victim eyewitness testimony. He was convicted even as another individual confessed in front of the prosecutor two years before the start of Rodney’s trial that he, not Rodney, was at the victim’s home when she was shot (the jury NEVER heard this confession), even as work documents and the testimony of his supervisor and co-workers placed him at work when the crimes were committed, and even as there was no physical evidence that placed him at the scene of the crime. Rodney also passed a polygraph test. He did everything a law abiding citizen should do in helping law enforcement and in turn, they arrested and accused him of committing what was a violent crime.

Rodney’s father is 78 and his mother died on September 8, 2012. As you can imagine, there wasn’t a day that his parents did not yearn to be with their son. Rodney’s parents have been married for as long as Rodney, who is now 42, has been alive. Rodney’s father brought his son and family from New York to Mobile to get away from the criminal element, not imagining what the Mobile District Attorney’s Office would do to convict an innocent man and to maintain the conviction at all cost. The Mobile District Attorney’s Office, now under your leadership, District Attorney Ashley Rich, stated in an article written by journalist Kirsten West Savali on January 19^th, 2012 that the jury has spoken and that you will not reopen Rodney’s case without “new and compelling evidence.” (http://newsone.com/1809115/rodney-k-stanberry-is-alabama-still-the-land-of-jim-crow/)

Your office is aware of Rodney’s case and the activism surrounding his case. During your campaign to become the District Attorney for Mobile County, Alabama after spending 14 years in the Mobile District Attorney’s Office, you were asked about how you would handle Rodney K. Stanberry’s case. Soon after you won your election and became the new district attorney, you received calls from Mobile, Alabama and throughout the country about Rodney’s case. These calls requested that you reopen his case. The official response captured in Kirsten West Savali’s aforementioned article is unsatisfactory. We are signing this petition because we are not satisfied with your response; please reopen and reinvestigate Rodney’s case. Evidence of innocence should be a compelling interest. We ask that you reopen Rodney K. Stanberry’s case based on the following:

1) A confession the Mobile District Attorney’s Office had more than two years before Rodney’s trial. (what Moore said in his confession was something that only someone present at the crime scene would know)- The prosecutor went to the judge on the day of Rodney’s trial to get this confession suppressed. Moore had one of the best attorneys in Mobile as his representative during the confession and he testified in front of the prosecutor with immunity under one condition, that he tells the truth. He was not friends with Rodney and had no incentive to risk prison time by confessing and exonerating Rodney: http://www.freerodneystanberry.com/the_confession-_testimonial_immunity_agreement and/or http://freerodneystanberry.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/20100914155256.256155350.pdf The prosecutor has said on record that HE never believed Moore was involved or at the victim’s house and never will believe it. It doesn’t fit his theory.

2) The Mobile District Attorney’s Office never attempted to convict anyone else, even as they told the media and the jury that they would. Convicting someone else would further lead to what is the truth, that Rodney is an innocent man. Thus after he was convicted, the Mobile District Attorney’s Office moved on, were it not for activism by Rodney’s family, he would simply be another nameless victim of the convict at all cost mentality that exists in far too many district attorney offices.

3) The prosecutor who prosecuted Rodney travelled to Rikers Island prison in New York from Mobile, Alabama to visit the person he says was the shooter before Rodney’s trial. The prosecutor claims that he was on vacation when he visited the prison, thus he did not take notes. If this were an official trip and he took notes, this is withholding exculpatory evidence, something that you said during your campaign for your current position you would not tolerate (http://freerodneystanberry.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/u7am0916AshleyRich1.mp3) . The Texas State Bar is suing the prosecutor who withheld exculpatory evidence that led the 25 year imprisonment of Michael Morton, for crimes he did not commit (http://www.kulturekritic.com/2012/10/news/prosecutor-sued-for-withholding-evidence-keeping-a-man-in-prison-for-25-years/) and see http://www.freerodneystanberry.com/the_shooter-_what_they_want_to_wish_away. This is worth investigating so as to uphold the integrity of your office.

These and many other reasons are grounds for you to reopen and reinvestigate Rodney’s case. We will also call this contact information for the Mobile District Attorney’s Office: (251) 574-6685, (251) 574-8400; (251) 574-5000 and/or via email at ashleyrich@mobileda.org. In addition, the Alabama State Bar should make wrongful convictions a part of its priority and to investigate cases where there is evidence of a wrongful conviction. Attorney Phillip Warren McCallum is the President of the Alabama State Bar. The number to the Alabama Bar Association is (334) 269-1515.

Rodney’s scheduled release date is March 2017. His father will be 83 years old, his teenage son born when Rodney was incarcerated will no longer be a teenager, and his mother did not live to see her son a free man. His sister and father cling to one another even more as the loss of their mother and wife, respectively, coupled with the plight of their brother and son, remains a living nightmare. What these middle class parents got for moving their children back to the South for a better life was a taste of the judicial system that cares more about the conviction than anything else, including true justice for the victim as no one wins when the wrong person is convicted. Rodney’s father was 58 when his son was arrested, 61 when his son was convicted, and 63 when his son was sent to prison. He is now 78. Imagine the toll this would have on you?

We who believe in freedom and justice cannot rest. Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich, you can continue to be a strong district attorney, you can continue to receive awards for sending people to death row, you can continue to block paroles, you can continue to be tough on crime, pro-victim, and a protector of the community without letting this travesty of justice to go on. But the reality is that prosecutors won’t change without the public demanding it; they have no incentive to do so. Our voice is needed, we hope you will respond. This is about justice for all, not conviction rates for some.

Peace and Sincerely,

The undersigned petitioners