{"id":481,"date":"2019-06-23T14:36:52","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T14:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/?p=481"},"modified":"2019-06-23T14:36:52","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T14:36:52","slug":"when-they-saw-him-the-case-of-rodney-k-stanberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/?p=481","title":{"rendered":"When They Saw Him: The Case of Rodney K. Stanberry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Free Rodney Stanberry\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cEVURKsGoMI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>June 20, 2019<\/p>\n<p>When They Saw Him: The Case of Rodney K. Stanberry<\/p>\n<p>There is a lot of discussion around Ava DuVernay\u2019s \u00a0Netflix series entitled <em>When They See Us<\/em>.\u00a0 The series is about the Central Park 5, now also known as the Exonerated 5 as they were exonerated, but not before their teen years were stolen from them; not before they experienced a grave injustice at the hands of prosecutors and the judicial system; and not before they got a true understanding of what it means to be guilty before being proven innocent, which is the opposite of what we are taught about our judicial system. \u00a0\u00a0These individuals did not have a chance once they were accused.\u00a0 The case of the Central Park 5 is well known, but from what I understand, Ava Duvernay\u2019s series provides one with a no holds barred insight into the all too real reality of how easy it is to get a wrongful conviction, especially if the individuals are among a group often considered to be public enemy number one. And when one adds to the mix the race of the crime victim, even more gets added to the mix as many African American males have been lynched by the mere accusation of committing a violent sexual crime. I can get into the study of lynching by Ida B. Wells, but I won\u2019t do so in this blog. While the entire case is disturbing, it is even more disturbing to know that only two of the five young teens knew one another, meaning that they were rounded up and placed in police custody where they were coerced into confessing for crimes they neither knew about, nor committed. And what happened to Corey Wise, who accompanied his friend to the police station, is a true American travesty on top of a travesty.<\/p>\n<p>I have not yet watched the series as it is so difficult to watch documentaries on wrongful convictions as my cousin, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\">Rodney K. Stanberry<\/a>, lived with that nightmare for 20 years of his life- twenty five years when one includes the day of the accusation, his trial and appeal before beginning his prison sentence on March 24th, 1997. One can imagine how difficult it can be for one to watch the docu-series; I read that even some of the actors portraying the Central Park 5 experienced emotional pain during the taping of the film. I also read a piece about how watching DuVernay\u2019s series on the Central Park 5 is for Black people is akin to watching a horror film and many simply can\u2019t handle doing so. In response to this, Ava DuVernay stated the following:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Essence<\/p>\n<p>10 June at 08:57 \u00b7<\/p>\n<p>\u201dI know there are folks that have chosen not to watch, feeling that it&#8217;s too traumatic, and others who have chosen to educate themselves in order to arm themselves&#8230;to know what their rights are&#8230;It\u2019s been a war against us for over 400 years. To say, \u2019I don&#8217;t want to see it,\u2019 is something I\u2019d invite people to re-examine.\u201d -Ava DuVernay #WhenTheySeeUs\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/essence\/\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/essence\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I get that, but while many tend to become aware, agitated and angry for a short period time after being exposed to the anatomy of a conviction, recall the <em>Making of a Murderer<\/em> as another example, my cousin has had to experience this nightmare since he was 23 years of age, he just turned 50 on April 27<sup>th<\/sup>, 2019.\u00a0 He spent his 20s being accused, tried and convicted of a crime for which he was falsely accused, his entire 30s in prison as well as all but two and a half years of his 40s and we are still trying to get true justice and acknowledgement from the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office that they convicted an innocent man.<\/p>\n<p>This blog is for the purpose to reintroduce you to the case of Rodney K. Stanberry, who, as mentioned, spent 20 years in prison for crimes he did not commit.\u00a0 This will be the first of three blogs about his case that I will complete over the course of the next several weeks.\u00a0 The next one will be an open letter to District Attorney Ashley Rich (Mobile, Alabama) and the third one will be a longer blog outlining some of the issues she discussed on a recent appearance on a local (Mobile, AL) radio show. This is June, Father\u2019s Day is this month and Independence Day is July 4<sup>th<\/sup>, as you know. How many Father\u2019s Days did Rodney spend in prison? TWENTY. How many Father\u2019s Days did Rodney\u2019s father spend with his son in prison?\u00a0 TWENTY.\u00a0\u00a0 Before I go on, I am going to ask that you contact Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich\u2019s Office to ask that she establishes a Conviction Integrity Unit so that cases such as Rodney\u2019s can be reviewed by a variety of individuals, including members of the district attorney\u2019s office.\u00a0 The contact info for the Mobile DA\u2019s Office is\u00a0(251) 574-8400,\u00a0Ashley Rich \u2013 District Attorney \u2013 251-574-5000 \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:ashleyrich@mobileda.org\">ashleyrich@mobileda.org<\/a>, and\/or\u00a0Mike Morgan \u2013 Chief Investigator \u2013 251-574-6681 \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:mikemorgan@mobileda.org\">mikemorgan@mobileda.org<\/a>\u00a0https:\/\/www.mobileda.org\/list-of-teams\/.<\/p>\n<p>I will spend more time in an upcoming blog discussing Conviction Integrity Units, one of which was recently established by a district attorney in Monroe County, New York.\u00a0 Here is a quote from an article about it:\u00a0\u201cAt the Monroe County District Attorney\u2019s Office, we aim for justice, not incarcerating as many people as possible,\u201d Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley said in a statement. \u201cConvicting innocent people is a horrifying concept, and a Conviction Integrity Unit can help with a fair and just Criminal Justice System here in Monroe County.\u201d\u00a0https:\/\/13wham.com\/news\/local\/monroe-co-das-office-to-investigate-claims-of-innocence-with-conviction-integrity-unit\u00a0 This should be the mentality of Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich. I look forward to seeing her post these sentiments on her webpage as she is establishing a Conviction Integrity Unit in the Mobile District Attorney&#8217;s Office.\u00a0 This wishful thinking can and should become a reality. Anyway, while I understand that this blog is fairly long, please keep in mind that you can go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\">www.freerodneystanberry.com<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\">www.freerodneystanberry.com\/blog<\/a> to learn more about Rodney&#8217;s case.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When They Saw Him<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I wish to begin this section of the blog by stating that a brutal crime took place against an innocent woman. She, nor anyone, deserves to be attacked (<em><a href=\"http:\/\/bostonreview.net\/us\/who-shot-valerie-finley\">you can read more here<\/a>).<\/em>\u00a0 A brutal crime took place in the Central Park 5 case and in many cases where there are wrongful convictions. But this should not give district attorney\u2019s a license to convict at all cost, whether one is guilty or innocent, they must follow the \u201crule of law.\u2019\u00a0 District Attorney\u2019s should not be in the business of suppressing, hiding, destroying and ignoring evidence of innocence as the victim does not get true justice when the innocent are convicted. And when the innocent are convicted, the actual guilty culprits remain free. How is this justice?<\/p>\n<p>On March 2<sup>nd<\/sup>, 1992, on the last day of Mardi Gras, two individuals entered the victim\u2019s home, brutally shooting her. One of those individuals, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/the_confession-_testimonial_immunity_agreement\">Terrell Moore, confessed to committing the crime<\/a>&#8211; admitting that it was he and another individual<em>.<\/em> He confessed BEFORE RODNEY\u2019s TRIAL and this wasn\u2019t a Central Park type of confession where the young men were subjected to a very difficult interrogation, without parents present, without attorneys, without sleep, and with the assumption that they were guilty and thus a confession will be made by hook or by crook, as I recall. No, the person who confessed in Rodney\u2019s case \u00a0had as his attorney one of the best and most well-known attorneys in Mobile. The prosecutor gave him immunity if he told the truth.\u00a0 He told the truth, but it did not fit the prosecutor\u2019s theory. The prosecutor, Joe Carl \u201cBuzz\u201d Jordan even asked Moore if he were offered lunch meat in return for his confession!\u00a0 No, Mr. Jordan, he was offered something more valuable by YOU- tell the truth and you will be ok. He told the truth, you decided to not believe him, so you got it suppressed on the day of Rodney\u2019s trial!!!\u00a0 You gave him a get out of jail free card so that you could pursue an innocent man, Mr. Jordan, that is on YOU.\u00a0 Again, the reader can read the confession <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/the_confession-_testimonial_immunity_agreement\"><em>here.<\/em><\/a> Why did the person confess? Because he knew he was guilty and that the police and DA would know it as well.\u00a0 Little did he know that they just did not care about the truth, which means they did not care about justice, which means that they had no qualms about letting the guilty go free while pursuing the innocent and will have to ask why that is the case. Anyway, Moore made this confession more than two years BEFORE Rodney\u2019s trial.\u00a0 The prosecutor got it suppressed on the day of Rodney\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What about the actual shooter as the person who confessed included who actually shot the victim. Well, the prosecutor wanted to pretend that he did not exist. Yes, you heard me.\u00a0 You can read more here (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/the_shooter-_what_they_want_to_wish_away\">What they Wish to Wish Away<\/a>). The truth becomes a casualty of war in the convict at all cost mentality of district attorney\u2019s.\u00a0 Far too many will do anything and everything to get a conviction so let the innocent beware,\u00a0 Ok, so Rodney was at work. His co-workers testified in court that he was at work, documentation place him at work, he would have literally have had to be superman <a href=\"http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/06\/can-a-person-be-two-places-at-once-the-wrongful-conviction-of-rodney-k-stanberry-2\/\">to be two places at once<em>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Making of a Wrongful Conviction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On March 3<sup>rd<\/sup>, the day after the crimes took place, Rodney, a hardworking, law abiding citizen, took the rare day off to go to the Prichard Police Department to provide them with as much information as possible to help the police to apprehend the individuals from New York- the individuals who came to Mobile to visit Rodney during Mardi Gras.\u00a0 Because Rodney worked throughout their visit, another individual from Mobile entertained the individuals.\u00a0\u00a0 Rodney also warned the victim\u2019s husband to not sell the folks from New York weapons as he feared they would take them back to New York to commit a crime. His warning was not heeded.\u00a0 As a means of an explanation, Rodney liked to hunt and he wanted to show off a deer that was at the home of the victim and her husband. While seeing the deer, the individuals from New York also saw guns and started asking about them. This is why Rodney warned about selling guns to the individuals (<a href=\"http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/20\/gun-control-what-happened-when-a-gun-enthusiast-tried-to-stop-the-sale-of-weapons-the-case-of-rodney-k-stanberry\/\">again, you can read more here-<\/a>).\u00a0 Rodney\u2019s friends did not like his interference, but Rodney did what any law abiding person would do who feared that weapons would be used to commit crimes.\u00a0 Needless to say, this did not endear him with his friends and, unfortunately, some weapons were sold to them\u00a0 but they wanted more, hence the Mardi Gras Day robbery and shooting.\u00a0 Rodney, a law abiding citizen, had no problem being as helpful as possible to help apprehend the people he knew.\u00a0 Before going to the Prichard Police, he tried to track down the two individuals from New York AND he called the police department in New York to let them know what happened and that the individuals would be on a Greyhound bus and that they should be apprehended.\u00a0 Rodney even went to an electronics store (RS initials) to purchase a recording device and then secretly recorded the individuals involved asking them why they did this and they\u00a0 apologized and, again, exonerated Rodney, Rodney turned that recording over to the police and it, too, was &#8220;lost&#8221;\u00a0 \u00a0while in the hands of law enforcement.\u00a0 Rodney essentially tried to play crime fighter and for that, he was &#8220;believed&#8221; to be guilty because he was being too helpful. Rodney broke the friend code because a brutal crime had been committed, but it was viewed in a negative lens by law enforcement who ask citizens to <a href=\"http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/29\/the-%E2%80%9Cno-snitching%E2%80%9D-code-it-should-apply-to-the-street-and-to-the-power-structure\/\">speak up about crimes.<\/a> Recall that Rodney went to the Prichard Police department on March 3<sup>rd<\/sup>, taking a day off work.\u00a0 He deemed to be too helpful by a Prichard Police Officer, the same one who took the photos provided by Rodney and placed them in front of the victim and asked which of these individuals could have been at your house.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rodney provided photos to the police that included one of the individuals involved in the crime. The police placed that photo in front of the victim while she was in the hospital recovering from a brutal gunshot womb \u00a0and asked which of these individuals could have been at your house.\u00a0 Rodney was frequently at her house so she pointed\u00a0 to Rodney \u00a0and this continued the ball rolling- the Prichard Police Department and the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office should have known better to use this as a \u201cphoto-line-up\u201d but they did and this became one of a series of extremely unfortunate mishaps perpetuated by the police and the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office to make a wrongful arrest and conviction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Once the victim pointed to Rodney in the photo that HE provided because, again, he was trying to help the police, regardless of his relationship with the person that the person who confessed to being one of the only two people at the victim\u2019s home was the shooter, it someone became it was Rodney and his White girlfriend. Again, Rodney\u2019s girlfriend was White and the two of them would be at her house frequently, so that is what the victim would have honestly remembered. This isn\u2019t the victim\u2019s fault. It is the fault of prosecutor Joe Carl Buzz Jordan who went to his girlfriend\u2019s place of employment where he discovered that she, too, was at work when the crimes took place. She also was with Rodney when he visited the hospital the night of the shooting (Jordan and Prichard Police Detective Lebarron Smith asked him this during an interview that took place at Rodney\u2019s job- pg 47 (<a href=\"http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/Jordan20bfi1.161162558.pdf\">http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/Jordan20bfi1.161162558.pdf<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So the prosecutor would have evidence that Rodney AND his girlfriend were at work, but he continued to pursue Rodney for when he saw Rodney, one can speculate, he saw someone who came from New York, dated whoever he wished, was gainfully employed, owned his own truck, came from a two-parent, middle class household, whose sister was a college student- shall I go on? \u00a0Why can I speculate what the prosecutor saw when he saw Rodney? \u00a0During the interview that took place at Rodney\u2019s place of employment, an interview in which he was not mirandized some of the of questioning was about his girlfriends, his parents\u2019 home ownership, his family\u2019s move from New York. \u00a0When they saw Rodney, they saw someone who was out of place and that made him a <em>criminal<\/em> as opposed to the people who actually perpetuated the crime, again NO ONE WAS ARRESTED NOR PROSECUTED for these crimes EXCEPT FOR RODNEY! \u00a0\u00a0The prosecutor tried to push forward a murder for hire scheme as a motive for the crimes, but, again, that fell by the wayside, though the prosecutor tried to indirectly bring it up during trial to convince the jury that even though Rodney had a stable job, had the same guns he was accused of stealing, had an alibi, that maybe, just maybe he and the husband were involved. Again, this theory mattered little to the prosecutor as when Rodney was convicted; he moved on. Case closed, nothing more to see here, folks.\u00a0 The judge included this alleged murder for hire scheme in his ruling against Rodney\u2019s Rule 32 appeal as well\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/20131001162535.273150859.pdf\">http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/20131001162535.273150859.pdf<\/a>\u00a0see pages 4-6 ) This order by Judge McRae reads like it was written by the prosecutor\u2019s office. The judge wrote that while prosecutor Jordan was at Rikers Prison in New York (an interview that the prosecutor claimed he did take notes because he was on vacation- this claim is on record via the same Rule 32 hearing\u00a0 that the judge presided over and ruled on, yet he includes in his order denyin Rodney&#8217;s appeal that the person at Rikers told Jordan to investigate the husband. Yes, folks, this is a part of the anatomy of a wrongful conviction, perpetuated by the prosecutor, sanctioned by the judge and others in the system).\u00a0 Rodney was his man and it was Rodney and Rodney only that he was going to make an example out of, I mean prosecute.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201c**A Black Redneck** <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The title is a quote from a longer article (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/timeservedlagniappe_1.7453308.pdf\">Time Served or Justice Denied in Alabama <\/a>by Bill Riales). I do not like using certain words so forgive me if you find this to be offensive. But to continue with this, here is a quote from an investigative piece about Rodney\u2019s case:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201c**A Black Redneck** When Rodney was 17, his father moved the family from New York to the community of Axis. The elder Stanberry feared the emerging street culture of New York City and the effect it might have on his son. Rodney reveled in the move, taking up hunting and fishing. A selfdescribed &#8220;black redneck,&#8221; he loved guns and shooting and quickly became familiar with a South Alabama way of life. After having trouble with his infatuation with a white girl and finding work as a sanitation truck driver, he settled down to enjoy life. Then he met Mike Finley, a kindred spirit. They enjoyed guns, ate dinner on Sundays, went shooting as much as they could, and owned many of the same types of weapons. Valerie knew him as part of the family. Mike and Valerie lived in a small house at the end of a cui de sac in Whistler. Rodney says it was simple happenstance that caused his former New York friend Rene (pronounced Rennie) Whitecloud Barbosa to call. Barbosa was looking to come south from New York and he had a friend he was bringing along &#8211; Angel Melendez. Melendez, known as &#8220;Wish&#8221; was also connected to Rodneys past life in New York. Stanberry had gotten Melendez&#8217;s sister pregnant and had a child with her as a teenager. Now, Barbosa and Melendez were headed to Mobile, for a Mardi Gras visit with their old friend.\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/timeservedlagniappe_1.7453308.pdf\">http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/timeservedlagniappe_1.7453308.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So, yes, Rodney knew the individual who was the actual shooter- Terrell Moore includes in his confession who shot the victim. An innocent phone call where Rodney was actually trying to reconnect with a young son he left behind as a teen age father inadvertently led to two of his friends coming to Mobile to experience Mardi Gras.\u00a0 They were his childhood friends from when he lived in New York.\u00a0 He had no idea that a brutal crime would be committed while they were in town. \u00a0And he had no qualms about doing everything he could to help the police to locate them as they were attempting to return to New York. He was upset that they would come to his town, to visit him and to commit a crime. That wasn\u2019t who he was and he was not going to abide by a no snitching code as he wanted justice.\u00a0 Again, the person who confessed, who accompanied the actual shooter to the victim\u2019s house was not a friend of Rodney, they barely knew one another. \u00a0I don\u2019t want to get too deep into the weeds, but I invite you to read more about this in this <a href=\"http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/20\/gun-control-what-happened-when-a-gun-enthusiast-tried-to-stop-the-sale-of-weapons-the-case-of-rodney-k-stanberry\/\">blog<\/a>.\u00a0 So Rodney went to the Prichard Police to provide with names, photos, anything they needed.\u00a0 He was not aware of the person who confessed, but that individual thought the police were going to arrest him because an on the ground witness saw him and could identify him. Little did he know that the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office would give him a free pass to be involved in a brutal crime.\u00a0 So listen to me, the person who confessed had a record, he had a spotty work record, even during Rodney\u2019s Rule 32 (post conviction) appeal when the person who confessed was again going to do the right thing, Assistant DA Martha Tierney reminds him that he has a record and if he says what she thinks he will say, then it was lights out. So when they saw Moore (the person who confessed), they saw a man who fit a stereotype but the stereotype Rodney fit was much greater- an uppity Black man from New York, dating who he wants to date, gainfully employed, two parent household, sister in college, and maintaining his innocence, well, that is a bigger issue than anything.\u00a0 The arrogance of maintaining your innocence for a crime not committed. \u00a0How dare he! Throughout my 20 plus years of fighting for Rodney\u2019s freedom and exoneration, I rarely emphasized these side issues, but others did, and some, based on stereotypes of certain people in Alabama, tried to bait me to stress the racial angle. But I rarely did because Rodney\u2019s innocence and the lack of evidence the prosecutor used to convict him speaks louder than anything. \u00a0But what<em> did<\/em> they see when they saw him? What were their impressions that remained even after it became evident that he was not at the victim\u2019s house when her house was burglarized and when she was brutally shot.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>He was Innocent Then, He is Innocent Now and his conviction should matter to DA Ashley Rich <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On our website, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\">www.freerodneystanberry.com<\/a> I have a link entitled \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/why_he_is_innocent\">Why He is Innocent.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 I am convinced that the powers that be in the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office from the time Rodney was arrested to the present time knows he was not and could have been at the victim\u2019s house.\u00a0 But they allowed a faulty \u201cphoto-line-up\u201d\u00a0 to kick off a wrongful conviction- they knew that both Rodney and his girlfriend were at work, they had a confession from Terrell Moore and evidence to corroborate that confession, the Prichard Police \u201clost\u201d evidence that would further place the person who confessed at the scene, Prosecutor Buzz Jordan traveled from Mobile, Alabama to Rikers Island Prison in New York before Rodney\u2019s trial to interview the person they claim was the shooter but claims that he did not take notes because he was on vacation (if he heard what he wanted to hear and that was that Rodney was involved, do you really think he would have claimed to have not taken notes because he was on vacation?), Rodney\u2019s supervisor and co-workers testified that he was at work, in other words, he really would have been two places at the same time. The person who confessed was not Rodney\u2019s friend. He was introduced to Rodney\u2019s friends by another individual because Rodney could not entertain his friends while at work- again, Rodney never missed a day of work. He was making a very good salary for a young, Black man in Mobile, Alabama making more than 300.00 a week working for a stable company. So he was not going to take off work to be with his friends because that isn\u2019t what he did. He worked hard and he played hard and when they saw him, they had to take him down a notch. But in the process, they took down some of our faith in the system. In the process, they \u00a0did not extend justice to victim. In the process, they cheated taxpayers out of their money by convicting an innocent man and keeping him in prison for 20 years. In the process, they let someone who was involved in brutal crime know that we do not care to convict you, we want him. When they saw Rodney, when they saw his background\u2026 well, you get point.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Freed But Not Exonerated<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rodney began serving his prison sentence in March of 1997. The crimes for which he was accused (attempted murder, robbery and burglary. Rodney worked until days before he went to prison in 1997.\u00a0 The crimes took place in 1992, his trial in 1995, and after losing an appeal, went to prison.\u00a0 He remained at the SAME place of employment throughout this time.\u00a0 His supervisor continued to testify on Rodney&#8217;s behalf. You can hear him on a radio interview from 2009 courtesy of the Dr. Wilmer Leon Show\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/062709-RS.mp3\">here<\/a>\u00a0and an interview from 2006 <a href=\"http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=119\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This was a major company in Alabama. Do you think they would have kept in their employment someone who had been accused of committing such a brutal crime on company time had they believed he was guilty? When Rodney\u2019s place of employment saw him, they saw him as who he was, a hard working, law abiding citizen who was working when this crime was committed.\u00a0 Why could not prosecutor Jordan see this in light of evidence of innocence (I enclosed a video featuring both Jordan and Moore). \u00a0\u00a0I once wrote a blog entitled <a href=\"http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/21\/rodney-passed-a-polygraph-test-can-they\/\">Rodney passed a polygraph test can they<\/a>, which is how the people responsible for upholding the rule of law, pursuing justice, and abiding by the truth did the opposite in Rodney\u2019s case.\u00a0 Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich now owns Rodney\u2019s case.\u00a0 While she was elected in 2010 to serve as the Mobile District Attorney, she served in the office for 16 years or so prior to that.\u00a0 Since the day she became DA, he was aware of Rodney\u2019s case. We had a very successful call in to her office. It was so successful thanks to those who are justice minded people that her Chief Investigator, Mike Morgan, called some folks and asked why were they interested about and calling regarding Rodney\u2019s case! He was even quoted in this article by Kirstin Savali entitled \u201c<em><a href=\"http:\/\/yourblackworld.net\/2012\/11\/14\/black-community-rallies-to-re-open-the-case-of-rodney-k-stanberry\/\">Black Community Rallies to Reopen the Case of Rodney K. Stanberry.<\/a>\u201d<\/em> Mobile DA Rich knows about this case, she was asked about it during her campaign, and if you were to call her office tomorrow, you would see that there is knowledge about his case.\u00a0 Although Rodney is now free, he has not been exonerated.\u00a0 Just as we have seen District attorney offices work to free individuals who served years in prison via Conviction Integrity Units, she can do the same.<\/p>\n<p>Until District Attorney Ashley Rich seriously looks reviews Rodney\u2019s case And allows independent third party to do so, as is the purpose of establishing Conviction Integrity Units) she owns the tactics of Buzz Jordan in getting a wrongful conviction- going to visit a suspect and claiming not to take notes should be among the egregious tactics he used to get a wrongful conviction, his dismissal of an actual confession should shock her. Rodney was convicted solely on victim eyewitness misidentification. She knows how that came about, does she know that when the victim pointed to Rodney via picture he provided while recovering from a coma that it became Rodney and his White girlfriend (for if in response to a question of who could have been at your house, it would have been both of them, which is why Buzz Jordan when to her job to interview her.\u00a0 By the way, in recent years his girlfriend at the time has tried to reach out Mobile DA Ashley Rich\u2019s office but, again, the truth matters less than the conviction).\u00a0 No one was convicted of these crimes except for Rodney even as the prosecutor, who suppressed a confession AND pretended that the person who actually shot the victim did not exist told the jury that he was going to bring the person at Rikers prison to Mobile for a trial. He never did. He never intended to.\u00a0 He focused SOLELY on Rodney and Rodney\u2019s conviction.\u00a0 Why? What did he see when he saw Rodney?\u00a0 What did he see when he saw and heard Terell Moore\u2019s confession (Moore made the confession IN FRONT OF PROSECUTOR BUZZ JORDAN TWO YEARS BEFORE RODNEY&#8217;s TRIAL? More importantly, what does Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich see and condone in the conviction of Rodney K. Stanberry?<\/p>\n<p>Again, I am asking that you contact the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobileda.org\/\">Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office<\/a>\u00a0, that you share this with friends and acquaintances in the media, and if you know Ava DuVernay, share it with her. As I recall, she has Alabama connections.\u00a0 An innocent man spent 20 years in prison. The Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office should acknowledge this, apologies publicly and institute reforms to help to prevent this from happening in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Peace,<\/p>\n<p>Artemesia Stanberry<\/p>\n<p>Here is a\u00a0 a<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/rodney__buzz_jordan_interview_april_1992_and_judge_ferrill_mcraes_concerns_about_the_interview\"> 50+ page interview <\/a>that took place in April of 1992 where Buzz Jordan and Prichard Police Detective Lebarron Smith are &#8220;interviewing&#8221; Rodney at his place of employment. It is very saw to read the end of the interview as Rodney who is trying to be helpful realizes that he is a suspect.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Soon after the April 1992 interview with Buzz Jordan and Lebarron Smith (police), \u00a0Rodney was arrested and charged with crimes he did not commit.\u00a0 This 23 year old man who was making $300 dollars a week at a major company with no incentive to steal the very weapons he either had or could purchase.\u00a0 You can see the point when\u00a0 Rodney realizes that the prosecutor is focusing on him even as he knows that he was at work when the crimes took place. The complete interview can be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/rodney__buzz_jordan_interview_april_1992_and_judge_ferrill_mcraes_concerns_about_the_interview\">read here:<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0And speaking of the rule of law, even <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/article\/judge-lynch-mob\">Judge Ferrell McRae\u00a0<\/a> chastised Jordan for not properly mirandizing Rodney during this interview. Rodney thought he was being a cooperative law abiding citizen not knowing that Jordan saw him as a suspect- beginning on page 109 of the trial transcript,\u00a0 Det. Lebarron Smith admits that Rodney was their chief suspect when they conducted the interview on April 7<sup>th<\/sup> at his place of work but did not bother reading him his Miranda rights. Rule of Law? Yeah, oh. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/mcrae1.161162953.pdf\">http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/mcrae1.161162953.pdf<\/a> Anyway, Rodney, thinking like an innocent man, is surprised that it is he that they are focusing on.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"al2fb_like_button\"><div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n(function(d, s, id) {\n  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n  js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=Free Rodney K. 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Stanberry There is a lot of discussion around Ava DuVernay\u2019s \u00a0Netflix series entitled When They See Us.\u00a0 The series is about the Central Park 5, now also &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/?p=481\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=481"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":483,"href":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions\/483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}