{"id":65,"date":"2012-01-17T15:21:46","date_gmt":"2012-01-17T15:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/?p=65"},"modified":"2012-01-19T16:10:02","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T16:10:02","slug":"the-state-doesn%e2%80%99t-cry-maybe-it-should-the-case-of-rodney-k-stanberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/?p=65","title":{"rendered":"The State Doesn\u2019t Cry, Maybe It Should- The Case of Rodney K. Stanberry"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cEVURKsGoMI<\/a><\/p>\n

January 17, 2012<\/p>\n

www.freerodneystanberry.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich can be reached at (251) 574-6685<\/p>\n

Email ashleyrich@mobileda.org<\/a><\/p>\n

On her one year anniversary as the District Attorney please call DA Rich and request that she allows the Alabama Attorney General to investigate Rodney\u2019s case and\/or that she takes the legal steps necessary toward retrying or releasing Rodney K. Stanberry. January 18, 2012 is her one year anniversary as District Attorney.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cEVURKsGoMI<\/a><\/p>\n

The State Doesn\u2019t Cry, Maybe It Should- The Case of Rodney K. Stanberry<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a recent Mother Jones<\/em> article about Timothy Cole, a Texas native who died in prison while serving a sentence for a rape he did not commit, the individual who actually committed the crime for which Cole was accused said Cole cried in jail. He cried after hearing his sentence and as he was being led away to a prison. Jerry Wayne Johnson, the real rapist, was in jail with Cole waiting for his own trial. He knew Cole was innocent, but to protect himself, he did not confess to officials.\u00a0 However, seeing Cole cry, made him cry. Here is a quote from Beth Schwartzpafel\u2019s piece entitled \u201cNo Country for Innocent Men:\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Cole was taken to the Lubbock County Jail after his sentencing, in September 1986, the real rapist was right there in a nearby cell. Johnson, who was awaiting trial for two other rapes and a murder, had followed Cole’s story in the paper. He listened to Cole cry. “It was terrible to learn that Tim was\u2026on trial for something I knew he hadn’t done,” Johnson wrote to me in a letter in 2010. “Seeing him cry his first night in jail and seeing him leave to be taken to prison was difficult, I cried.” But he did nothing. He was already facing the death penalty. “I knew it wasn’t good to say anything before I went to trial.” (http:\/\/motherjones.com\/politics\/2011\/12\/tim-cole-rick-perry<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Even among people who commit horrific crimes, knowing that someone has been unjustly incarcerated elicits a tear.\u00a0 This same response isn\u2019t found among many prosecutors doing everything they can to get a conviction.\u00a0 This response isn\u2019t found among many prosecutors after being made aware that a prisoner may be innocent, the response by prosecutors is to double-down and to make sure that the inmate remains in prison.\u00a0 The state doesn\u2019t cry; the state, in a stoic manner, somehow believes that bringing about justice to the victim is keeping an innocent person in prison. Even \u00a0convicted rapist Jerry Wayne Johnson did not believe that philosophy.<\/p>\n

As stated by Schwartzapfel in her investigative piece entitled \u201cNo Country for Innocent Men:\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tale of Tim Cole and Jerry Johnson, which I investigated for more than a year, reveals a system in which an innocent man, once convicted, has virtually no chance of redemption\u2014even with the guilty man fighting for it. For the thousands of Americans spending years of their lives in prison for crimes they did not commit, the odds couldn’t be much bleaker. (http:\/\/motherjones.com\/politics\/2011\/12\/tim-cole-rick-perry)<\/p>\n

Timothy Cole was a 26 year old college student who found himself falsely accused of the rape.\u00a0 He was a victim of eyewitness misidentification and \u201cshoddy law enforcement\u201d (Ibid).\u00a0 As he and his family fought and waited for the system to correct itself, Cole died in prison, 13 years later at the age of 39. \u00a0His sentence amounted to a death sentence.\u00a0 Gov. Perry posthumously pardoned Cole. \u00a0While his pardon is to be applauded and the family of Cole appreciated his actions, there wasn\u2019t a tear in his eyes when he did so; no crying over a system that cost an individual his life.<\/p>\n

Gov. Perry was asked during a presidential primary debate if he had lost any sleep over the number of death penalties that the state of Texas has carried out.\u00a0 His response was no, but before he responded, he received applause at the Republican debate. \u00a0He\u2019d posthumously pardoned Timothy Cole well before this debate, but said that the justice system in Texas works fairly.\u00a0 He was referring to capital cases, but given that Cole\u2019s prison sentence was a death sentence, it is something that Perry should have had on his mind as he responded to the question.\u00a0\u00a0 The problem is that the state does not cry when it is presented with evidence that an individual may be innocent at the beginning, during or well after a conviction.\u00a0 The state, represented by law enforcement, prosecutors, politicians, and governors, does not have the empathy that even an accused and convicted rapist and murderer had when he saw someone else arrested, convicted, and serving his time.\u00a0 Of course as individuals with families, friends, and who are decent human beings, representatives of the state have empathy and do cry, but when they represent the state in wrongful conviction cases, they do not cry, for the state does not shed a tear when an innocent person is convicted, dies in prison, or is executed by the hands and authority of the State.<\/p>\n

Rodney K. Stanberry<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jerry Wayne Johnson cried, but he wasn\u2019t prepared to own up to what he did until well after Cole was sent to prison. He deserves no empathy for allowing a man to serve his time in prison, but he, unlike the state, demonstrated some degree of consciousness in seeking to right a wrong. Rodney K. Stanberry was arrested in 1992, convicted in 1995, and began serving a prison sentence in 1997. Rodney was 23 when he was arrested, 26 when convicted, and 28 when he began serving his prison sentence. He will be 43 on April 27th<\/sup>, 2012.\u00a0 \u00a0He is in his 15th<\/sup> year of incarceration for crimes he did not commit.\u00a0 In 1993, Terrell Moore sat in the law office of Clark, Deen & Copeland in the presence of Assistant District Attorney Buzz Jordan and in nearly 50 pages, he confessed to a crime that would have resulted in his spending life in prison.\u00a0 He had the decency to do this two years before Rodney\u2019s trial.\u00a0 You can watch a WKRG investigative report featuring Moore and Buzz Jordan here: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cEVURKsGoMI.<\/strong>\u00a0 Moore told the state- prosecutor Buzz Jordan- that Rodney was not at the victim\u2019s house and had nothing to do with the crime.\u00a0 The state asked him if he were offered money or lunch meat in return for his testimony.\u00a0 The State, without a tear in its eye for arresting and charging what evidence indicated was an innocent man, had a perverse sense of\u00a0 humor- asking someone with a criminal record if he were offered lunch meat in return for confessing to a crime to cover for someone that he did not know.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During Rodney’s Rule 32\u00a0Hearing (Post Conviction Hearing requesting a new trial), Moore happened to be in\u00a0the Mobile county lock-up. Rodney notified his attorney and Moore was brought to the stand to the surprise of Assistant District \ufeffAttorney Martha Tierney. See how she reacted\ufeff<\/a>. She was not going to let him say what she already knew, that he confessed, knew details\u00a0about the\u00a0victim’s home that only someone who was there would know. The DA’s office\u00a0continues to perpetuate the false statement that the\u00a0victim identified Rodney from the time she got out of a coma (Prichard Police placed photos, provided by Rodney, in front of the victim as she was recovering and said which of these individuals could have been<\/span> at your house. She pointed- she couldn\u2019t talk at the time- to the person she was familiar with, someone who was often at her house. From there, a series of mistakes and intentional acts occurred by law enforcement and the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office to convict Rodney K. Stanberry). \u00a0The ADA perpetuates the belief that Moore, someone\u00a0who did not\u00a0know Rodney was\u00a0confessing to a crime\u00a0to\u00a0protect Rodney. It makes no sense, but they have long been concerned about the conviction and not the truth, which is anti-justice and anti-victim, as no one receives true justice when the wrong person is\u00a0convicted.<\/p>\n

\ufeff\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Martha Tierney to Terrell\u00a0Moore- You Talk, You Get Life\ufeff<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Buzz Jordan on Terrell Moore- I Never Believed He Was Involved with these crimes and never will believe it. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Terrell Moore on Terrell Moore- I was involved, I was at the house, I saw who shot Ms. Finley, and it was Angel Wish Melendez- we were the only two at the house, Rodney had nothing to do with this.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is a sad day when the person who commits a crime is more truthful than the people paid by taxpayers to uphold the law. (http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/key_documents_in_rodneys_case)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Moore may not have cried when Rodney was hauled off to prison or by the fact that he is still in prison-nearly 15 years and counting- for crimes he did not commit, but he did confess and unlike Johnson, he did not wait until after Rodney\u2019s trial. Granted, he had no idea that the Mobile DA\u2019s office wasn\u2019t concerned with him, or the person who shot the victim, or anyone else, but he did his part in the pursuit of justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich- One Year Anniversary <\/strong><\/p>\n

District Attorney Ashley Rich will complete her first year as the DA on January 18th<\/sup>, 2012.\u00a0 She has received phone calls and emails about Rodney\u2019s case from many citizens around the country. Within the first month of her term, she received so many phone calls that she asked her investigator (Mike Morgan) to find out why people were calling about Rodney K. Stanberry.\u00a0 On her one year anniversary, please call DA Rich and request that she allows the Alabama Attorney General to investigate Rodney\u2019s case (251) 574-6685.\u00a0 DA Ashley Rich, like former DA John Tyson, Jr. will say that she has looked at Rodney\u2019s case and has come to the same conclusion as Tyson, that Rodney is the responsible party. In Tyson’s letter found via the link below, he says that Jordan meticulously documented the case and went to New York to interview Rene Whitecloud (the person the DA Office claims to be the shooter- see http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/the_shooter-_what_they_want_to_wish_away) and that Martha Tierney spent hundreds of hours reviewing Rodney\u2019s file.\u00a0 During Rodney’s Rule 32 when Jordan was under oath, he says 1) he just happened to go to New York while on vacation and just stopped by Riker’s Island prison where Rene was located to see if he actually existed, that he didn’t take notes, and that he learned little from Rene (although in another statement he says that Rene told him to look at the husband.) Further, Jordan says that he never believed Moore and never will believe Moore. Jordan had his own theory and nothing else was going to change it, not even the evidence.\u00a0 They never attempted to charge nor convict anyone else for these crimes. If they did, more trial records would demonstrate what I believe they already know, Rodney did not commit these crimes. I understand that the jury ruled against Rodney, but Tyson, Rich and other district attorneys know that the jury rules based on the information they are given. Jordan’s Motion in Limine (keeping the confession, tape recordings secretly made by Rodney that also cleared him away from the jury) coupled with Moore’s pleading the 5th limited what the jury was privy to and if ADA Tierney saw the notes from Jordan\u2019s interview at Rikers Island, either Tyson, Jordan, or Tierney is being dishonest- either he had interview notes as Tyson says or he didn\u2019t, as Jordan said. \u00a0\u00a0(http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/09-07-2010_121703PM.24992718.BMP<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

District Attorney Ashley Rich can be reached at (251) 574-6685, (251) 574-5000 or (251) 574-8400 and Ashleyrich@mobileda.org<\/a> (each of these numbers is good). \u00a0Rich stated during her campaign that she would reopen a case if it is discovered that a prosecutor did not disclose exculpatory evidence.\u00a0\ufeffPlease click on this link\u00a0for additional information.\ufeff<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 On her one year anniversary as the District Attorney please call DA Rich and request that she allows the Alabama Attorney General to investigate Rodney\u2019s case and\/or that she takes the legal steps necessary toward retrying or releasing Rodney K. Stanberry.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Artemesia Stanberry<\/p>\n

artemesia@freerodneystanberry.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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