Free Rodney K. Stanberry

Angel “Wish” Melendez and Rene Whitecloud were friends of Rodney’s from New York.  Rodney invited them to Mobile in 1992 to experience Mardi Gras.  While in Mobile, he introduced them to the victim and her husband as he went by their house to show out a deer he’d shot.  As Rodney could not take off work to entertain his friends, he introduced them to Donnard “Taco” Jones and Jones, introduced them to Terrell Moore.  When Rodney’s friends from New York saw the gun collection that Rodney and Mike Finley (the victim’s husband) had, they wanted to purchase the guns.  Rodney told the victim and her husband not to sell them any guns because he feared that they’d take them to New York. Some guns were sold to them, in spite of Rodney’s protestations. The victim’s husband testified to this during trial.  

Rene, Donnard, and Terrell all said that Angel “Wish” Melelendez shot Valerie Finley.  Terrell Moore, in a sworn confession before the prosecutor more than two years before Rodney’s trial, said that it was he and Wish at the victim’s house. Moorewas not a friend of Rodney’s and had no incentive to cover for him, as the DA said.  Look at Terrell Moore’s confession and testimonial agreement: /assets/docs/20100914155256.256155350.pdf

Rene Whitecloud, in a statement dated August 12, 1992, corroborated what Mooresaid and he, too, pointed to Wish.  He wrote:  “Before I went to sleep, I put my Glock 7 on the desk. When I woke up in the morning (About 8am-8:30am) Taco was also in the room but Wish was gone. Also missing was my Glock 7.  About 9am-9:30 am, Wish appeared in the room w/a friend of Taco’s (I don’t know his name, but he lives in Alabama), a black guy, w/Wish showing us two large sacks full of several weapons (guns) including AR-15 rifles and a gatling gun. When I asked Wish where he got the guns, he motioned a cutting gesture with his hand over his neck which we all understood as a signal for death.” He concludes by saying that he has given the statement to Investigator Michael Greco (New York State Police) of his own free will and without any promises or threats made to him (http://www.freerodneystanberry.com/key_documents_about_rodneys_case  Click on “more documents to get to his statement).   Notice the Oct. 15, 1993 date stamp. The Mobile DA’s office had a copy of this.  This is another individual stating that Angel “Wish” Melendez was inAlabama and indicated that he shot the victim.

Donnard “Taco” Jones is the one who called Rodney after the victim was shot and told him that his friends had robbed the victim but did not tell him she was shot- he found that out later. Rodney was very upset with all involved and said how could you do this to my friends. After Jones said that he would say that Rodney was involved if Rodney went to the police, Rodney secretly recorded Jones,  Jones admitted the truth in the recording, that Rodney was not involved and he, too, mentions that Angel “Wish” Melendez was inMobile.  Rodney immediately turned this over to the police.  The Mobile District Attorney’s office kept this out of court, saying it was hearsay.  Jones also repeated this and exonerated Rodney again on the witness stand.  Mobile Assistant District Attorney BuzzJordansaid this was concocted!  Mind you, the Mobile DA never asked the judge to state the penalty for perjury, if he thought it was concocted, why not? 

The underlying point of this summation is that the Mobile District Attorney’s Office wants to hide the fact that a Angel “Wish” Melendez was inMobileand did, indeed, shoot the victim.  Melendez died in a violent shoot-out before Rodney’s trial. 1) the person who confessed stated that he was at the house with Angel “Wish” Melendez; 2) the two other people with intimate knowledge of the crime and with NO INCENTIVE to lie in favor of Rodney corroborates the identification of the shooter.  Each of these individuals knew that they risked prison time for these crimes for being truthful.  Little did they know that the Mobile District Attorney’s office, once focusing on Rodney, had no interest in the truth. 

The prosecutor, Buzz Jordan, did everything to dismiss concrete evidence of Rodney's innocence. He had his mind made up that he was going to convict Rodney.  The victim did identify Rodney, but only when the Prichard Police put photos in front of her, photos provided by Rodney to help them capture his friends as his friends, and said which of these individuals could have been at your house. Rodney was often at her house. From there, because the DA started planting this murder for hire scheme, she stuck with Rodney being at her house and he was convicted solely on this eyewitness misidentification. The prosecutor had irrefutable evidence that Rodney was at work and two eyewitnesses on the scene identifiedMooreandMooreacknowledged in his confession that he saw the people on the scene who identified him.  This is a classic case of prosecutorial misconduct.  This is what's so frustrating- this should have been an open and shut.  Rodney turned 42 on April 27, 2011. Most of his 20s, and his entire 30s, and now early 40s have been consumed by this. Will anyone with the power and authority to reach Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich ask her to allow for an outside, impartial investigator to investigate this case?  We are talking about a human life. We are talking about justice.  Society never benefits when the wrong person is convicted, and justice is never served when the wrong person is convicted.

Sincerely,

Artemesia Stanberry

PS: The prosecutor who gave Moore testimonial agreement on the condition that he tells the truth said thatMoore’s confession was a “pack of lies.” He said he didn’t believeMooreand will never believeMoore. At Rodney’s Rule 32 Post Conviction Relief hearing, the Assistant District Attorney, Martha Tierney, responded to the realization thatMoorehappened to be in theMobileCountyjail for a crime and Rodney’s attorney brought him to court to testify. She was going to make sure thatMoorewas not going to testify. Here is that interaction:
/assets/docs/marthtierney.115133154.pdf
It comes as no surprise that Moore pled the 5^th again.