A Los
Angeles
Cheers erupted in
the courtroom as the judge exonerated John Edward Smith of a drive-by shooting
in 1993, NBC's Los Angeles
"I'm not
bitter at all. That ain't gonna get me nowhere, you know. I gotta move
forward," he said, according to NBC4.
Smith, who The
Associated Press described as a former gang member, was convicted of killing a
man during a 1993 drive-by shooting in Los Angeles
Smith was 18 when
he went to prison. He told authorities he was at his grandmother's house with
family when the shooting took place in a gang-infested area. He said he knew
nothing about the crime until his mother called to tell him about it.
Superior Court
Judge Patricia Schnegg released him after nearly two decades behind bars:
"Mr. Smith, you are now free."
'Broken system'
Smith's case spurred the creation of Innocence Matters, a non-profit organization whose pro-bono legal team has been at the helm of his exoneration for three years.
Smith's case spurred the creation of Innocence Matters, a non-profit organization whose pro-bono legal team has been at the helm of his exoneration for three years.
"We actually
became a non-profit in a hurry so that we could have him be our first
client," founder and Smith's lawyer Deirdre O'Connor told NBC4 on Friday.
The only
eyewitness, Landu Mvuemba -- a victim who was shot and survived -- met with
Innocence Matters representatives in 2010 and immediately blurted out that he
had lied at the trial, O'Connor said. Mvuemba said police
pressured him to identify Smith as the shooter. Prosecutors told the judge they
now believe he lied, and Schnegg found the conviction was based on perjured
testimony.
"Within the
first two minutes of the interview, Mvuemba recanted," O'Connor said.
Mvuemba was 16 at the time of the shooting.He told representatives of Innocence Matters, "The police told me they knew who did it," a defense motion stated.
O'Connor said Smith wept when she called him with the news about Mvuemba. "He said, 'Why did he do it? Why did he lie?'" O'Connor recalled.
Mvuemba said police
pointed to Smith, whom he had known in elementary school, and told him other
witnesses had identified Smith as the shooter. Mvuemba said he also was shown a
photo of his friend DeAnthony Williams, who died in the shooting. "I felt a lot
of pressure to go along with it," Mvuemba said.
The two victims had
been on the street examining the scene of another shooting the night before
when a car pulled up and someone opened fire.Mvuemba said he tried three times to tell authorities that he didn't see enough to testify, but his pleas were ignored.
"Mvuemba knew it was wrong to identify Mr. Smith as the man who shot him," according to the defense motion. "But when he saw his deceased friend's crying mother in the courtroom, he felt as if he had no other choice."
"We have a bit
of a broken system and the fact that we can come in and make some systemic
changes like this and help prevent it from happening to somebody else, it means
the world," said Jessica Farris with Innocence Matters.
The Associated
Press contributed to this report.
Brian Banks stands with his parents after bring cleared of all charges.
(AP)
Occasionally,
we come across stories that defy credulity to the point where we can't quite
believe what we're seeing. And when these stories involve good people getting
railroaded and losing huge parts of their lives for no good reason ... well,
it's hard to know what to think.
Banks breaks down in a
According to the Sporting News, the attorney was hardly an advocate. "She told me I was a big black teenager," Banks said, "and no jury would believe anything I said."
Eventually,
Banks served five years and two months in prison and spent another five years
on probation. When he was released from prison, he had to register as a sex
offender and wear an ankle bracelet. Any shot he had of making a go of football
was gone -- now, it was just about survival under unimaginable circumstances.
How do you live life as the worst sort of person when you're not? And how do
you get past losing that much of your life for something you didn't do?
This video is being provided by Young Jeezy and YouTube and are
The property of their respective owners and All Rights Are Reserved.
They have been rail rolling
blacks into jail since 1942, right after slavery until today and then say the
system is broken. Rubin “Hurricane”
Carter who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1967 spent two decades in jail
like many before and after him. The same
white helping hand placed on Mr. Smith’s shoulder is the same hand that placed
him there. Our young black men are
taking away with only one purpose and that is to fill there jails as you would
a hotel. Nineteen years of his life been
taken from him, his freedom and his manhood.
But he’s not bitter… How humble, for everyone that has been released
have said the same thing, “I’m just glad to be free,” while the men and women
that put them there continue to walk around free. They falsified evidence, which, in it self is
a crime, one which no one will be arrested for, because none of the grateful released
boys to men will seek justice for a crime that they never committed. We joked about it openly in movies when a convict
get time, they say, “I’m innocent,” and the reply was always, “Sure you are,
that’s what they all say.” It turns out
that more than half was telling the truth.
These articles here are just two of thousands that goes unnoticed by our
own race and you already know they don’t care.
In 2013 we need to make up our minds on how we are going to continue
being treated, for they call us African Americans but this is not our
home. Have you ever felt welcome? Spike Lee showed us a glimpse of reality in “DO
THE RIGHT THING,” we can’t enter an establishment and be greeted with black décor
on the wall of our past leaders and roll models and music, why? Because we don’t have a place of our own like
2Pac said and Sal told them, “When you get your place, you can put what ev
er
you want on the wall.” When in the hell
will that be? It is time to give them a
reason to hate us, because voting for a change and marching to express your
feelings isn’t and no longer working. I
do not promote violence nor I’m I talking about it either, so don’t get it
twisted. If you continue reading my
articles you will see what I’m talking about before this year end. For THINKING OUT LOUD, I’m E. L. PLEASANT
TRAPPED
STORY BY:
E.
L. PLEASANT
STORY
EDITOR
BRANDON
DE’LEONCE
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