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In court, behind the sign that forbade prisoners from speaking to anyone, John Smith tried to convey as much as possible with his eyes. He made eye contact with his grandma, with his sister, with me, and each look seemed slightly different–reassurance, disbelief, worry, mixtures of each, I think. This is not the meeting we’d all been anticipating.
About an hour before, Deirdre learned and conveyed to John that the judge assigned to his case was ill and could not make it to court. At the scheduled court time, a stand-in judge allowed John through the doors to hear that there was nothing to do but wait until Monday.
So John got cold metal around his wrists instead of his grandmother’s warm hands in his. He got a lonely meal for his empty, agitated stomach instead of the boisterous pizza dinner we planned. He got two more days incarcerated for a crime we all acknowledge he did not commit.
John’s family walked out of the courthouse with the clothes and shoes they packed for him and with heavy, downcast heads. We all parted, “Until Monday….”
As a student who worked on this case, as a law graduate about to embark on my legal career, as a human with an upset stomach and tense shoulders, I have competing and complicated feelings today–the day after John was supposed to be freed. I’m devastated that John has to wait even one more second incarcerated, that he has any reason to doubt Monday, and that he’s probably not sleeping well. I’m also shoving my own doubt about Monday going off without a hitch into a small corner of my gut to make way for the bright exhilaration I feel shining out of my middle when I envision John hugging his family, making his statements, and chewing his pizza.
I’ll visit John tomorrow in jail and I’ll be excited, happy, and jokey. But today, I’m mad that I’ll have to fake those emotions. Until Monday….
innocencemattersblog 
I was watching TV this evening, September 24, 2012 and saw this story on the news about John, I was very happy to see more innocent people out there getting true justice!
It is a situation close to my heart, for our own daughter has been convicted of a felony that she did not do, [. . ..]
The CIP will hold a rally on April 27, 2013 in San Diego, the rally is for a clemency petition, we need signatures and supporters for the petition. Our daughter’s story and nine other innocent clients are on the site, “innocence march”, they are called the “California “10”, [ ]. We hope you all will support the petition for clemency and or rally with us, all the info is on the site.
No innocent person should be incarcerated, their injustices that they have incurred is such a fraud of justice, no one should ever be convicted of a crime they didn’t commit!
The best to all your clients, I will say my prayers for you, say one for us too!
Innocence Matters wishes you and your daughter the very best. CIP has had great successes in the past and I’m sure they will do the everything in their power to help bring your daughter home!
And thank you for joining us in celebrating John Smith’s recent release. It is a wonderful feeling to watch John enjoy his freedom and spending time with his family.
Me know of a man whose innocent and the police trying to put him in jail how can me help him even though me back countryside in South Africa and not in the states. This is me only way of communication to tell him story.
You should start by communicating with his current lawyer. That person will be in the best position to know what will and won’t help your friend.
From what I know and have seen, there is a mixture of innocent souls in prison. It’s is an atrocity that this should happen to any person. One strong aspect in the flaws of where the innocent lay, is in the beginning of it all, when the crime first happens, we have zealous police officers(not all) and zealous investigator’s(not all) police officers who get involved but that is not their job. There should be highly trained individuals in each police department across the nation, a team of experienced investigator’s who work within the police department, just to handle all complex crimes. As we can see, the average police officer is not always an experience cop, they jump to assumptions and a quick conclusion to get their arrest, it seems to be the pivotal driving force to “Get Their man”, even if it’s the wrong man/woman, it starts out wrong and stays wrong all the way to prison. City budgets aren’t there to get an adequate crime team for those complex crimes, such as murder, I just think that it is such an injustice that even with clear facts in their faces and little or no evidence, that an innocent person still gets the shaft!
Just another note here, The Innocence Project” in New York just got there “300th” exonerate the other day, his name is “Damon Thibodeaux”,now 38 years old, from Louisiana, he was on death row, he was represented by Barry Scheck, I believe he is co-founder of this New York based Innocence Project. Damon was freed through DNA evidence that proved he was innocent.
DNA Technology is so advanced nowadays and I hope that is used 100% correctness in every case that will need it. There should be no excuses anymore for any innocent person to go to prison and or death row, technology does exist, let’s use it!
THANKYOU , I REALLY APPRECIATE THE INFORMATION AND WILL BE SIGNING THE PETITION AND MARCHING IF AT ALL POSSIBLE . I WILL RESEARCH ANY AND EVERY RESOURCE TO HELP MY HUSBAND THROUGH HIS APPEAL PROCESS.THIS WILL BE THE BIGGEST FIGHT OF OUR LIVES, BUT IM UP FOR THE CHALLENGE !!!I WILL MAKE MINE AND HIS VOICE HEARD ANYWAY THAT I CAN .STAY STRONG !!
BELISSA FRAZIER
Thanks for all the great comments. The current Innocence groups (Innocence Projects and others like Innocence Matters) are doing a great job with the resources they have. Still, there is a tremendous unmet need. There are many innocent people who have been unsuccessful in getting the help they need and many are forced to wait years, if not decades before they find someone. Some never find help. John Smith is but one of many people who had to wait a long time for help. His cry for help is what prompted us to open Innocence Matters in 2010. The more Innocence groups we have, the better off everyone is! To those still looking, don’t give up.
Hi Deirdre, I agree with your comments on the CIP and there resources and what they take on to free the innocent souls.
Your very words were mine in another blog I had to post about, so to see your words, I realized I am not alone in my feelings.
The CIP are the only non-profit organization that I am aware of that take on a load by themselves, they are advocate attorney’s and law students who work so hard and are learning in the same respect to how innocent people are convicted of crimes that they did not commit. The justice system has a over load of cases I am sure of that and the appellate system also, I am sure that they probably can’t keep the file cases on their desks, because of the load. They must be overwhelmed by the complexity of “What went Wrong”, they have to appoint others to help them read the files.
I know our justice system wants to help, but is just overwhelmed by the load. I always say that in my experience I believe one of the main problems, errors, flaws, whatever we can call it, is simply that “A Lie is born” in a case and we know what lies can do, they only get bigger by the help of others.
No, not the only. Innocence Matters.