An innocent man on Georgia's death row?
Today's Democracy Now! radio show features an interview with Vanity Fair reporter David Rose, who has a new book out on the infamous "Stocking Stranglings" that took place in Columbus, Ga. in the late 1970s. The case involved a serial killer who raped and murdered several elderly, well-to-do white women in their beds.In 1986, eight years after the last murder, an African-American man named Carlton Gary was convicted and sentenced to death for three of the killings -- though no physical evidence was found to link him to the crimes.
Then two years ago, a new piece of evidence turned up: a long-missing bite-mark mold taken from the last victim. Gary's attorney argued that the mold did not match his client's teeth. But last week, U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land ruled that the new evidence is not enough to challenge Gary's conviction. The case now goes to a federal appeals court in Atlanta.
As Rose told DN!, the case has an extraordinary racial history angle:
In my book, I’ve not just talked about the case. I’ve talked about the whole kind of history of race relations in Columbus, Georgia. And I’ve gone back to even before the Civil War and shown, I think, how that history of violence and racism and oppression has fed into this case. But there is one incredible thread that runs through it, which is the role of a single family, begins with a man called Aaron Brewster Land, who was responsible for two absolutely horrendous lynchings in the early part of the 1900s. We move to his son, John Land. John Land covers up the death of the black civil rights leader in Columbus, Thomas H. Brewer, in 1956, and he then makes the decisions in Carlton Gary’s case, by the time of which, of course, he’s become a judge. He had been the district attorney in ’56. He makes the decisions, which deny Carlton Gary funding for his trial. And now it’s his great-nephew who is the federal judge, who holds Carlton Gary’s fate in his hand. It’s Judge Clay Land of the federal court of Columbus who now has to decide whether to give him a new trial. So there’s this extraordinary continuity of more than a century, and this one family kind of represents this. And it’s down to Clay Land to decide whether to do the right thing.To listen to the entire interview or read the transcript, click here.
Labels: criminal justice, death penalty, Georgia, race and racism
2 Comments:
This is another Great Book..Dennis Fritz The Other Innocent Man in John Grisham's The Innocent Man Writes Book Journey Toward Justice
Dennis Fritz writes his own story. Endorsed on Jacket by John Grisham and States on Jacket Compelling and Fascinating.
A Companion book to The Innocent Man, Journey Toward Justice by Dennis Fritz. True Crime, Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. Journey Toward Justice is a testimony to the Triumph of the human Spirit and is a Memoir. Dennis Fritz was wrongfully convicted of rape and murder after a swift trail.
The only thing that saved him from the Death Penalty was a lone vote from a juror. Dennis Fritz was the other Innocent man mentioned in John Grisham's Book. which mainly is about Ronnie Williamson, Dennis Fritz's co-defendant. Both were exonerated after spending 12 years in prison.
The real killer was one of the Prosecution's Key Witness. Read about why he went on a special diet of his while in prison, amazing and shocking. Dennis Fritz's Story of unwarranted prosecution and wrongful conviction needs to be
heard. Look for his book in book stores or at Amazon.com as Bestseller, Journey Toward Justice by Dennis Fritz, Publisher Seven Locks Press 2006. ..
Read about how he wrote hundreds of letters and appellate briefs in his own defense and immersed himself in an intense study of law. He was a school teacher and a ordinary man whose wife was brutally murdered in 1975 by a deranged 17 year old neighbor. On May 8th 1987, Five years after Debbie Sue Carter's rape and murder he was home with his young daughter and put under arrest, handcuffed and on his way to jail on charges of rape and murder.
After 10 years in prison he discovered The Innocence Project, a non-profit legal organization. With the aid of Barry Scheck and DNA evidence Dennis Fritz was exonerated on April 15,1999 Since then, it has been a long hard road filled with twist and turns and now on his Journey Toward Justice. He never blamed the Lord and solely relied on his faith in God to make it through. He waited for God's time and never gave up.
DA Bill Peterson Suing The Innocent Man Dennis Fritz For Emotional Distress
Dennis Fritz, who wrote the book, "Journey Toward Justice", is named as a defendant in a libel lawsuit along with , John Grisham, author of "The Innocent Man", Robert Mayer, author of "The Dreams of Ada", and all their publishers, and New York City attorney Barry Scheck, Fritz's former lawyer who once represented Fritz and is co-director of The Innocence Project. With the aid of Barry Scheck and irrefutable DNA evidence, Dennis Fritz and Ron Williamson were exonerated in 1999.
Pontotoc County District Attorney Bill Peterson and Gary Rogers, a former agent for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation filed the libel lawsuit.
The lawsuit, seeks at least $75,000 compensation and demands a jury trial. Peterson and Rogers were instrumental in the conviction of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz in the murder of Debbie Sue Carter in Ada, Oklahoma in 1982. The conviction was later overturned on DNA evidence pursued by the Innocence Project, which Scheck heads, Dennis Fritz was wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit and spent 12 years in prison. Part of the lawsuit claims the defendants conspired to commit libel against the plaintiffs, generate publicity for self interest by placing them in a false light and intentionally inflicting emotional distress upon them.
So... Prosecutor with the help of Gary Rogers sent 2 innocent men, Dennis Fritz and Ron Williamson to prison for 12 years. Both Innocent men freed by DNA evaluation of crime scene evidence. Innocent man, Dennis Fritz writes book about his experiences. Prosecutor and Gary Rogers sue the innocent man they wrongfully sent to prison and Prosecutor and Rogers sue for intentionally inflicting emotional distress upon them.
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