Networked Knowledge - Media Report

[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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On 6 May 2007 Jimmie E. Gates of the Clarion Ledger reported “No restitution for wrongly jailed in Mississippi Those cleared say erroneous convictions robbed them of everything”.

He said Jackson resident Roland Anderson spent almost six years incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit. "It really messed up my life. It's a scar that will be there forever," he said. Cedric Willis, also of Jackson, spent 12 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. When charges were dropped against Anderson and Willis, they received only a handshake. Yet many states compensate people who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned. Not Mississippi, though.

In neighboring Alabama, a wrongly convicted person can receive up to $50,000 for each year or a pro-rated amount for a portion of each year spent in prison. Attorney Chris Klotz, who worked with the New Orleans Innocence Project to free Willis, said Mississippi doesn't even attempt to make an individual wrongly convicted whole again. "There's something not right about that," Klotz. Willis said it has been difficult readjusting to society. "It's sad," Willis said of the way he has been treated. "It's like you ought to be glad just to be out. I definitely think there should be a compensation law."

State Rep Bennett Malone, House Corrections Committee chairman, said he has no doubt there are innocent people serving time now in Mississippi. But while there has been some discussion in the Legislature about paying those wrongly convicted $500,000, he said he doesn't expect such a bill to pass in the near future because of the state's money situation. Although he favors a compensation bill, Malone said, "How do you compensate for the number of years and ruining a person's life?" Anderson, who was charged with aggravated assault, said, "I lost everything I had. ... Who is responsible? What about my restitution? Anderson said he spent more than $28,000 on his defense. The then-assistant manager of a fast-food restaurant was 35 when his ordeal started in 1995, after he was accused of shooting Dorothy Brister.

Brister, who now goes by Dorothy McKee, said Anderson shot her, but Anderson said he had never seen the woman. In 1997, Anderson was convicted and sentenced to 15 years. But he remained out of prison on an appeal bond before he began serving the sentence in 1999. While in prison in 2001, Anderson said he met Arthur Gray, Brister's boyfriend, who was with her the night she was shot, and Gray told him he wasn't the man who shot Brister. That same year, Anderson filed an appeal in US District Court in Jackson, and his conviction was thrown out and a retrial ordered.

But Anderson wasn't released from prison. In December 2003, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the federal judge's ruling throwing out the conviction. In 2004, a judge allowed Anderson to post bond. Then in January of this year, Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd signed an order dismissing the case on a recommendation of the district attorney's office. A prosecutor said in court papers that the current district attorney's office never would have pursued the case. Anderson said if it weren't for his church, pastor and family, he doesn't know how he would have survived. Anderson worked in the kitchen at his church, Greater Bethlehem Temple Apostolic Faith Church, in Jackson after his release Recently, he was hired as a switchboard operator at the GV "Sonny" Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

In Willis' case, he was 19 when he was charged in the June 16, 1994, shooting of Carl White Jr and robbing White's wife, Gloria, and daughter, Jamilla. White died six days later. In 1997 Willis was sentenced to life. He also got 30 years for each of the three counts of armed robbery. Jurors never heard evidence that the gun used in the crimes also had been used in four cases, including an armed robbery and rape. Willis also was indicted on the armed robbery and rape charges. A DNA test excluded him in the rape. In March 2006, Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson asked a judge to dismiss the case. Peterson, who wasn't in office during Willis' trial, said she would not have prosecuted based on the DNA evidence. Willis now has a job in maintenance at Galloway United Methodist Church. "I thank God they were willing to give me a chance," Willis said.

No one else has been charged in either case.

Source: 6 May 2007 Jimmie E. Gates The Clarion Ledger “No restitution for wrongly jailed in Miss

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