42 years in jail, just released minutes ago

[PilotsError 2324]

I don't know how these fucking people survive.  Knowing you're innocent.  For forty two fucking years.  Fuck everyone involved for withholding information.

 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Two men who spent more than 42 years in prison on a conviction in the murder of a Jacksonville woman were freed Thursday after a recently formed unit of the State Attorney's Office found there was insufficient evidence to find them guilty and a judge agreed.

Clifford Williams Jr. and his nephew, Nathan Myers, have maintained their innocence since they were charged in the May 1976 death of Jeannette Williams and shooting her roommate, Nina Marshal.

Years later, another man, Nathaniel Lawson, told friends of the two convicted men that he actually committed the murder. He was never charged or investigated and has since died.

This release of Williams and Myers occurs after an investigation by the Innocence Project and the State Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Unit, with State Attorney Melissa Nelson impaneled last year to re-examine questionable cases. This is first case the unit has investigated that has led to an inmate's release.

Circuit Judge Angela Cox, noting that she was 3 years old when the crime happened, called her review of the volume of material in this case a daunting task. But based on her review she finds there was insufficient evidence of guilt to conviction case and contradicting evidence has come to light since for her to grant the motion to vacate the convictions.

“Justice demands the granting of these motions,” Cox said. “Mr. Williams and Mr. Myers, the indictments have been dismissed against you. You are free to go.”

Imprisoned at age 34, Williams is now 76. Myers, who was 18 when he was convicted, is now 63.

A wrongfully convicted individual found innocent is entitled to compensation. Florida law requires them to receive $50,000 annually up to a maximum of $2 million as long as they don't have any prior felony convictions.

Florida Department of Corrections booking photos of Hurbert Myers and Clifford Williams Jr.

History of case

After Williams was shot and killed in her apartment at 1:30 a.m. on May 2, 1976, as she and Marshal slept in bed. Marshal told investigators that two men came in the bedroom and fired the shots. She identified Williams and Myers as the gunmen. But evidence gathered the time appeared to show the shots came from outside the apartment and not from inside the bedroom.

Williams and Myers said they were at a party down the street at the time of the shooting and a number of witnesses at that party collaborated their story. A review of the case shows that evidence was never brought up in during the trial.

After the first trial in the case ended in a mistrial, the state offered Myers a five-year sentence if he would testify against his uncle, but he turned it down. 

The prosecutors' theory was that Williams and Myers committed the murder because of a $50 drug debt owned by the victim. The only evidence submitted was from the surviving roommate who identified Williams and Myers as the gunmen.

The review by the Integrity Unit found crucial evidence was ignored during the trial, including the ballistics report that showed the bullets came from one person and they were fired from outside the house, not inside the room.

During a second, two-day trial, both men were convicted. The jury recommended life in prison but the judge sentenced Williams to death. Four years later on appeal, the Florida Supreme Court overturned the death penalty, leaving Williams with a life sentence.

The case review found that Lawson told several people he killed the woman Williams convicted of killing. He said he wanted to send Williams’s family money, but said, "What can I do? I can’t turn myself in."

The original 1976 police report confirmed Lawson was near the scene of the shooting.

In 2017, after reading that Nelson had created the Integrity Unit, Myers wrote a letter asking that the convictions of his uncle and himself be reviewed. One year later, the office began investigating, reviewing evidence and finding and re-interviewing witnesses who were still living. Ten months later, the State Attorney's Office concluded the convictions should not stand.

They finally got their day in court on Thursday.

The victim’s sister, Sharon Young, wrote a letter last November to the director of the Integrity Review Division saying she is not sure if the developments will help Williams and Myers, but questioned why they did not come forward when others involved were still alive that could dispute their claims. She ended the letter by saying, "May God have mercy on the guilty and innocent."

Convictions overturned

So far in 2019, the convictions of 33 people in the United States have been overturned. Those people were freed after convictions for crime ranging from drugs, to sexual assaults and other violent crimes to murder, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

Last year, 93 people were exonerated, according to the organization's database. Of those 23 were the result of DNA tests of old evidence. 

According to the Innocence Project, other cases were overturned based on mistaken identities, false confessions and, in a few cases, it was proven that the arresting officer framed the suspect.

"Things are different today," Nelson said of contemporary legal standards compared to what was in place in 1976.

The Conviction Integrity Unit has received 200 requests for review. Nelson did not have numbers on how many cases it has reopened. 

Since Nelson formed the unit the 4th Judicial Circuit two years ago, similar units have opened in Florida's 9th and 13th Judicial Circuits.

A Time Magazine study conducted last year found that of every 100 people sentenced to death, four of are likely innocent, but on average only two of those prisoners are exonerated.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/wrongly-convicted-of-murder-2-men-released-after-42-years-in-prison?fbclid=IwAR13MCwgFOa52QJA0M1MBELd8ufFw3th1OVlzZ5hEnZByaxVuYjTn3_LdAA

[gecko 1104]

They were probably guilty of something so I guess it all worked out

 

(for those of you all tightly wound up, that's sarcasm)

[Fondren & Main 6742]

How much money will they receive from the state?  Fucking Florida.

[cactusflinthead 27606]

3 minutes ago, Fondren & Main said:

How much money will they receive from the state?  Fucking Florida.

A wrongfully convicted individual found innocent is entitled to compensation. Florida law requires them to receive $50,000 annually up to a maximum of $2 million as long as they don't have any prior felony convictions.

 

[Gene Parmesan 4016]

3 minutes ago, Fondren & Main said:

How much money will they receive from the state?  Fucking Florida.

They'll call it even from the free rent and food.

[Brisketexan 105438]

7 minutes ago, cactusflinthead said:

A wrongfully convicted individual found innocent is entitled to compensation. Florida law requires them to receive $50,000 annually up to a maximum of $2 million as long as they don't have any prior felony convictions.

 

But Florida will probably require them to pay that money back if they want to obtain the right to vote.

[Cheeseweasel 26438]

36 minutes ago, PilotsError said:

Williams and Myers said they were at a party down the street at the time of the shooting and a number of witnesses at that party collaborated their story. A review of the case shows that evidence was never brought up in during the trial.

I'm convinced that most of these cases are because of shitty public defenders who give zero shits about their clients. It's a step up the ladder for them and they are doing their time as a PD before movin' on up.

 

[cactusflinthead 27606]

12 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

But Florida will probably require them to pay that money back if they want to obtain the right to vote.

Correcto 

[crash_davis 23115]

35 minutes ago, Fondren & Main said:

How much money will they receive from the state?  Fucking Florida.

from tax payers?  hundreds of thousands to millions.  from shithead corrupt DAs, ab-so-fucking-lute-ly NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

corrupt cops and DAs.  fuck them all to hell.

[Grippe 313]

There's a reason this bitch wears a blindfold. She has never been, still isn't, and never will be perfect - just like every other woman that has ever existed.

Life really does fucking suck.

[Prepuce of Doom 21106]

In my mind, there would come a point when whatever life is left to be lived after release isn't appealing enough to outweigh the satisfaction of killing whoever was responsible for my wrongful incarceration. 

[Prepuce of Doom 21106]

Almost every single person I'm familiar with (not personally, but from the news, etc.,) who has been exonerated seems to be incredibly zen, gracious, and forgiving about it all. 

Frankly, that level of dignity is incomprehensible to me. 

[Dewey 3295]

Going through all that hate and anger, getting nowhere.... I'd just want a peace of.mind and everyone to shut the fuck up.

I've quoted the guy before, after 28 years on death row, upon his release, a reporter asked him why he wasnt angry with the people who had put him there and he replied "if i am angry, then they will take the rest of my life." Anthony Ray Hitton

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[austingirl 2192]