Will Gov. Snyder do the right thing? Nancy deserves clemency!


There’s more than one kind of wrongful conviction.  Let me explain.

Maurice Carter was wrongly convicted. A black man shot and injured a white, off-duty cop. Maurice was not on the scene when the crime occurred. Yet, a jury convicted him of assault with intent to commit murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison. That was a wrongful conviction.

Now let me tell you about another dear friend, Nancy Seaman. The part of Nancy’s life that the public saw was her shining role as an award-winning school teacher. The part of her life that no one knew about was her role as a battered wife in an abusive marriage. Finally, as her husband tried to kill her, she retaliated. He wound up dead, instead of her. A jury convicted her of premeditated, first degree murder and she was sentenced to life in prison without parole. That, in my opinion, was also a wrongful conviction.

Nancy is 65 now. She’s been in prison for 13 years.

For a year I struggled to come up with ways to help this victim of the system. Then Kelle Lynn came along.

Upon hearing the story in 2016, this local activist formed her own organization, Justice Thru Storytelling, and made it her business to try to convert this negative into a positive.

One method for obtaining Nancy’s freedom was to seek a grant of clemency by Governor Rick Snyder. It was a long shot, but thanks to a strong team effort, an application for a commutation of Nancy’s sentence was filed with the State of Michigan. Overwhelming support came, not only from hundreds of petition signers, but also from the sentencing Judge and a former prison psychologist! Almost unheard of! And yet, the Michigan Parole Board refused to show any interest, and forwarded the application to Governor Snyder’s office.

Once again a discouraged Nancy Seaman lost hope. But those of us who believe in her, and who support the cause, are still hoping to persuade the Governor that considering clemency is the only decent thing to do.

Not everyone can attend a postcard-writing effort in Grand Haven tomorrow, but everyone can send a personal letter to Governor Snyder. Your personal involvement is essential right now!

Governor Snyder’s favorable action will not only give Nancy a new lease on life, but will also send a strong message of support to thousands of women, victims of abuse, now serving time as a result of, what I call, wrongful convictions!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that
Read more

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w
Read more

Three lives, connected by a divine thread

My kids say it should be a book! The Doug, Pat and Mark story is a doozie!   About 25 years ago, while fighting to free Maurice Carter from prison, I read a newspaper column written by Pat Shellenbarger of the Grand Rapids Press on the topic of eyewitness identification. I contacted Pat re that story. That led to a friendship between Doug and Pat that continues to this day.   In subsequent months, Pat would go on to assist me in an investigation into the Maurice Carter case that eventually led to solving the crime.  That particular episode became a chapter in my book about the Carter case, SWEET FREEDOM, published in 2006.   Fast forward to 2009, A New York businessman claims wrongful conviction, and while serving time in a Michigan prison is handed a copy of my book. Mark Hartman, who was also convicted in Berrien County, was amazed at the similarity of these two stories and tried to reach out to me. His letters bounced.   Persisting in his efforts to contact the author, Mark
Read more