Justice for all? Really?

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." 

Reciting The Pledge of Allegiance is sorta like offering The Lord’s Prayer. We get so accustomed to saying them that we don’t really pay attention to the words. 

The United States may be the “land of the free, and the home of the brave,” but if you think that, in our nation, there is “justice for all,” you’ve got another guess coming! 

Case in point. 

The HFP office helps many incarcerated people in the preparation of applications for a commutation of sentence. I was asked to review the application of an elderly Native American physician, and that’s when my blood starting boiling! 

Here’s a capsule of his story. 

Dr. Desai’s business partner was strangled to death in 1983. 12 years later, based on a conversation by 2 other people alleging that he had solicited someone to commit the crime, he was arrested and charged with first degree murder. The hearsay statement was not admissible as evidence, but the jury convicted him anyway. Thus, a life sentence without parole. 

This outrageous tale doesn’t end there. 

The trial for the guy accused of committing the crime ended in a hung jury. The prosecutor’s office refused to try him again, so he’s free. On four different occasions, two State Court Judges and one Federal District Court Judge set Dr. Desai's conviction aside and set him free. He went home four times, and could have fled the country to avoid any future detention. 

Yet he stayed, and in 2001 the state prevailed, and the good doctor was ordered to spend the rest of his life in Michigan’s prison system. In other words, the alleged killer was found not guilty of the murder, but the alleged solicitor was found guilty.

Dr. Desai is 82 years of age now, and in poor health…yet we keep him locked up. Shameful! 

This story brings back memories of the Maurice Carter trial. My friend Maurice was arrested on the testimony of snitch. During his trial, the snitch recanted his testimony and told the truth…the police had offered him a deal to lie. The enraged State of Michigan then charged the guy with perjury. The definition of perjury: “The offense of willfully telling an untruth in a court after having taken an oath or affirmation.” 

So, if the snitch committed perjury, that means that his claim that Maurice Carter had committed the crime was a lie. If that was the case, how could the trial continue, and how could the jury find Maurice guilty? He spent 29 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. 

Justice for all? Give me a break! 

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." - Martin Luther King Jr. 

As we observe Independence Day, 2024, may we remember the oppressed.



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