The Philadelphia DA’s Office, led by @LarryKrasner, just exonerated their 24th wrongfully convicted person.

 

Shaun King 

BREAKING: The Philadelphia DA’s Office, led by @LarryKrasner, just exonerated their 24th wrongfully convicted person. This is right here is why we do the work we do. ⁣

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Willie Stokes, seen kneeling in this photo, has been in prison for 37 years for a murder he didn’t commit. He’s been in there since 1984. ⁣

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While his conviction has just been vacated, Willie might remain in jail for a few more weeks or months until everything is finalized. ⁣

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What’s so painful, is that the ONLY man that testified against Willie was later found guilty of perjury, for lying ABOUT WILLIE, but prosecutors hid this from Willie and his attorneys. ⁣

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It’s crazy. Every officer and prosecutor on this case should be penalized. They should lose their pensions and law licenses. ⁣

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Not only that, but it has been discovered that the @PhillyPolice were offering incarcerated men SEX with women they’d bring in, or offers to reduce their time, if they’d provide false testimony against men they didn’t even know.

37 years of torture

 

This is a long story but I NEED you to read the whole thing. On one hand, it’s infuriating. On the other, it’s a reminder of why I’m always so proud of the work our team does.

The man in this photo is Arthur "Cetewayo" Johnson. Arthur spent 50 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted by Philly police in 1970s. For 37 years, he was held in solitary confinement — a form of torture.

But today he is finally free thanks to the work of Philly DA Larry Krasner’s Conviction Integrity Unit.

The unit found that the prosecutors in the case made false and “highly suspect” statements. Police interrogated a 15 year old kid for 30 hours, and after countless conflicting statements finally pressured him to implicate Johnson. Arthur was then forced to sign a confession after being abused by Philly Police for 21 hours.

It's disgraceful that Arthur had five decades of his life stolen all so the cops could close a case. After 37 years in solitary, Arthur said "I forgot how it feels to touch another person or to talk to another person without a [glass] screen or phone."

His story is why our movement to elect DAs and changemakers is so vital. It’s truly life-saving work. And we rely on your grassroots support to continue that work.

Arthur could very well still be in prison if not for our work to help elect Larry. So please make a donation right now to put changemakers like him in office all across America.

I know we have an uphill battle ahead of us. There’s no denying that. But moments like this remind me why our mission is just too important to EVER give up on. And I want you to know that I’m as committed as ever to this fight — especially with you all by my side.

Love and appreciate you,

Shaun