Just read the innocent man....it really makes you dulan towards
the judiciary...
Dennis Fritz was an ordinary man living an ordinary life in Ada,
Oklahoma. A school teacher whose wife was brutally murdered in
1975, Dennis was raising his young daughter on his own. On the
fateful evening of May 8, 1987, Dennis was enveloped by a sudden
foreboding sensation. He could not explain the eerie feeling in his
gutthe sense that something is about to happen. Two hours later,
he was under arrest, handcuffed and on his way to jail on charges
of rape and murder.
From the outset the evidence against Dennis and his eccentric
friend, Ron Williamson, in the murder of Debbie Sue Carter were
non-conclusive. An overzealous prosecutor, intent on winning,
relied on flimsy circumstantial data to create the illusion of
guilt. Distorted statements, questionable testimony of a jailhouse
informant, faulty hair evidence, dream confessions and other
bizarre clues completed the prosecutions circle of
deception.
Dennis was convicted after a swift trial. The vote of a single
juror saved him from the death penalty and he was sentenced to life
behind bars. His co-defendant, Ronnie Williamson, was sentenced to
death.
In prison, Dennis immediately immersed himself in an intense study
of the law and wrote hundreds of letters and appellate briefs in
his own defensehoping against hope that someone would take an
interest in his case. It was a tortuous journey, but Dennis was
relentless. After ten desperate years he discovered the Innocence
Project, a non-profit legal organization devoted to exonerate the
wrongfully convicted through post-conviction DNA testing. With the
aid of Barry Scheck and irrefutable DNA evidence, Dennis and Ron
were exonerated. The real killer, who turned out to be one of the
prosecutions key witnesses, was finally brought to justice. On
April 15, 1999, after twelve years of wrongful imprisonment, Dennis
and Ron were free men. Their long journey toward justice was
finally over.
