10 ms·

Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

264 points by defqon 5y ago

pstuart 5y ago
Prosecutorial misconduct like that should be punished severely -- there needs to be accountability for destroying other people's lives.
- avs733 5y ago
  This seems like a valid use of mandatory minimums to me. State actors should be subject to mandatory minimum life sentences for violating the rights of the public.
  - ccsnags 5y ago
    I’ve always been a proponent of state actors being held to a higher standard like how the UCMJ is an additional judicial code that members of the military have to follow as well as the normal laws.
  - bobmaxup 5y ago
    Isn't life in prison practically taking someone else's life? Would you even need that strong of an incentive to reduce the occurrence?
    - avs733 5y ago
      Punishment does not work as a deterrent. I propose this as a demonstration by the system that it is willing to respond to violations of the rules by the system. Such violations are inherently more problematic.
      - bobmaxup 5y ago
        > Punishment does not work as a deterrent. Why not?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- spiritplumber 5y ago
  Prosecutorial misconduct like that should be punished by garnishing the perp's wages to help pay for the giant wad of cash that the state must hand over to the victim in abject apology.
  - gentleman11 5y ago
    The prosecution should have to serve the same time their victim did
    - Viliam1234 5y ago
      They should be charged with kidnapping the victim, as a part of an organized group. The laws already exists, we only need to start applying them consistently to all kinds of criminals.
- apazzolini 5y ago
  IMO the only fair solution is their own incarceration for the equal number of days, but the only real consequence will be a slap on the wrist. Notable cunt Annie Dookhan[0] is responsible for putting up to 40,000 innocent people in jail by falsifying DNA records for the Massachusetts state AG. Over 21,000 cases have already been dropped. Her punishment? 3 years. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Dookhan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Dookhan
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - suifbwish 5y ago
    This sort of thing doesn’t deserve justice because she actively undermined it. She needs to be sent to the prison with the most prisoners she put away and thrown in with the general population. No need to worry about whether it’s a male or female prison.
  - AmericanChopper 5y ago
    I think defendants should be compensated for fees and other damages for any level of failed prosecution, especially if they end up wrongfully incarcerated. If abusing the justice system has to come out of the budget, I think most of the incentives to do so will start to disappear.
    - bobmaxup 5y ago
      What does 21 years of missed opportunity cost?
      - AmericanChopper 5y ago
        You would hope, a lot. There’s plenty of types of damage that can’t be repaired by money, but it’s generally how the courts choose to settle damages between parties. If one party illegally were to cause a comparable level of damage to another party, the damaged party would likely be entitled to a rather large amount of compensation for those damages. The fact that the government sees itself as above that level of accountability seems to be a significant part of the problem to me.
- publicola1990 5y ago
  Rather better than that, can the government be sued for damages for wrongful imprisonment?
  - kevingadd 5y ago
    Sometimes the government does pay out for wrongful imprisonment, but it's always insultingly low numbers, in the range of a couple thousand usd per year. And in many cases prisoners are Monetized with the for-profit prison operator and their vendors collecting exorbitant fees for basic things.
  - pstuart 5y ago
    That doesn't address the aspect of "skin in the game". If the government pays out over your misconduct, why should you care?
    - psd1 5y ago
      I'll have a crack: You are a bad cop, and you expose the government to liability. After a few such liabilities, the government makes it clear to your chief that this will affect his (or her) budget. Your buddy officers, with their pensions threatened, confront you in the locker room. Or perhaps your department takes out insurance, and the premiums are high and rising. Buddy officers etc. "I'm sorry Binks, but there's no money for CoL this year with this wrongful conviction thing." I'm just speculating. If the government insists against visiting the negatives on the culprit law enforcement agency, then it's the citizens who suffer instead. But I think that the costs would eventually exert influence on the problem children.
- sneak 5y ago
  There needs to be, but there generally isn't, and it's by design. Law enforcement in the US is generally above the law, most of the time. Most efforts to fix this are denounced as being pro-criminal or anti-cop or some tired variation on the same. If you know of any good ways to change this system that don't involve violence, I would love to hear them and participate.
octopoc 5y ago
> evidence that the prosecution improperly withheld from the defense regarding the reliability of informant testimony What are the consequences of this for the prosecution?
- unanswered 5y ago
  "Oopsies, don't get caught next time, kay?"
- avs733 5y ago
  A promotion
- sneak 5y ago
  A good question, but we already know the answer. At least more killer cops are getting charged and jailed, and that judge who threw the kids into the for-profit prison for kickbacks.
- curryst 5y ago
  The best we could probably hope for is disbarment. These things don't usually end up in criminal convictions. I would imagine a perjury charge is possible, but it seems unlikely.
stefan_ 5y ago
> Ms. Haddaway had demanded that the state dismiss unrelated drug charges against her grandson in exchange for her testimony against Mr. Smith and Mr. Faulkner. The recordings also show that the state refused to place that deal in writing to prevent Ms. Haddaway from being cross-examined on the issue. The state, in fact, dismissed the charges three days before Mr. Andrews’s trial was scheduled to begin. So they didn't just withhold information, 13 years after they manufactured a witness with some quid pro quo? I think there was a crime committed here.
- codezero 5y ago
  The story behind a lot of these innocence project stories is one of corruption and/or incompetence. We don’t punish those things too hard in the US unless the target is poor or brown.
  - monoideism 5y ago
    > We don’t punish those things too hard in the US unless the target is poor or brown. Absolutely, which is why Bernie Madoff died a free man.
    - sthnblllII 5y ago
      Marc Rich
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - codezero 5y ago
      I’m confused. Bernie Madoff died in prison. Can you clarify your comment? How is it relevant to this thread? His punishment, compared to the economic and personal impact of his crimes was very light in general terms. Try again.
      - unstatusthequo 5y ago
        Sarcasm. That’s what. He had 150 years in prison. Read: effective life in prison. What more punishment would you suggest? Oh two effective life in prison sentences? Gulag? Slow torture?
boomboomsubban 5y ago
On top of all the other bullshit, his trial was thrown out a year ago but they still forced him to spend the pandemic locked up because... there's no reason given.
- suifbwish 5y ago
  If any single person in the US is justified to go on a vandalism rampage it’s him.
  - ARandomerDude 5y ago
    Wait, what? Being exonerated after a conviction justifies damaging or destroying your uninvolved neighbor's property? Please explain.
  - sthnblllII 5y ago
    Who is justified in getting his property vandalized, and who actually will?
    - suifbwish 5y ago
      Seeing as our social system itself is responsible for his injustice, whoever is part of that construct that led to him being wrongfully imprisoned is to blame, which is basically all of us on some level. Everyone stood by and let it happen. Sad thing is most that this happens to will never have justice.
      - FriendlyNormie 5y ago
        I’m sure he can find the names and addresses of the small handful of people most responsible. If he doesn’t go minecraft them himself then he retroactively deserved his 21 year sentence because I the jury hereby find him guilty of being a little pussy ass bitch.
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    A vandalism rampage is never really a productive form of protest. And as shitty as it is to be falsely locked up for 21 years it is far far better than being wrongly killed, which are the events that led to the "vandalism rampages" I assume you are referring to.
gentleman11 5y ago
Imagine trying to restart your life after that. You would still be unemployable because of what comes up from google searches. Out of touch with everything
- userbinator 5y ago
  This guy is lucky to have one of the most generic names in existence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Smith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Smith
- suifbwish 5y ago
  Naw he’s famous enough. He just needs to make a GoFundMe to start a business and he’s golden
FpUser 5y ago
Wake me up when when they put government liars behind bars.
- glouwbug 5y ago
  I'll wake you up after eternal September ends
credit_guy 5y ago
Ms Haddaway made a secret deal with the prosecutors and the prosecutors did not reveal this. But did she lie? What this article forgets to mention is that Ms Haddaway wore a wire and got Jonathan Smith on tape that he committed the murder in order to get $60000 [1]. Here's part of the dialog for reader's convenience: "[BH:]Why were you in that field with blood all over ya? And they take, I seen ya goin’up the road that day, you know it? And you had a blue coat on and Ray [Andrews] and you both had huntin’hats on. And then when I come back by there and you were in that cornfield and you said that blood come off a dog, but I think that you held her and David [Faulkner] killed her or one of you three done it. [JS:]They never found out yet have they? [BH:]I know, that’s why I want to know ‘fore I die. I seen ya, did I ever tell anybody? You know I ain’t gonna tell on ya, goddamn, you’re my blood. I just wanted to know if you done it. I didn’t really think you did. I think crazy David did [JS:]It’s a secret. It’s a secret when one person knows[.] It aint [sic] a secret when two people know. [BH:]Well, the three of you know. [JS:]Right, there’s only two left. [BH:]It was you and Ray and David. [JS:]Ray wasn’t there until after it was over. [BH:]Where was he? [JS:]Down the road. [BH:]Ray was right with you in the goddamn field. [JS:]Yeah. That was after it was all done with. ... [BH:] Tell me. I ain’t gonna tell nobody, I just want to know (inaudible). [JS:]He didn’t do it. [BH:]You done it. [JS:]Uh huh. [BH:]You said you did it before. Why did you kill her? I thought she let you in there when you went fishin’[.]... What, you didn’t know her? [JS:]I knew she had money. [BH:]You knew she had money. [JS:]She had money." [1] https://www.courts.state.md.us/sites/default/files/unreported-opinions/0619s18.pdf https://www.courts.state.md.us/sites/default/files/unreporte...
- fortran77 5y ago
  I suspect at least half the people exonerated by the Innocence Project are in fact guilty. However, I think that sloppy police work should never be rewarded with a guilty verdict, even if it's likely the defendant is guilty.
  - WrtCdEvrydy 5y ago
    A prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich.
andyxor 5y ago
I hope it doesn't get that long to get Derek Chauvin released once the woke wave is over.
publicola1990 5y ago
Was there any damages awarded? Surely the state is liable for a large sum as damages in this case?
- boomboomsubban 5y ago
  The civil case has likely just begun.
Ice_cream_suit 5y ago
EASTON — Jonathan Smith, one of three men implicated in the 1987 murder-burglary of Adeline Wilford in Easton, was released as part of a plea deal on Wednesday after spending more than 20 years of a life sentence behind bars. Smith entered an Alford plea to first-degree felony murder and daytime housebreaking in the case of Wilford’s death. The plea is not an admission of guilt but acknowledges a potential for conviction if the case had gone to trial. The conditions of his pleading guilty were that his sentence be suspended and he be granted probation. Talbot Circuit Judge Stephen Kehoe accepted the plea and handed Smith five years of supervised probation and a suspended life sentence. Joseph Michael, special prosecutor in the case, said he reached the agreement with Smith’s attorney Don Salzman over the weekend. Michael said a plea deal had always been a potential outcome in the case but Smith had not previously been willing plead guilty. The prosecutor said of the agreement Wednesday that while “the only real justice would be for this crime to never have happened,” he stands behind his offer “because this matter needs to be closed.” Smith “can hide behind an Alford plea,” he said, “but he’s a guilty man and he will always be guilty.”
- bb88 5y ago
  Here's the quick summary of the case. 1. Palm print evidence was suppressed by the prosecution. 2. Another man's confession of guilt (including details that were not publicly known) as well as detailing how the palm print got there pointed to another killer -- which the police did not pursue. 3. Everything else was a sideshow. In this case the Alford plea is good since the prosecution would have to had retry him, and probably look silly in light of new evidence.
londons_explore 5y ago
This folks is why you keep location history turned on on your phone and why you audio record everything. When the police try to frame you for something you didn't do, you won't have to spend 21 years behind bars.
js2 5y ago
Another case of innocence I just listened to is of Myon Burrell sentenced to life in prison for a crime he didn't commit: https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-jail-tapes-in-the-dumpster/ https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-jail-tapes-in-the-dumpste... > Most people serving life sentences don’t have an investigative reporter show up to volunteer at their prison and spend a year reinvestigating their case. Most don’t have ties to a presidential candidate to make their story more appealing to news editors. George Floyd’s killing probably also played a role. Floyd’s death gripped Minnesota and put a spotlight on systemic racism before the eyes of the world. There are efforts around the country to review old cases like Myon’s. About a dozen states have set up sentencing review units or conviction review units. Minnesota is establishing one, but it’s unlikely all the Myons out there will get anyone to give their old cases a second look.

264 points by defqon 5y ago

Prosecutorial misconduct like that should be punished severely -- there needs to be accountability for destroying other people's lives.

avs733 5y ago
This seems like a valid use of mandatory minimums to me. State actors should be subject to mandatory minimum life sentences for violating the rights of the public.
- ccsnags 5y ago
  I’ve always been a proponent of state actors being held to a higher standard like how the UCMJ is an additional judicial code that members of the military have to follow as well as the normal laws.
- bobmaxup 5y ago
  Isn't life in prison practically taking someone else's life? Would you even need that strong of an incentive to reduce the occurrence?
  - avs733 5y ago
    Punishment does not work as a deterrent. I propose this as a demonstration by the system that it is willing to respond to violations of the rules by the system. Such violations are inherently more problematic.
    - bobmaxup 5y ago
      > Punishment does not work as a deterrent. Why not?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
spiritplumber 5y ago
Prosecutorial misconduct like that should be punished by garnishing the perp's wages to help pay for the giant wad of cash that the state must hand over to the victim in abject apology.
- gentleman11 5y ago
  The prosecution should have to serve the same time their victim did
  - Viliam1234 5y ago
    They should be charged with kidnapping the victim, as a part of an organized group. The laws already exists, we only need to start applying them consistently to all kinds of criminals.
apazzolini 5y ago
IMO the only fair solution is their own incarceration for the equal number of days, but the only real consequence will be a slap on the wrist. Notable cunt Annie Dookhan[0] is responsible for putting up to 40,000 innocent people in jail by falsifying DNA records for the Massachusetts state AG. Over 21,000 cases have already been dropped. Her punishment? 3 years. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Dookhan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Dookhan
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- suifbwish 5y ago
  This sort of thing doesn’t deserve justice because she actively undermined it. She needs to be sent to the prison with the most prisoners she put away and thrown in with the general population. No need to worry about whether it’s a male or female prison.
- AmericanChopper 5y ago
  I think defendants should be compensated for fees and other damages for any level of failed prosecution, especially if they end up wrongfully incarcerated. If abusing the justice system has to come out of the budget, I think most of the incentives to do so will start to disappear.
  - bobmaxup 5y ago
    What does 21 years of missed opportunity cost?
    - AmericanChopper 5y ago
      You would hope, a lot. There’s plenty of types of damage that can’t be repaired by money, but it’s generally how the courts choose to settle damages between parties. If one party illegally were to cause a comparable level of damage to another party, the damaged party would likely be entitled to a rather large amount of compensation for those damages. The fact that the government sees itself as above that level of accountability seems to be a significant part of the problem to me.
publicola1990 5y ago
Rather better than that, can the government be sued for damages for wrongful imprisonment?
- kevingadd 5y ago
  Sometimes the government does pay out for wrongful imprisonment, but it's always insultingly low numbers, in the range of a couple thousand usd per year. And in many cases prisoners are Monetized with the for-profit prison operator and their vendors collecting exorbitant fees for basic things.
- pstuart 5y ago
  That doesn't address the aspect of "skin in the game". If the government pays out over your misconduct, why should you care?
  - psd1 5y ago
    I'll have a crack: You are a bad cop, and you expose the government to liability. After a few such liabilities, the government makes it clear to your chief that this will affect his (or her) budget. Your buddy officers, with their pensions threatened, confront you in the locker room. Or perhaps your department takes out insurance, and the premiums are high and rising. Buddy officers etc. "I'm sorry Binks, but there's no money for CoL this year with this wrongful conviction thing." I'm just speculating. If the government insists against visiting the negatives on the culprit law enforcement agency, then it's the citizens who suffer instead. But I think that the costs would eventually exert influence on the problem children.
sneak 5y ago
There needs to be, but there generally isn't, and it's by design. Law enforcement in the US is generally above the law, most of the time. Most efforts to fix this are denounced as being pro-criminal or anti-cop or some tired variation on the same. If you know of any good ways to change this system that don't involve violence, I would love to hear them and participate.

octopoc 5y ago

> evidence that the prosecution improperly withheld from the defense regarding the reliability of informant testimony What are the consequences of this for the prosecution?

unanswered 5y ago
"Oopsies, don't get caught next time, kay?"
avs733 5y ago
A promotion
sneak 5y ago
A good question, but we already know the answer. At least more killer cops are getting charged and jailed, and that judge who threw the kids into the for-profit prison for kickbacks.
curryst 5y ago
The best we could probably hope for is disbarment. These things don't usually end up in criminal convictions. I would imagine a perjury charge is possible, but it seems unlikely.

stefan_ 5y ago

> Ms. Haddaway had demanded that the state dismiss unrelated drug charges against her grandson in exchange for her testimony against Mr. Smith and Mr. Faulkner. The recordings also show that the state refused to place that deal in writing to prevent Ms. Haddaway from being cross-examined on the issue. The state, in fact, dismissed the charges three days before Mr. Andrews’s trial was scheduled to begin. So they didn't just withhold information, 13 years after they manufactured a witness with some quid pro quo? I think there was a crime committed here.

codezero 5y ago
The story behind a lot of these innocence project stories is one of corruption and/or incompetence. We don’t punish those things too hard in the US unless the target is poor or brown.
- monoideism 5y ago
  > We don’t punish those things too hard in the US unless the target is poor or brown. Absolutely, which is why Bernie Madoff died a free man.
  - sthnblllII 5y ago
    Marc Rich
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - codezero 5y ago
    I’m confused. Bernie Madoff died in prison. Can you clarify your comment? How is it relevant to this thread? His punishment, compared to the economic and personal impact of his crimes was very light in general terms. Try again.
    - unstatusthequo 5y ago
      Sarcasm. That’s what. He had 150 years in prison. Read: effective life in prison. What more punishment would you suggest? Oh two effective life in prison sentences? Gulag? Slow torture?

boomboomsubban 5y ago

On top of all the other bullshit, his trial was thrown out a year ago but they still forced him to spend the pandemic locked up because... there's no reason given.

suifbwish 5y ago
If any single person in the US is justified to go on a vandalism rampage it’s him.
- ARandomerDude 5y ago
  Wait, what? Being exonerated after a conviction justifies damaging or destroying your uninvolved neighbor's property? Please explain.
- sthnblllII 5y ago
  Who is justified in getting his property vandalized, and who actually will?
  - suifbwish 5y ago
    Seeing as our social system itself is responsible for his injustice, whoever is part of that construct that led to him being wrongfully imprisoned is to blame, which is basically all of us on some level. Everyone stood by and let it happen. Sad thing is most that this happens to will never have justice.
    - FriendlyNormie 5y ago
      I’m sure he can find the names and addresses of the small handful of people most responsible. If he doesn’t go minecraft them himself then he retroactively deserved his 21 year sentence because I the jury hereby find him guilty of being a little pussy ass bitch.
- boomboomsubban 5y ago
  A vandalism rampage is never really a productive form of protest. And as shitty as it is to be falsely locked up for 21 years it is far far better than being wrongly killed, which are the events that led to the "vandalism rampages" I assume you are referring to.

gentleman11 5y ago

Imagine trying to restart your life after that. You would still be unemployable because of what comes up from google searches. Out of touch with everything

userbinator 5y ago
This guy is lucky to have one of the most generic names in existence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Smith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Smith
suifbwish 5y ago
Naw he’s famous enough. He just needs to make a GoFundMe to start a business and he’s golden

FpUser 5y ago

Wake me up when when they put government liars behind bars.

glouwbug 5y ago
I'll wake you up after eternal September ends

credit_guy 5y ago

Ms Haddaway made a secret deal with the prosecutors and the prosecutors did not reveal this. But did she lie? What this article forgets to mention is that Ms Haddaway wore a wire and got Jonathan Smith on tape that he committed the murder in order to get $60000 [1]. Here's part of the dialog for reader's convenience: "[BH:]Why were you in that field with blood all over ya? And they take, I seen ya goin’up the road that day, you know it? And you had a blue coat on and Ray [Andrews] and you both had huntin’hats on. And then when I come back by there and you were in that cornfield and you said that blood come off a dog, but I think that you held her and David [Faulkner] killed her or one of you three done it. [JS:]They never found out yet have they? [BH:]I know, that’s why I want to know ‘fore I die. I seen ya, did I ever tell anybody? You know I ain’t gonna tell on ya, goddamn, you’re my blood. I just wanted to know if you done it. I didn’t really think you did. I think crazy David did [JS:]It’s a secret. It’s a secret when one person knows[.] It aint [sic] a secret when two people know. [BH:]Well, the three of you know. [JS:]Right, there’s only two left. [BH:]It was you and Ray and David. [JS:]Ray wasn’t there until after it was over. [BH:]Where was he? [JS:]Down the road. [BH:]Ray was right with you in the goddamn field. [JS:]Yeah. That was after it was all done with. ... [BH:] Tell me. I ain’t gonna tell nobody, I just want to know (inaudible). [JS:]He didn’t do it. [BH:]You done it. [JS:]Uh huh. [BH:]You said you did it before. Why did you kill her? I thought she let you in there when you went fishin’[.]... What, you didn’t know her? [JS:]I knew she had money. [BH:]You knew she had money. [JS:]She had money." [1] https://www.courts.state.md.us/sites/default/files/unreported-opinions/0619s18.pdf https://www.courts.state.md.us/sites/default/files/unreporte...

fortran77 5y ago
I suspect at least half the people exonerated by the Innocence Project are in fact guilty. However, I think that sloppy police work should never be rewarded with a guilty verdict, even if it's likely the defendant is guilty.
- WrtCdEvrydy 5y ago
  A prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich.

andyxor 5y ago

I hope it doesn't get that long to get Derek Chauvin released once the woke wave is over.

publicola1990 5y ago

Was there any damages awarded? Surely the state is liable for a large sum as damages in this case?

boomboomsubban 5y ago
The civil case has likely just begun.

Ice_cream_suit 5y ago

EASTON — Jonathan Smith, one of three men implicated in the 1987 murder-burglary of Adeline Wilford in Easton, was released as part of a plea deal on Wednesday after spending more than 20 years of a life sentence behind bars. Smith entered an Alford plea to first-degree felony murder and daytime housebreaking in the case of Wilford’s death. The plea is not an admission of guilt but acknowledges a potential for conviction if the case had gone to trial. The conditions of his pleading guilty were that his sentence be suspended and he be granted probation. Talbot Circuit Judge Stephen Kehoe accepted the plea and handed Smith five years of supervised probation and a suspended life sentence. Joseph Michael, special prosecutor in the case, said he reached the agreement with Smith’s attorney Don Salzman over the weekend. Michael said a plea deal had always been a potential outcome in the case but Smith had not previously been willing plead guilty. The prosecutor said of the agreement Wednesday that while “the only real justice would be for this crime to never have happened,” he stands behind his offer “because this matter needs to be closed.” Smith “can hide behind an Alford plea,” he said, “but he’s a guilty man and he will always be guilty.”

bb88 5y ago
Here's the quick summary of the case. 1. Palm print evidence was suppressed by the prosecution. 2. Another man's confession of guilt (including details that were not publicly known) as well as detailing how the palm print got there pointed to another killer -- which the police did not pursue. 3. Everything else was a sideshow. In this case the Alford plea is good since the prosecution would have to had retry him, and probably look silly in light of new evidence.

londons_explore 5y ago

This folks is why you keep location history turned on on your phone and why you audio record everything. When the police try to frame you for something you didn't do, you won't have to spend 21 years behind bars.

js2 5y ago

Another case of innocence I just listened to is of Myon Burrell sentenced to life in prison for a crime he didn't commit: https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-jail-tapes-in-the-dumpster/ https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-jail-tapes-in-the-dumpste... > Most people serving life sentences don’t have an investigative reporter show up to volunteer at their prison and spend a year reinvestigating their case. Most don’t have ties to a presidential candidate to make their story more appealing to news editors. George Floyd’s killing probably also played a role. Floyd’s death gripped Minnesota and put a spotlight on systemic racism before the eyes of the world. There are efforts around the country to review old cases like Myon’s. About a dozen states have set up sentencing review units or conviction review units. Minnesota is establishing one, but it’s unlikely all the Myons out there will get anyone to give their old cases a second look.