Innocent in prison?

by Matt Kelley

Published October 05, 2008 @ 11:19AM PST

There's a myth that all prisoners say they're innocent. Ask someone who has served time in prison and they'll tell you that's not true. Of course some inmates will lie in an attempt to avoid a sentence and others will lie to other inmates to protect their pride and safety, but most inmates admit their guilt. Many of them believe they were sentenced too harshly, or received unfair treatment at the hands of an unbalanced system, and some of them are right.

The five cases below are relatively rare. These inmates say they didn't commit the crimes for which they are in prison. They may or may not be telling the truth, but all five have new evidence - developed or discovered since trial - that they are seeking to present to an impartial judge or jury. Find out how you can get involved to help them get another day in court. (Full disclosure, I work at the Innocence Project, which represented Dennis Fritz and Ron Williamson (mentioned in #1) and has been involved in a consulting role in the case of the West Memphis Three (#4).)

1. Karl Fontenot and Tommy Ward were convicted of killing a 24-year-old woman in Ada, Oklahoma in 1984. They gave confessions after their arrests, but said a short time later that the confessions were false and had been coerced by police. In their confessions, the men said they had stabbed and burned the victim, but her body was found a year later with a single gunshot wound to the head and no signs of stabbing or burning. The case is the subject of the book "The Dreams of Ada" by Robert Mayer, and the men were convicted by the same district attorney who prosecuted Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz for a murder they didn't commit. Fritz and Williamson were exonerated in 1999 after serving a decade in prison. Visit Ward and Fontenot's website to contact their legal team and get involved.

2. Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Philadelphia journalist on Pennsylvania's death row , is one of the world's most famous prisoners. The movement to "Free Mumia" has been an American cultural phenomenon for a decade and offers insight into the opposition to the death penalty. Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death in 1982 for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer, a crime he says he didn't commit. His legal team has repeatedly pointed to evidence of his innocence in appeals, including an alleged confession by another man. They also argue that there was racial bias in the jury selection at Abu-Jamal's trial and perjury in testimony by Philadelphia police officers. Read an update on the latest news in Abu-Jamal's case and get involved in the movement to overturn his conviction and free him from death row.

3. Schapelle Corby, an Australian woman, was sentenced to 20 years in an Indonesian prison for allegedly smuggling 4 kilograms of marijuana into the country. She claims the drugs were planted, and has gained a significant international following for her appeals to overturn her wrongful conviction. Visit the website created by Corby's family to support her appeals, and sign a petition for her release.

4. The West Memphis Three - Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin were convicted in 1994 on scant evidence of murdering three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. At trial, prosecutors presented details about the defendants' taste for heavy metal music as evidence that the murders were part of a satanic ritual. Echols is on death row while his co-defendants are serving life in prison. Since their conviction, a movement has formed among musicians and the public to support the trio's appeals, and litigation is ongoing. There have been several major developments in 2008. Visit the West Memphis 3 website to get involved today.

5. Troy Davis is on Georgia's death row for the 1989 murder of a Savannah, Georgia, police officer - a crime he has always said he didn't commit. Although 13 witnesses testified at Davis' trial that they say him shoot the officer, all but two of them have since recanted their testimony. One of the two holdouts is believed by many to be the actual perpetrator of the crime. He came within two hours of execution in September before the U.S. Supreme Court granted him a stay. The court is expected to announce soon  Visit Amnesty International's website to send a letter to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to support clemency for Davis.