[UAH] The American criminal justice system is a frame-up system

The American criminal justice system is a frame-up system. Lorenzo "Cat" Johnson's story is an excruciatingly clear example of an innocent man caught in a corrupt process. For the refusal to plead guilty to a murder he did not commit, the state has worked overtime to keep him locked up for life. Evidence was falsified by the police and prosecution. And when a federal appeals court ruled this so-called evidence was legally insufficient to convict, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in and reinstated his conviction.

Cat says, "My job is still waiting on me and I will take up where I left off."

A year ago, Lorenzo Johnson was enjoying life as a free man – freed after spending 16 years in Pennsylvania prisons. As an innocent man, he long ago had turned down a plea offer of five to 10 years. Over the years Johnson fought his conviction with tenacity and courage and integrity, reaching out to over 400 organizations and individuals. A youth when he entered prison, he educated himself and filed pro sestate and federal challenges to his conviction.

No witness testified to actually witnessing the murder or Lorenzo Johnson's involvement. No ballistics evidence exists linking Lorenzo Johnson to the shooting. Lorenzo Johnson's conviction was obtained by police favors and threats made to key prosecution witnesses, who initially said they knew nothing of the murder or said that Lorenzo Johnson was not present.

In fact, Johnson was in New York City at the time of the murder. The prosecutor, an assistant state attorney general, made a plea agreement with one of Johnson's alibi witnesses that was not disclosed to the defense in violation of due process. After making the deal, this witness testified for the prosecution and two weeks later was released from prison.

In October 2011, Lorenzo Johnson won the reversal of his conviction. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that his murder conviction was based on insufficient evidence. This was a legal decision tantamount to an acquittal. The state was legally required to free Lorenzo Johnson. The prosecution was barred from subjecting him to a new trial.

The Pennsylvania state attorney general was left with only one possible challenge to the ruling of the federal appeals court – the grant of certiorari (review) by the U.S. Supreme Court. This was statistically and legally unlikely. The district court judge who had initially denied Johnson's habeas corpus petition held a bond hearing. Family and friends as well as four Pennsylvania corrections officers testified on behalf of Johnson. Over the objection of the Pennsylvania Attorney General, Lorenzo Johnson was released on January 18, 2012.

Johnson reunited with his family – mother, brother, sister, children. He had a new wife, a job and was active fighting for the release of others who had been framed up. Johnson thought the nightmare of being sentenced to life without parole – slow death row – was over. But after a spectacularly unusual turn of events – even within the workings of this criminal injustice system – four months later he was back in a Pennsylvania prison, SCI Mahanoy.

In a unanimous decision, the United States Supreme Court summarily reversed the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals' grant of habeas corpus relief. Justice Anton Scalia accepted the state's petition although it was filed late. The full court reinstated Johnson's conviction in aper curium decision without the usual procedure of full legal briefing and oral argument. It sent the case back to the 3rd Circuit for further review.

Lorenzo Johnson was ordered back to prison and he voluntarily turned himself in on June 14, 2012. His lawyers continued with new motions in the Court of Appeals. But after waiting almost a year for a ruling, on April 17, 2013, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals caved in, issued an order vacating its earlier reversal of Johnson's conviction and denied Johnson's motion for reversal on grounds of prosecution suppression of a deal made with a key witness. The U.S. Supreme Court and the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals cited the 1996 Clinton administration Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) to justify its decisions.

Lorenzo Johnson is fighting for his freedom over again in the Pennsylvania state and federal courts. His case is now invoked by prosecutors and courts throughout the United States as Supreme Court precedent to deny challenges to state convictions on the ground of insufficient evidence. It has eviscerated habeas corpus relief for a wide layer of state prisoners.

As Johnson stated after the April 2013 3rd Circuit decision: "How can the Appeals Court vacate a life sentence and deem it unconstitutional then turn around and won't even hear my appeal? I am the same person the 3rd Circuit Court released due to insufficient evidence and barred a retrial.

"I'm one of MANY wrongful convictions. Whenever someone is wrongfully convicted of a crime, it affects the falsely accused, victims, families, taxpayers, and society as a whole.

"My family, friends and job are still waiting on me and I will take over where I left off. At the end of the day I'm still a husband, son, father, brother and uncle. I will continue to speak out against wrongful convictions. One second is too long for an innocent person to spend in prison."

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*A positive mind is a courageous mind, without doubts and fears, using the experience and wisdom to give the best of him/herself.

 

 We must dare invent the future!
The only way of limiting the usurpation of power by
 individuals, the military or otherwise, is to put the people in charge  - Capt. Thomas. Sankara {RIP} '1949-1987

 *"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent

revolution inevitable"**…  *J.F Kennedy