Thread by @mcafee2012

Spending tonight with the Oklahoma Innocence Project at Oklahoma City University School of Law as 2 OK exonerees, Perry Lott and DeMarchoe Carpenter, share their stories. #peoplenotprisons #smartjusticeok

Lott is the most recent Oklahoma exoneree. He spent 31 years in prison after a conviction in Pontotoc County innocenceproject.org/innocence-proj…

And @purebred1976 was the first exoneree of the Oklahoma Innocence Project. He spent 22 years in prison after a conviction in Tulsa County readfrontier.org/stories/malcol…

Speaking first, @purebred1976 talks about his experience in jail pre-trial--how confused and afraid he was. How he, a minor at the time, didn't see his mother during a time when he needed her. And how he began writing to everyone he thought could help--celebrities, lawyers.

"I was in the county [jail] about 18 months," says @purebred1976. Talks about how the experience of trial gave him hope, because the testimony was clear--he hadn't done it.

During jury deliberation, @purebred1976 is given the chance to take an 8 year plea if he'll say his codefendant committed the murder. He turned it down, because it they were innocent. They were both convicted and sentenced to life in prison plus 170 years.

"We arrived in McAlester, and the first thing I thought was death. The prison looked like death," says @purebred1976. "The first night we arrived there was an execution. It was real quiet in the prison."

Talks about the extra struggle of his medical condition in prison. As an 18 year old with a colostomy bag, his life was made much more difficult. While in prison he was able to have the surgery reversed because he worked out, and remained healthy.

After he returned from the surgery, @purebred1976 was put on H-block--the death row unit of the prison. Says anywhere he went he had to go in shackles.

When talking about his case, @purebred1976 talks about how he doesn't feel like his public defender had his best interest in mind. Shortly after his case, Carpenter's attorney left the PD's office to work for the district attorney. "I felt like I was sold out," says Carpenter.

Talking about all of the players involved, @purebred1976 talks about all of the folks it took to get him free, everyone who gave him hope to keep fighting, including Eric Cullen (now with @anotherchancejp).

During his appeals project the Midwest chapter of the Innocence Project ran out of funding to help. But through Oklahoma Messages Project, @purebred1976 made a story for his sister that she was able to share through social media and spread the story.
okmessagesproject.org

It was a pre-execution confession with in-depth details from the perpetrator that was enough to finally help secure @purebred1976's release. It took another hearing, months for a judgement, & money for bond from an assault charge filed for an unrelated incident at the Tulsa jail.

After all of that, @purebred1976 could go home, "actually and factually innocent."

"After 7 days I could finally go to sleep. But in the meantime I wanted to read every word, I wanted to eat a little of everything," says @purebred1976. But says that wasn't the end of the fight--re-entry had its own set of struggles.

Lott talks about how he moved to Ada, OK from Wisconsin. Says he encountered a police officer while waiting for a girlfriend. Says the officer began questioning him and his "eyes lit up in a way I can never describe," when he said he'd been released from parole in Wisconsin.

Lott says "once a criminal always a criminal in the eyes of this officer and so many others."

Lott pauses for a break. So @purebred1976 talks about how difficult both the financial and psychological ramifications of post-prison life is.

Audience is told the statutory maximum a person can receive for a wrongful conviction is $175k. That's what @purebred1976 received after 22 years behind bars--not nearly enough to cover debts, much less assimilate to life post-incarceration.

Mr. Lott talks about how cooperative he was. He thought some how he was helping. He even went willingly to a line up--one where he shows up and he looks very different than anyone else there--but know he doesn't have anything to worry about.

Says he didn't realize he was in trouble until an officer walked in and laughed "she identified you." Says he was convicted because testimony is considered evidence in Oklahoma.

"But the facts don't lie," says Lott, pointing to a piece of paper he has with him. He was sentenced to 300 years in prison. "I didn't even know it was legal to give a person more time than they were expected to live," says Lott.

Says his faith and drawing and painting got him through his decades in prison, and allowed him to still have hope.

"When you're faced with a certain type of violence, evil, or hate, you can't fight that with violence, evil, or hate. You have to go a step above that and fight with Grace, kindness, a soft word," says Lott.

Lott says when the Innocence Project finally took his case, he had to have another person read it because it was "in that legal jargon i didn't fully understand." Says an acceptance letter was as good as a judgement on the inside--everyone knew it meant his case could be won.

Lott says he hopes his story will inspire, because there are so many more in prison that still need help.

Lott says in 2005 he almost died in prison, he almost never walked again, because he got staph infection on his spine. Falls himself a walking miracle for surviving that infection, for surviving a wrongful conviction, and for surviving 3 decades in prison.

Talks about how he became a mentor in prison. People craved to be seen as humans in a system meant to dehumanize people. He made that his purpose while he was incarcerated. Even faced with life in prison he wanted his life to have meaning, purpose, to help others.

After 6 years with the Innocence Project, Lott still had to accept a plea to get out.

Said on the day in court to accept the deal, district attorney Paul Smith changed it at the last minute. Time served became supervised parole for the rest of Lott's life.

After both men shared their stories, OCU Law Dean Jim Roth asks the men if they could say something to people, anyone in the process, at any point, what would it be.

Both answers will stick with me, but @purebred1976's I feel compelled to share:
"I'd ask the DA why, after all of the evidence showed we didn't do it, he still pursued a conviction."

Guilt or innocence, punishment or a second chance... they're decided by human actors in a broken system. We have a lot of changes to make, but those start with demanding accountability from our elected district attorneys. #SmartJustice #YourDAOK yourdaok.org

Thanks to the Oklahoma Innocence Project for the work you're doing. Tonight they're asking for your financial assistance to allow them to continue to give folks their freedom. Give, here: secure.okcu.edu/law/?BBFund=15…

But most of all thank you to @purebred1976 (who is releasing a book by the same title as his podcast, Buried Alive, check out the podcast and look out for the book in 2019) and Perry Lott, for giving their evenings to relive their trauma and share their stories. #peoplenotprisons