Thread by @JillPiggott

Spread word: my student & friend #Tavares Calloway was coerced to confess to 5 murders after #Miami police told him his own family was in immediate danger unless he falsely confessed to help them flush out the real killer. He was sentenced to die. docs.google.com/document/d/e/2…

#Tavares was 19 when 11 officers interrogated him for 18 hours w/o an attorney present. Police admitted to repeatedly lying to him, saying they'd found his DNA/fingerprints at the scene.

In fact, NO PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OR EYEWITNESS ties him to the crime.

The SOLE EVIDENCE against #Tavares is a confession he signed when police told him his family was in grave & imminent danger. After 18 hrs of questioning, police knew he was protective of his family & deeply devout.

At trial, #Tavares's mom said he'd 1st tried to stop his father from beating her when he was 3. Others spoke to the way he cared for his little brother & his girlfriend's young children. Jurors accepted evidence that he is "considerate, generous, & concerned about his family.”

When police told him his family was in danger, #Tavares acted quickly. He called his girlfriend, saying "he had a deal with Detective Law that would resolve everything within 3 months.” She "temporarily moved out of her apartment immediately” & he signed a transcribed confession.

#Tavares spent 12 years in #solitary awaiting trial. Jurors never knew that during this time police learned that the man he'd named as his get-away driver had, in fact, been in prison at the time of the crime.

#Tavares testified, as did an expert on coerced confessions who said the statement Tavares signed "indicated the presence of many sources of contamination." But the judge prevented the expert from comparing "known facts" (like notes passed bwn police) w/ Calloway's confession.“

The man who'd implicated #Tavares in the crime was convicted & sentenced to life without parole. Tavares was convicted, & by a vote of 7 to 5, jurors recommended that Tavares be killed, and the judge sentenced him to death.

While #Tavares Calloway's case was under appeal in FL, #SCOTUS ruled in Hurst that #Florida's capital sentencing scheme violated the 6th Amendment. For that reason, Tavares was granted a new sentencing hearing & removed from Death Row. However, he could be resentenced to death.

If Fox News 13's coverage is any indication, #Tavares Calloway is in serious jeopardy of again being sentenced to die on the basis of a "confession" that doesn't match known facts & is entirely unsubstantiated by physical evidence &/or eyewitnesses. tiny.cc/uhgcbz

#Tavares Calloway does not have counsel. If any lawyer, law student, or advocacy org is willing to speak with him (whether or not they're in a position to take on his case), he can be reached at the Miami-Dade Pre-Trial Detention Center. I can provide contact info, as well.

NO ONE is served when an innocent person is convicted. In this case, someone in Miami literally got away w/ 5 brutal murders & perhaps still walks free. The young men who died deserve to have the right person punished for the crimes.

#Tavares has been denied the ability to work during his years in #solitary on #DeathRow, so he's devoted himself full time to the study of law, religion, & African-American history. He's a member of my @ReadingJustice college-level study group. He's a man of dignity & compassion.

I can't overstate how much I respect my student & friend #Tavares Calloway. Each of his letters to me begins, simply, "Peace be unto you & yours."

Letters to Tavares must be on LINED white paper. Your 1st & last names & a work/home address needs to be on the envelope.

Tavares Calloway #170144334
Pre-Trial Detention Center
1321 N.W. 13th St.
Miami, Florida 33125

If you'd be interested in ordering 1 or more paperbacks for #Tavares from Amazon, let me know & I'll tell you about the @ReadingJustice reading list.

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