Meet William Michael Dillon on Sept. 7th

Meet William Michael Dillon on Sept. 7th

DNA Exoneree, Songwriter & Recording Artist William Michael Dillon will be performing on Wednesday, September 7th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at The Moon (1105 E. Lafayette Street) in Tallahassee.

William spent 27.5 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. He was released in November 2008 after DNA testing proved his innocence.

Through his music, William tells his story of the pain, sorrow and injustice of a lifetime lost. He wrote the title track to his new CD, Black Robes & Lawyers, while in prison. We hope you’ll join us for an intimate gathering where you will meet William and have the opportunity to learn more about how music helped him through the horrific journey.

Admission is free. Of course, donations will be accepted and will enable IPF to continue to find and free people just like William Dillon who are wrongfully incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. CDs will be available for purchase; these proceeds will benefit William.


Learn more about William Michael Dillon's case.

Many thanks to The Moon for making this evening possible.
More information: http://floridainnocence.org/

Derek Tice of the Norfolk Four finally cleared

Charges were finally dropped against Derek Tice in the 1997 rape and murder of Michelle Moore-Bosko. Wrongly convicting innocent persons does no justice for the victims of crimes.

Tice was one of four men who confessed to Michelle's rape and murder after hour upon hour of psychologically grueling interrogation at the hand of Detective Robert Glenn Ford. Ford was convicted of federal corruption charges last year, unrelated to this case.

Eventually, a fifth man confessed to Michelle's murder. DNA evidence proved that the fifth confessor, Omar Ballard, was the sole assailant.

Read more here.

CA passes law limiting testimony of snitches

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed a bill that aims to prevent wrongful convictions by barring judges and juries from relying solely on the testimony of jailhouse informants.

The new law requires prosecutors to present forensic evidence or uncompromised testimony that corroborates information provided by in-custody witnesses who claim to have been told or overheard incriminating statements by the defendant.

Dozens of Los Angeles County criminal convictions based on the testimony of jailhouse snitches have been overturned over the last quarter-century because appeals courts found the key witnesses to be unreliable or self-serving.

The district attorney’s office years ago curtailed reliance on such sources.

The bill signed by Brown now makes those safeguards statewide policy.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/jerry-brown-jailhouses-snitches-new-law-.html