Justice for Leroy Evans
People ask me why Leroy? A reporter recently asked me the same questions. She said you’ve had similar cases, what makes this one different. The answer was simple. “It’s these people.” Leroy, who has been in jail for 39 years for a crime he did not commit, calls me every week. When I pick up and say “How you doing” he doesn’t hesitate. He says “Oh I’m Blessed. I’ve been blessed every day of my life” His mother, Alice , a granddaughter of slaves, gives the same answer. “I’m blessed every day of my life”. No hate, no anger, ever. This from a mother who knows the evidence shows her son did not commit a murder, but who has been in jail for 39 years. Like I said it’s these people. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have the same sense of peace, forgiveness and blessing as I watch this tragedy unfold, knowing the real possibility that he will die in prison, or worse, she will be alive when he dies in prison.
Lawyers are trained to be adversaries and advocates for their client. We are trained to take and argue the opposite position of the other lawyer. There’s no class in law school titled Find out the Truth.
I know it’s hard for me, as his lawyer, to say that I’m neutral in this fight for justice. I also recognize that the prosecutor can’t be neutral. She has to take the opposite position and unlike other lawyers she also has to be aware that she is a public official and has to get enough votes to stay in office. It’s difficult to step back and become less of an advocate and more as a person concerned with the truth.
Just yesterday Willie Veasy was released from prison after serving 27 years for a murder he did not commit, joining a growing list of such wrongfully convicted people. His release was a result of a district attorney deciding that he has a duty to not just prosecute, but to also ensure all citizens that they will be protected against such wrongful convictions. Philadelphia, like a growing number of district attorney’s offices, have created a Conviction Integrity Unit whose purpose is not to advocate, but investigate, to ensure that an innocent person is not sitting in prison. In Philadelphia more than 200 cases have been reviewed and 95% have confirmed the convictions. Such a review assures 95% of the victims that justice was served, and for the 5% it tells them that justice was delayed but not ignored.
In the case of Leroy Evans, he has simply asked to open up an investigation to answer the simple but troubling questions. Why is there not a drop of blood at the “bloody crime scene?” Why is there no blood on the victim’s personal belongings? Why is the murder weapon, the iron, not in evidence? Why is there no photo of the iron at the crime scene? Why was a lab report for the rope found around the victim, contradicting the testimony at trial, never revealed to Leroy?
The district attorney in Delaware County chooses to issue press releases rather than create a conviction integrity unit to investigate and find answers to these questions. A true investigation would reveal whether Leroy is part of the 95% who are guilty or the 5% who are wrongfully sitting in jail. The key word is integrity.
I will be participating in a Criminal Justice Symposium Saturday Oct. 19 at Cheyney University on Criminal Justice Reform featuring Yusef Salaam of the Central Park 5. The district attorney is certainly welcome to come and perhaps even answer some of these questions.
There’s an old saying that the law and justice are like brothers that don’t talk to each other. Justice is not written down in the law books or taught in law school. Justice is a basic concept of doing the right thing.
“Why is there not a drop of blood at the ‘bloody crime scene?’ ”
— Mike Malloy