News One is reporting that after 17 years of incarceration, wrongfully convicted murderer Obie Anthony has been released from prison. Anthony was convicted of fatally shooting a man outside a South Los Angeles brothel in a 1995 trial and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Last Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kelvin D. Filer overturned Anthony's conviction after determining that the prosecution's star witness, a pimp, had lied to the jury.
The 1994 shooting death was featured prominently in The Killing Season, a book about two Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives written by former Los Angeles Times reporter Miles Corwin.
Anthony said that he wasn't at the scene and has maintained his innocence. His case drew the attention of students with the Project for the Innocent at Loyola Law School, who worked with the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University School of Law.
After 3 1/2 years of research that included visits to the crime scene and reinterviews of witnesses, an evidentiary hearing was held in September. Laurie Levenson, director of the Project for the Innocent, said that the pimp has since retracted his testimony and said he never saw the shooter.
Supporters chanted "Obie, Obie" as Anthony exited the courthouse after being incarcerated for 17 years. Despite spending most of his adult life in prison, Anthony says he harbors no ill feelings. The article reports that Anthony stated, "I knew from the very beginning that justice will come," he said. "I never once wavered in my faith."
How sad is it that this 37-year-old has spent almost half of his life in prison based on a lie? We're glad that Anthony got his freedom, but we cannot forget how frequently these stories are emerging. How many more stories of this type will surface before real changes are made to the "justice" system?
Read more at News One.
In other news: Denzel Washington Donates $2.5 Million to Alma Mater.