PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "On July 25, 1955, Emmett Till, a young Black boy in Mississippi turned 14. About one month later, Emmett was brutally murdered after being accused of sexually harassing a white woman named Carolyn Bryant in a grocery store. The two white men accused of his murder were found not guilty by an all-white, all-male jury. Just four months later, those two men confessed to murdering Emmett, but since they had already been acquitted, they couldn't be tried again. Sixty years later, Carolyn Bryant admitted that she lied about Emmett harassing her, but she's never faced any legal consequences. Emmett Till's story has not been forgotten, and the same racism and inequality he faced still persists today — especially in our legal system."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "They argued that he (Pervis Payne) had been searching for sex after allegedly using drugs and looking at a Playboy magazine, and attacked a white woman after he made an advance on her and she rejected him. But no evidence supports this theory.
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RELEASE: Innocence Project draws connections between Pervis Payne and Emmett Till. July 25, 2020.
GIST: "On July 25, 1955, Emmett Till, a young Black boy in Mississippi turned 14. About one month later, Emmett was brutally murdered after being accused of sexually harassing a white woman named Carolyn Bryant in a grocery store.
The two white men accused of his murder were found not guilty by an all-white, all-male jury. Just four months later, those two men confessed to murdering Emmett, but since they had already been acquitted, they couldn't be tried again.
Sixty years later, Carolyn Bryant admitted that she lied about Emmett harassing her, but she's never faced any legal consequences.
Emmett Till's story has not been forgotten, and the same racism and inequality he faced still persists today — especially in our legal system. Black and brown men in America have continued to be perceived as dangerous, violent, and hypersexual. These racist stereotypes that see Black men as predators and don't give them the presumption of innocence have often led to over-policing of communities of color, disproportionately high rates of incarceration, and wrongful convictions.
In the case of Pervis Payne, who's scheduled to be executed later this year, prosecutors evoked these very same racist stereotypes to convict him of murder. They argued that he had been searching for sex after allegedly using drugs and looking at a Playboy magazine, and attacked a white woman after he made an advance on her and she rejected him. But no evidence supports this theory.
Pervis, who has an intellectual disability, has spent 32 years on death row in Tennessee for a crime he has always said he did not commit."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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