SUB-HEADING: 'We can make a difference and help a good man rebuild his life,' the GoFundMe description reads, in part, for Wayne Burgess.'
GIST: "A crowdfunding campaign was recently launched to help a Tennessee man, who was declared innocent after spending 25 years in jail.
Wayne Burgess, now 60, was sentenced to life in prison in 1999 after he was accused of murdering his then-girlfriend’s 1-year-old baby. However, new testimony in Burgess’ case helped exonerate him in April, when a judge overturned his conviction.
Lane Shuler, a member of the board of directors at the Tennessee Innocence Project, launched a Go Fund Me campaign last week to raise money to help Burgess with his health issues and financial challenges.
“Much was taken from Wayne Burgess. He missed the chance to see his son grow up. He lost decades in the prime of his life. Add to that, the fact that fighting a wrongful conviction is time-consuming and expensive," reads the GoFund Me description.
"Wayne is free, but he faces real financial challenges and significant health concerns. We can make a difference and help a good man rebuild his life,” the description states.
As of Thursday afternoon, more than $12,000 has been raised of the $15,000 goal.
Burgess was convicted based on a medical opinion of Charles Harlan, a former Tennessee medical examiner, whose license was revoked after multiple negligent autopsies, according to local news station WKRN.
When law enforcement investigated Burgess’ case at the time, they relied on the theory presented by Harlan, who performed the autopsy on the child.
Harlan suggested that Burgess struck the child, which resulted in the liver laceration that led to her death, according to a report by the Tennessee Innocent Project, a group that helped exonerate Burgess after reopening his case decades after he was wrongfully incarcerated.
“Dr. Harlan’s opinion was wrong. Jurors only heard Dr. Harlan’s opinion. At the post-conviction hearing, Wayne’s trial attorney, the Honorable Bobby Sands, testified that it was a case that weighed heavy on his heart over the years,” the group said in the report.
Dr. Adele Lewis, current Chief Medical Examiner of the State of Tennessee, and Dr. Thomas Rauth, Medical Director of Pediatric Surgery at The Children’s Hospital at Tristar Centennial, testified in a post-conviction hearing that it was “scientifically impossible” that Burgess committed this crime.
“It couldn’t have happened the way it was presented. It had to have happened hours to days earlier and Wayne wasn’t even around, the child when this trauma would have happened. Therefore, it’s not even medically possible that he could have committed this crime,” said Jason Gichner, Tennessee Innocence Project’s deputy director, according to WKRN.
