QUOTE OF THE DAY: ""It's frustrating man, especially you go to prison for a crime you didn’t do, spend all that time, 24 years in prison," said Jamerson. Jamerson could have gotten out sooner, but stood his ground maintaining his innocence. "They wanted me to take parole and I keep turning it down because you take parole, you can’t file no lawsuit on them. That means that you take parole they saying that you're guilty of that crime. So I didn’t mess with it," he said."
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PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "The DA's office he says jumped on the band wagon, "There is no reason to doubt the City of Tulsa diligence in failing to locate Petitioner's evidence," reads another excerpt from the complaint. "That's statements that they made to a court in the Tulsa county court house during evidentiary hearings," said Smolen. And city legal, no better he says. "It’s been destroyed. The city on letterhead wrote from the legal department, 'we’re not going to go look for something that we’re certain has been destroyed,'" said Smolen."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "But lo and behold, after a seven year legal battle Smolen got a court order to search the property room himself, and within just a few hours..."It was surreal. It was surreal that we had found it. It was surreal that we had been lied to for so long about the existence of it. It was shocking that Henry had been asking for this and denied the opportunity over decades to have had an opportunity to get out of prison for a crime that he had nothing to do with," said Smolen."
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STORY: The case of the destroyed evidence that was never destroyed," by Reporter Burt Mummolo, published on April 16, 2025, by KTUL:"
GIST: "I don’t be playing around with my freedom," said Henry Jamerson.
Last summer Jamerson was finally exonerated after being wrongfully convicted in 1991 for the rape of a 16 year-old. This week a federal lawsuit was filed to untangle the mess that led to his decades behind bars.
"All of it is shocking," said attorney Dan Smolen, Jamerson's lawyer. His 89-page complaint reads like a riveting Hollywood movie script, packed jaw dropping allegations of wrongdoing by the police department, the DA's office, the city, even the current police chief.
"I think he definitely knew," said Smolen.
Knew, he says, that authorities had the DNA evidence from Jamerson's case, even though time and again when Jamerson asked to have it tested he was told it no longer existed. "We decline your request to inspect the Tulsa Police Department Laboratory and/or Property Room to search for a piece of evidence that we are certain we have destroyed...," reads an excerpt from the complaint.
"They had maintained that it had been looked for, they had looked everywhere possible, that it couldn’t be found, that they were certain that it didn’t exist anymore," said Smolen.
The DA's office he says jumped on the band wagon, "There is no reason to doubt the City of Tulsa diligence in failing to locate Petitioner's evidence," reads another excerpt from the complaint.
"That's statements that they made to a court in the Tulsa county court house during evidentiary hearings," said Smolen.
And city legal, no better he says.
"It’s been destroyed. The city on letterhead wrote from the legal department, 'we’re not going to go look for something that we’re certain has been destroyed,'" said Smolen.
But lo and behold, after a seven year legal battle Smolen got a court order to search the property room himself, and within just a few hours...
"It was surreal. It was surreal that we had found it. It was surreal that we had been lied to for so long about the existence of it. It was shocking that Henry had been asking for this and denied the opportunity over decades to have had an opportunity to get out of prison for a crime that he had nothing to do with," said Smolen.
"It's frustrating man, especially you go to prison for a crime you didn’t do, spend all that time, 24 years in prison," said Jamerson.
Jamerson could have gotten out sooner, but stood his ground maintaining his innocence.
"They wanted me to take parole and I keep turning it down because you take parole, you can’t file no lawsuit on them. That means that you take parole they saying that you're guilty of that crime. So I didn’t mess with it," he said.
Now, the system that put him away has a mess to deal with, and if successful, the fallout from the case will most certainly register on the Richter scale.
"I think there needs to be fallout from it," said Smolen."
The entire story can be read at:
https://ktul.com/news/local/the-case-of-the-destroyed-evidence-that-was-never-destroyed-smolen-jamerson-tpd-tulsa-police-city-of-tulsa-district-attorney-wrongful-conviction
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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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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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
———————————————————————————————
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;
—————————————————————————————————
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
