Category Archives: Uncategorized

By CELESTE M. HART

Rita Daniels and Pauline Copes-Johnson produced an online Zoom presentation, on Harriet Tubman Day, held in memory of Tubman’s death anniversary date, March 10, in 1913, at age 92 years old. Copes-Johnson and Daniels, Tubman’s great-great niece and great- great-great niece, respectively, discussed a trip to Ghana, the Harriet Tubman Learning Center (HTLC) and Tubman’s face on the $20 bill.  U.S Senator Richard Blumenthal and Congressman Jim Himes, both for Connecticut, joined approximately 50 participants including, Dr. E. Faye Williams, President of National Congress of Black Women, Westport, Connecticut Judge Lisa Wexler who hosts her own radio show, Diana Washington, Southern Connecticut Black chamber of Commerce vice president and Joy Colon, first Black elected to Trumbull Town Council, Connecticut.

Copes-Johnson, keynote speaker, depicted her 2004 trip with her sister, Geraldine Copes-Daniels to Ghana’s slave quarters and provided solemn photographs of Black men and women brutalized and killed.

“My sister and I saw the secret passages, a plantation and how slaves lived. They had to work, day and night,” said Copes-Johnson. “Aunt Harriet lived a horrible life, forced into slavery. She was a person of courage and compassion. I don’t think I could’ve done what she did. She helped white people too, called indentured servants. I’d like to see Aunt Harriet’s face, in her elderly years, on the $20 bill. Replace the slaveholder, Andrew Jackson, with the slave.”

Blumenthal and Himes, both spoke in support for the renaming of a Bridgeport library, The Harriet Tubman Learning Center, and for the Tubman $20 bill.

“The Tubman Learning Center will open new businesses and opportunities. It will uphold the principles of Harriet Tubman, perseverance, and consistency. They sought to imprison and kill her. She was a warrior and a hero,” said Blumenthal. “0Put our money where our mouth is, put her on that $20 bill. Tubman deserves to be on that bill.”

“Harriet Tubman freed hundreds of slaves through the Underground Railroad. Every day, she woke and did it again and again. She fought against women’s suffrage. She lived dozens of lifetimes. We’re going to urge those in power to follow through on the Tubman $20 bill,” said Himes.

The Harriet Tubman Learning Center opened in Marietta, Georgia, in 2015, to help resolve the growing problem of illiteracy in the U.S., according to Daniels. Daniels and her mother, Geraldine Copes-Daniels who passed away, March 2020, and Cole-Johnson’s sister, created the Center with emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math (STEAM) and includes SAT/ACT preparation, GED programs, Early Learning Phonics, At-Risk students, children with PTSD, Individualized Educational Plans, (IEP) and mentally challenged.

“HTLC is a non-profit, 501C, supplementing school systems. There is only one affiliated with the descendants of Harriet Tubman. HTLC’s importance is also in the fact that Aunt Harriet was illiterate all of her life,” said Daniels.

Daniels’ visions include constructing Tubman Learning Centers across the U.S. and a proclamation for a federal holiday, National Harriet Tubman Day, designated on March 10^th.

Dr. Tiffany Renee Jackson, world renowned classical soprano and jazz performer, entertained, graciously, with the classic song, Summertime, from Porgy and Bess, an opera about Black life in Charleston, SC. George Gershwin debuted, in 1935, after he protested Metropolitan Opera’s requirement of only white performers wearing black make-up. Gershwin took the opera to Broadway with a real all-Black cast.

 LaKisha Davis-Small staged an original artistic expression of Harriet Tubman’s grandmother, Modesty, that hit remarkably close to home for herself and many women. Davis-Small emotionally depicted Modesty, raped by her master, thus conceived Harriet’s mother, also named Harriet. Davis-Small, sodomized at six-years -old by a family member, mentors sexual abuse survivors and authored a book, titled, Your Deliverance is Coming.

“I visited Tubman’s grave-site in Auburn, NY and kissed her head stone. I respect her for her spiritual gift,” said Davis-Small.  “I really felt embodied by Modesty. Like when Denzel Washington played Malcolm X.”

Wayne Winston, HTLC board member and Bridgeport community activist, hosted this panel of phenomenal women.

The Underground Railroad Still Exists.

This article by reporter Tracey Read from the News-Herald about a white male police officer and a 14 year-old boy online sexual encounter that was caught by the boy’s mother, yet the cop’s sexual battery verdict was overturned. Compare to the Black, David Hart case.

https://www.news-herald.com/news/ohio/ex-waite-hill-cop-s-sexual-battery-conviction-overturned/article_50c9ebda-a719-50f3-9c80-cd91218f11f4.html

The Ohio Supreme Court has affirmed the decision of the 8th District Court of Appeals which found the sexual battery conviction of former Waite Hill Police Officer Matthew T. Mole to be unconstitutional.

On July 28, the state’s highest court also overturned Mole’s two-year prison sentence and sex offender classification in a 4-3 decision.

Mole, now 39, had consensual sexual relations with a 14-year-old Richmond Heights boy on Dec. 19, 2011, after meeting him on the gay dating smartphone app Grindr.- Advertisement –

The boy’s mother called police after catching Mole at her home after the act.

A woman who answered the phone at Mole’s Mentor home said Mole was not immediately available for comment.

At his 2012 trial in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, Mole claimed he thought the boy was 18. The boy admitted lying about his age on Grindr, saying he was 18 on his profile, and lying about his height and weight to appear older.

Prosecutors argued the boy looked even younger than his age in person. Mole said their sexual encounter was in a dark room.

Mole was released from prison a year early in July 2013 after the 8th District overturned his conviction. The appellate court found because the victim did not know he was a police officer, Mole could not have used his position to facilitate the offense, which is a requirement for sexual battery.

Defense attorney Richard J. Perez argued that the boy was the aggressor because he initiated the computer chat, showed Mole a nude photo of himself and invited Mole to his home to have sex even though he knew he was 35.

“We are elated that the Supreme Court agreed with our position that the statute upon which Mr. Mole was convicted is unconstitutional,” Perez said. “As a result, Mr. Mole will have no conviction.”

A mistrial was declared after the jury could not come to a decision on the unlawful sexual conduct with a minor charge. Jurors were hung on whether Mole knew the boy was younger than 16 — the age for consent in Ohio — or whether he did enough to try and find out his real age. Prosecutors did not retry Mole on that charge.

The second, more serious count of sexual battery was decided by Judge Nancy McDonnell after Mole waived his right to a jury trial on that count.

The subsection —R.C. 2907.03(A)(13) of the sexual battery charge that Mole challenged — states that “No person shall engage in sexual conduct with another, not the spouse of the offender, when any of the following apply: … The other person is a minor, the offender is a peace officer, and the offender is more than two years older than the other person.”

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor held that R.C. 2907.03 is designed to prevent people from being exploited through established authoritarian relationships.

“But subdivision (A)(13) irrationally imposes that same strict liability on peace officers even when there is no occupation-based relationship between the officer and the victim,” O’Connor wrote in her opinion. “We therefore conclude that R.C. 2907.03(A)(13) is an arbitrary disparate treatment of peace officers that violates equal protection under the Ohio Constitution and the United States Constitution.”

In addition, O’Connor stated, “There is absolutely no ground for presuming that Mole used his status as a peace officer to gain access to (the teen) or bend the will of (the teen) or to facilitate the sexual conduct by any means connected to his occupation. And there is no dispute that (the teen) was unaware of Mole’s occupation and that Mole’s interaction with (the teen) had absolutely no connection with Mole’s occupational status.”

Justices Paul E. Pfeifer, William M. O’Neill and Judith Ann Lanzinger concurred.

Justices Sharon L. Kennedy, Judith L. French and Terrence O’Donnell dissented.

“Criminalizing sexual conduct between a peace officer and a minor is rationally related to a legitimate state interest because it punishes peace officers for conduct that if discovered would diminish them in the eyes of the community,” Kennedy wrote in her dissenting opinion. “If a peace officer discovered after the fact that the person with whom he engaged in sexual conduct was a minor, he would have a strong incentive to do whatever is necessary to ensure that his employer never found out, even to the point of compromising his integrity.

“Moreover, there is the potential for blackmail, which could lead to corrupt behavior or worse. These considerations demonstrate how the statute is rationally related to a legitimate government interest of protecting the public trust in peace officers by criminalizing conduct that is not only immoral, but is fraught with the potential for corruption and exploitation.”

Mole, who was described as an “excellent” officer by his superiors, resigned from Waite Hill after his arrest. He previously worked as an officer in Willoughby Hills, Beachwood and Mentor-on-the-Lake.

A compare and contrast in two sexual assault cases in Judge Nancy McDonnell court

Justices Grant New Trial in Cold Rape Case

By Celeste M. Hart

What Happened Was: The new trial hearings were continuously continued while the defense attorney, Marcus Sidoti and prosecutor, Oscar Albores, provided plea arrangements that began with high stakes. Hart, granted a bond and released, was offered to return to prison for two years with placement on sex offender list for life or 10 years, to not at all, depending on which charges agreed. The ‘victim’ said, through a source, that detectives harassed and threatened her with arrest if she refused to testify in the new trial. To her credit, she still refused. Final answer, Attempted Abduction, time served, not predator listed, Hart said he was just ‘tired’ and his attorney advised against a new trial due to jury concerns. Of course, I was justifiably angry.

Ohio’s Eighth District Court of Appeals panel, Justices Melody L. Stewart, Eileen T. Gallagher and Sean C.Gallagher, on August 17, 2018, granted David Hart an opportunity for exoneration in an 1998 cold rape case. Attorney Marcus Sidoti argued for Hart, April 24, 2018, based on pre-indictment delay, a prior acts error, known as 404(B) and failure to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. “We find some merit to the appeal and affirm the trial court’s judgement denying Hart’s motion to dismiss for pre-indicment delay. However, we reverse Hart’s conviction and remand the case to the trial court for a new trial,” judgement read. Sean Gallagher dissented on the pre-indictment delay but the panel was unanimous on the prior acts error that classifies a serial predator.
“I would find that Hart has demonstrated actual prejudice from his inability to call the only person present during the events to which the victim testified and remand for the trial court to consider the remaining aspects,” Gallagher wrote.

Oral arguments turned comical as Prosecutor Oscar Albores steadfastly presented his prior acts argument that Hart previously raped a young white girl, A.P., while the panel laughed out loud.

“He grabbed her wrists,” Albores insisted.

Justice Sean Gallagher reminisced about his college days and joked, “It sounds like he (Hart) was trying to get lucky.”

“I was not threatened…I was not raped,” testified A.P. under defense questioning in the cold case trial.   

 A.P., at 15, reported Hart, at age 22, kidnapped and sexually assaulted her, in 1996. The recent revealed original police report, states Porch-Lizanich (A.P.) approached David via pager and asked him, “Do you want your—-(male private part) sucked.” Hart and a friend, connected with Porch and her friend, never discussed age, she changed her mind, said ‘no,’ and Hart took her home. Porch, testified for the prosecution, that Hart held her hands under a barbell, touched her breasts and went down her pants. A.P’s husband, provided cue cards, from the back of the courtroom, flagrantly shaking his head for ‘no’ answers and nodding for ‘yes’, which McDonnell ignored.

 In the prior acts case, A.P., Hart plead guilty to attempted corruption of a minor, before Judge Kathleen Sutula and registered a sex offender for 10 years. Documents submitted erroneously stated Hart pleaded guilty to rape, kidnapping and corruption of a minor.

“I’d never have a chance against a white girl, the prosecutor, my lawyer, bailiffs, CO’s all told me, and Sutula wanted to give me 25 years, even though no physical or forensic evidence existed, , a he say/she say, her word against mine. Who they gonna believe?” said David.

Unbeknownst to Hart, in 1998, C.H. reported two guys kidnapped her and friend, Tierra Jackson, as they walked to Shaw Alternative High School. The trial revealed C.H. and Jackson cut school, Hart and a friend retrieved them from  the victim’s home, stopped at two stores for beer and smoked weed in his grandmother’s basement. Jackson and Hart’s friend deviated to another room, opposite a weight room where C.H. alleged rape occurred, while another friend played video games in a middle room of the close area, transcript states. Witnesses, Hart’s grandmother and both friends, now deceased.  

“I didn’t hear bout no rape,” testified Jackson.

+ In 2016, a sex crime investigator contacted Hart, DNA on C.H. underwear, a piece cut from the crotch, ‘hit’ Hart. The kit results showed no sperm on her body, in pubic hairs and no scars or bruises.  Prior to trial, C.H. deleted her Facebook page where they shared friends and liked mutual posts. She often patronized his East Cleveland restaurant, from 2002 thru 2004, he easily could be found.  

The trial commenced, March 13, 2017, followed refused deals that ranged from six months, two years, five years, to 25 years in prison. Albores, offered life off the table if Hart waived his appeal rights. In court, Albores discussed a sentencing scheduling conflict involving another rape defendant.

“To be honest, let’s get the parties together so I can hammer out a plea from both of you kind of thing. It’s a retrial of another rape case,” said Albores, transcript states.

According to Cuyahoga county prosecutors’ website, 65 percent of indicted cold cases resulted in plea deals and 12 percent found guilty.

Albores, in Judge Nancy McDonnell’s court, acted with C.H. how Hart held her wrists underneath a weight barbell, not mentioned in original police report that McDonnell denied the jury’s request to review. C.H. claimed Hart pulled her pants down, unzipped his, tore condom wrapper with his teeth and forced his penis in her vagina. She said it took about 10 minutes then she asked him for a ride home.

“He said he’ll take me home if I have sex with him. He told me he give me some money to have sex with him,” testified C.H.

 “She (C.H.) always been a troubled child. Always lying, smoking weed, drinking and cutting school… I had a leather belt to whip her…I would whoop her,” testified Barbara Deskins, C.H.’ mother.

 Motives for false rape accusations include, avoiding punishment, cutting school, an alibi for infidelity, and financial compensation, according to the Center of Public Integrity.

 The diverse jury deliberated two days yet remained evenly hung.

THE COURT: All right. Now, this is the question I have and I want to know if
this is your question, sir. Can we have a copy of the original police report? Signed by yourself and dated today, 3-16-17. Is that your question, sir?
JUROR McCULLAR: Yes, it is.
THE COURT: The answer is no. You are to go back to the jury room
and deliberate further on this matter.

McDonnell proposed the Howard charge, a tactic to coerce a jury to decide a verdict.

“You should consider it desirable that the case be decided. You are selected in the same manner and from the same source as any future jury would be. There is no reason to believe the case will ever be submitted to a jury more capable, impartial, or intelligent than this one. Likewise, there’s no reason to believe that more or clearer evidence will be produced by either side.
It is your duty to decide the case if you can conscientiously do so.

The next morning, Friday, March 17,

“One of our jurors did not appear today. And we’ve given him an hour and 25 minutes and I intend to seat the alternate in his place. Any objection on behalf of the State?”
MR. ALBORES: No, your Honor.
THE COURT: Any objection on
behalf of the defense?
MR. MACK: No, your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you. I’m going to tell them they have to
start their deliberations anew.
– – – – –

During recess, McDonnell and Albores discussed plans for the evening.

“Are you going to the parade? I thought you would be there,” said Albores.

“I plan to go down there, right after this,” said McDonnell.

An alternate juror, African American male, age 22, uninvolved with deliberations, replaced the absent juror and in 40 minutes, guilty on all counts.

Right after court, McDonnell participated in downtown Cleveland’s parade, her ritual since 1996. Following the weekend festivities, Monday, McDonnell sentenced Hart, 10 years to life in prison and labeled a serial sexual predator.

“I am innocent and anxious to clear my name in both of these injustices,” said Hart, before the coerced plea.

Sidoti, in his appeal argument, called the cold case tribunal a ‘trial by ambush.’

By CELESTE M. HART

Judah Fudge, wrongfully Incarcerated by false eyewitness identification in robbery

Judah Fudge, 23, in prison since age 18, arrested April 24, 2016, did not have the privilege of obtaining a competent attorney. I obtained the police report and discovered a problem with the eyewitnesses and the robbery victim’s identification of Fudge. Varied descriptions of the passenger in robbery suspect’s car included, a Black male, about 5’4, blue jacket, no facial hair, with a cross tattoo on his face.  In another police report, the robbery victim, Joseph Simmons, described the passenger as a Black guy with a cap on and bald. The report states that another eyewitness said he could not see the passenger’s hair under the hoodie. His picture from the week of incident here:

Simmons said he was robbed at a gas station, where Fudge lived near and shopped frequently, by two guys with guns. The next day, Warrensville Hts. police pursued the stolen car and Judah was the passenger. The police report states even though the BMV card was not similar to his present image, Simmons still identified Judah and this time stated the passenger had a hoodie, not mentioned in previous description. Judah, as clearly shown in picture, does not have a face tattoo and has long dreds. Judah admitted to being the passenger when the police caught them in the stolen car, but he was not a passenger in the car, nor involved in the robbery or had possession of a gun, the previous day.

Fudge, charged with aggravated robbery, robbery, kidnapping, having weapons under disability, receiving stolen property and disrupting public service, pleaded guilty to four of the charges.

Fudge, led to believe by his attorney, Mikey Mottl, that he would receive three years of probation, so he pleaded out, young, scared and not knowing the system. He never admitted to the robbery.  The victim did not appear in court as he was arrested the same day as Judah, on a robbery charge. Judge David Matia sentenced Fudge who had one prior case, to nine years in the worst of the worst of prisons, the maximum security Lucasville. The inhumane conditions, described below, continue today including newest complaints of showers not available and the staff is ‘messing with the food,” according to an inmate.

A former inmate filed a lawsuit against the warden and staff at Lucasville for brutality and assault by correctional officers,  an excerpt; “incarcerated from July 3 – 7, 2014 in a segregation cell without bedding, food or running water and which also was infested with roaches, fleas and mice and contained a plugged up toilet..”

In a phone conversation with Attorney Mottl who does not remember the case, although he asked how Judah was doing. I also spoke to Mottl’s father, Attorney Michael Mottl, who said, in regards to the plea deal, “that doesn’t make sense.”

 Matia is arrogant, just arrogant,” says another lawyer. “He thinks he is really something special,”  excerpt from 2007 Cleveland Scene magazine.

October 2nd, International Wrongful Conviction Day, launched by Win Wahrer of Innocence Canada, in 2014, to bring light and a ‘give a voice to exonerees,’ was acknowledged at the Justice Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Jeanna Kenney, director of Ensuring Parole for Incarcerated Citizens (EPIC), organized the rally that included exonerees, RuEl Sailor who lost 15 years, Derrick Wheat and Laurese Glover, two thirds of the East Cleveland Three that included Eugene Johnson, each lost 20 years. In a telephone interview, Wahrer described her passion for the wrongfully convicted.

“I am pretty much captured, I don’t have a choice. It’s not for the weak at heart. If the public does not get as mad as those directly affected by injustice, a justified anger, wrongful convictions will not stop,” said Wahrer.

A September, 2020 study, by the National Registry of Exonerations, concluded that misconduct by government officials is a factor in 54 per cent of wrongful convictions. From what I know and witnessed, many of the railroaded or wrongfully convicted, were the results of situations that never happened, all fabricated, all lies.

“Misconduct that produces unreliable, misleading or false evidence of guilt, or that conceals, distorts or undercuts true evidence of innocence. Prosecutors committed misconduct in 30% of the cases. Prosecutors were responsible for most of the concealing of exculpatory evidence and misconduct at trial, and a substantial amount of witness tampering.

Read the study here: http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Documents/Government_Misconduct_and_Convicting_the_Innocent.pdf

As a mother of two sons, both wrongfully convicted of rape, one twice and as a journalist, and a real rape victim, I was Introduced to the Wrongful Conviction world, 20 years ago, by Cuyahoga County Juvenile Judge Alison Nelson Floyd and disgraced, ex prosecutor, Oscar Rodriguez who was forced to resign due to misconduct. Throughout the years, I court-watched, sought out information and wrote about the disgusting shenanigans prosecutors, lawyers, police and judges perform to get wrongful convictions for ‘feathers in a hat’. I have read thousands of pages of transcripts, police reports and receive pages of innocent inmate letters. Michael P. Taylor, Larry O. Davis, Judah Fudge, Raymond Allen Warren, Ronald Shanklin and the most sickening, Emmitt Till type case of Jonathan Magwood, along with my own sons, compelled me to continue the fight for justice.

Rodriguez, currently a defense attorney, told a woman, whose boyfriend, he formally prosecuted, and who sought a new trial, “that feather ain’t comin’ out of my hat.” But he did provide a little trick of the pros for next time: Pay the witnesses not to come to court.”

Read the article here:

https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/a-night-at-the-bar/Content?oid=1494746

This heartbreaking Rodriguez quote ended the article:

“You have to understand,” he says, looking back at his house, his two young kids peering out the window at the visitor. “I have a lot to lose.”

Then he begins to cry.

As a journalist, I asked Ronnie Long, exonerated September, 2020, after 44 years in a NC prison, wrongfully convicted of rape, how he felt about “a lot to lose.” Read article here:

https://wordpress.com/block-editor/page/theovergroundpost.com/108

A girl, Alonda Garth, 13, testified Hart dragged her down 131st street, in Cleveland, Ohio, near Hamilton Jr High, around, 4:30 pm, during school dismissal, about eight bus stops on the street, in a busy neighborhood where in 2001, even at four in the morning. She testified nobody was outside and she feared for her life because, ‘he had a pager.’ In reality, Hart practiced basketball, as usual, the whole time. The police never entered the school to question the team, shoddy investigation.

Alibi witnesses came to court, several times, one sent a letter to Judge Alison Nelson Floyd, never submitted or mentioned. Alison stopped the cross-examination when real questions arose and the public defender, Anthony Kellon, never asked him any questions of pertinence to the false charges such as the typical, “Where were you on the day in question?” In a different case, Floyd ordered lie-detector tests for two rape victims and the defendant to resolve the “significant discrepancy” in their stories and “verify his truthfulness.” Click below for article:

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2010/03/juvenile_court_judge_alison_fl.html

In my son’s case, several defense witnesses who lived in the alleged incident home and one Hart walked to the bus stop, 4:50 pm, attended his court hearings to testify, hearings continued for months for frivolous reasons like “victim’s younger brother was sick.” An alibi statement was provided and the coach told police officers my son was at basketball practice before his approximately 5:10 arrival. Alison did not make a decision the day of trial, as required by juvenile law, instead, a probation officer visited my home, for a probation screening, and then informed us of the guilty decision. The officer wrote in her report, ‘mother was uncooperative’. Alison denied our requested continuance, issued an arrest warrant, jailed him, immediately brought to Alison’s court and not provided access to a phone call. Alison sentenced Hart, then 19-years-old, to juvenile life, in detention facility until age 21, forced to write an apology to ‘victim’, placed on sex offender list for ten years upon release, moved out of state where he registered for additional ten years Alison asked my son, “Where is your mother? She is a reporter.” Knowingly, she intentionally blocked his mother from the court session.

I spoke with Alison, outside of court, she advised me to submit an alibi witness list that I presented to her the next day, she said I was too late, it had to be submitted nine weeks in advance.

Note to Alison, as his mother, I’m still reporting and still uncooperative, 20 years later.

https://www.cleveland.com/countyincrisis/2012/01/judge_alison_nelson_floyd_said.html

http://badlawyernyc.blogspot.com/2010/09/incredibly-curious-case-of-judge-alison.html

Government Officials’ Games Played at Recess

A prosecutor attempted to look through a defense lawyer’s files left on the court table while the attorney left for recess, bathroom break or phone call. No one paid attention until I stopped him with that shocked look on his face. I realized Rodriguez probably utilized that tactic on my son’s defense attorney who left Alison’s courtroom during recess. When the trial commenced, the attorney opened his file, shuffled through the papers and said loudly to himself, “What happened to the rape kit results?” The actual results here:

Rodriguez seized the opportunity to falsely state, in court, that the results showed bruises on the victim’s thighs. It took 12 years for me to obtain the results which Rodriguez told me I would never receive, along with the original statements from Alonda.G.

“The courtroom is a stage. People are convicted based on lies,” said Wahrer via phone.

Rodriguez re-enacted Alonda G.’s story in court, He grabbed her arm, to show how my son pulled her down the busy streets, but, Rodriguez’s hand could not fit around her extra large wrist and as she turned her wrist quickly, his hand fell off. He had a surprised look but gathered his composure for the sake of the “Feather in his hat.”

At a visit to the Juvenile public defender office, I was told an appeal, as an automatic appeal is required by juvenile law, would be filed. I checked back 29 days later and was told by a receptionist the appeal would be filed that day but never happened and no files recorded.

For 20 years, on that sex offender list, no suitable address, fired from jobs after the background comes back, calls from Charlotte sheriffs, house police surrounded, three different times, like a violent murderer on the loose and increasing the chances of some one murdered here by police. Watch video of police at my house here.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNr6YLf1VHzZT2Tt2M9KCRYbm1TUvF3fur6en6i

 He’s been arrested more than once, several time during in family court, for trying to keep the bond he had with his son, now alienated based on perjury. Alison ruined many families and she should be arrested for obstruction of justice, contempt of court and other charges. Rodriguez should have been arrested instead of the opportunity to resign.

The Exoneration study states that Procuring false testimony—inducing a witness to testify to facts the officer or prosecutor knows the witness did not perceive is misconduct, and punishable as contempt of court, for a lawyer to lie in court, whether or not the lawyer is under oath.

By Celeste M. Hart

UPDATED February 1, 2022

July 2021, Taylor exercised his right and submitted a request for DNA testing to discover the true owner of the male specimen that excluded Taylor, testing on the clothes his accuser wore, and still waiting on the court’s decision

“Who is this guy? It definitely was not me. Let’s get to the bottom of this. this has destroyed our family. I would never hurt any of my cousins. If somebody did, I want to know who it was,” said Taylor via phone from Ohio’s Lebanon prison.

“Taylor argues he was convicted solely on inconsistent testimony. Specifically, Taylor claimed the lack of blood at the crime scene, the lack of injuries on E.W., and the lack of his DNA on or inside E.W., supports his argument that his convictions were against the manifest weight of the evidence. As an initial matter, there is no requirement, statutory or otherwise, that a victim’s testimony be corroborated as a condition precedent to a rape conviction,” an excerpt from appeal decision, 2014.

“People believe young girls can’t do this sort of thing. “Women can get back at men just by claiming sexual assault,” said Win Wahrer, Innocence Canada and creator of Wrongful Conviction Day, October 2nd, via telephone.

Michael P. Taylor, charged with four rapes, three kidnappings, for an alleged incident on Oct 12, 2012, and an intimidation, with Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Safford presiding. The jury found Taylor not guilty of three of the rapes and one kidnapping that resulted in sentences of a total 24 years to life. The ‘victim’, a 17-year-old family member testified that Taylor raped her on four different occasions.  A Victim Impact Representative, from the Rape Crisis Center, stood beside ‘victim’ while she testified. Taylor appealed but lost.

“In criminal cases, consistency between verdicts on several counts
of an indictment is unnecessary where the defendant is convicted on one or some counts, and acquitted on others, and the conviction will generally be upheld, irrespective of its rational incompatibility with the acquittal,” appeal states.

Taylor also asserts that there was insufficient evidence to support the guilty
verdicts for rape, kidnapping, and gross sexual imposition for the alleged incident

Center for Prosecutorial Integrity released a paper titled, Believe the Victim

Click to access Believe-the-Victim-FINAL.pdf

…..

“Although Evid.R. 611 empowers the trial court with broad discretion to
conduct its courtroom in its own fashion, a better course of action would have been for the trial court to have taken a recess so that E.W. could have composed herself and received support from the victim representative outside the presence of the jury. Instead, the trial court’s decision to offer to have the victim representative come stand next to E.W. during her testimony gave the appearance that the victim representative was improperly vouching for her credibility. However, I find the error harmless due to the overwhelming evidence…” wrote Justice Larry Jones, deceased in 2021.

“E.W. testified that after Taylor entered the house, he began touching her
neck and buttocks amidst her protestations. Taylor proceeded to kiss E.W.’s neck while attempting to pull down her shorts. E.W. stated that Taylor overpowered her, they fell to the ground, and he inserted his finger and then his penis into her vagina. E.W. said she unsuccessfully tried to push him off and her pleas for him to stop went unheeded,” according to the appeal

“Appellant was deprived of due process and a fair trial in violation of his
state and federal constitutional rights when the trial court allowed a
representative from victim impact to stand by a witness/victim during her
trial testimony over appellant’s objection,” argued defense Attorney Joseph V. Pagano

The victim was a minor testifying about being raped by her cousin and
conceivably testifying in a courtroom where other family members are present, some of whom were possibly aligned against the minor. Accordingly, the court’s action was consistent with other cases involving a minor’s testimony. Consequently, we find no prejudice to Taylor and overrule his third assigned error.

The ‘other cases’ included, a five, an eight and a 13-year-old victim whom were allowed to sit on parent’s lap during testimony.

“A trial court, empowered with broad discretion in controlling the
mode and order of interrogating witnesses and presenting evidence “so as to (1) make the interrogation and presentation effective for the ascertainment of the truth, (2) avoid needless consumption of time, and (3) protect witnesses from harassment or undue embarrassment.”

The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center (CRCC) assists victims with emotional support during trials, encourages testimony and assists in the application process for victim compensation. In 2017, the Rape Crisis Center received its largest grant, 3.25 million through the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Victim Crime Act, in 2018, the center got 4.6 million.  In 1980, the CRCC implemented a program to improve the indictment rate of accused rapists and increased indictments from five per cent, in 1978 to 91 per cent in 1981, according to Case Western Reserve Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. In 2007, 14,000 victims were assisted, in four counties, in 2017, that number is projected to be 44,000.

A woman passenger in his car, on the day of alleged rape, testified on his behalf that he was only in E.W.’s home for just a few minutes to charge his phone as Taylor stated.

“After viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, the
above evidence, if believed, would support the conclusion that Taylor committed the actions alleged. As such, any rational trier of fact would have found the essential elements of the charges that led to his convictions proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Consequently, the trial court did not err when it denied Taylor’s motion for acquittal,” wrote justices.

“Where DNA evidence is found on the victim at the time of the offense that is not DNA of the accused, there is insufficient evidence to prove
he committed any sexual offense. An Appellant is denied a fair trial when a victim impact representative stands with a 17-year old encouraging sympathy from the jury and bolstering the victims credibility…The essential point of this case is that the Appellant is actually innocent, but the jury lost their way.
DNA semen evidence existed in the trial record that was part of the rape kit of which he was convicted that was not the Appellant’s DNA, indicating his innocence,” argued Attorney Pagano.

A letter from Taylor via J-Pay, a service for inmate communications;

“Father, Thank You For Planting Me Where I Am With Opportunities And Responsibilities. I’m Sorry For Not Being Satisfied With Where I Am And Dreaming Of A Distant Pasture That May Be Better. I’m Not Where I Am Or Who I Am By Accident. You Won’t Forsake Me Because Your Love Won’t Allow It. Amen.

“Writing This Support The Character Of Who I Was And Who I Am. I Was Wrongfully Charged Of All Charges Against Me, I Was Accused Of Crimes That Was Not Committed By Me. I Am Currently Waiting For That Unidentified Male Identity To Be Released. I Am Petitioning For My Release On My Current Prison Sentence That I Have Been Serving Since July 2013 With The Support From Friends And Family Its Urgent Another Wrongful Conviction Be Overturned And Justice For Michael P. Taylor Sr Be Served,“

MICHAEL TAYLOR

11/16/2021 8:13:23 PM

celeste hart

To read the appeal click here:

Click to access pdf_viewer.aspx

Taylor has a 16 year-old son and a nine -year-old daughter whose last birthday wish was for her “daddy to come home.”

 Ronnie Long’s Too Long Freedom Fight

UPDATE: Ronnie Long still fighting for justice through an amended lawsuit against Concord Police Department, May 2021. He already received $750.000 in compensation and recently pardoned.

“You killed my mother and my father. NC intentionally put me in the penitentiary and you telling me $750,000 is worth 44 years,” said Long.

The lawsuit claims Concord police systemically suppressed evidence that proved his innocence.

By CELESTE M. HART

“Is Ronnie home yet?” were Elizabeth Long’s last words, said Ronnie Long as he spoke solemnly from Allendale prison, an institution where he has been held captive, since the age of 20, for 44 years, convicted by an all-white jury, in 1976, for the rape of a 54 year old white woman, Sarah Bost, deceased, in Concord, NC, also known as a racist town.  Ronnie’s mother, Elizabeth, died July 11, 2020, at age 89. On August 25, the Fourth Circuit Court, that hears appeals from the Carolinas, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland, granted Ronnie’s freedom.  

“She tried to hold on. I think about what my mother and father who died 10 years ago, suffered through, they were locked up right along with me,” said Ronnie.

Ronnie, now 64, said when he was arrested, that first call was to his mother. She asked did he need a lawyer. A detective said her son would be there about 15 to 20 minutes. Ronnie was sentenced to 80 years.

“Momma said call me when they’re done. I never made that second call,” said Ronnie.

Ronnie talked about the last call to his mother, the day before she died.

“I thought you told me you were going to be there when I get out. What are you doing? In my heart and in my mind, I know she was sick. I told my sister, Lynda, go on, let her go. I believe she died of a broken heart. How do you prepare for something like that? You only got one momma,” said Ronnie.

Ronnie refused to attend his mother’s funeral.

“I didn’t want have that visualization of her in a casket. I will remember my mother sitting in her chair. My mother was very stern, we had to attend church, every Sunday, all day,” said Ronnie.

Ronnie talked about his losses, the death of his grandmother and two sisters.

‘People take a lot of things for granted like cutting the grass, washing the car, smelling the flowers,” said Ronnie. “It won’t be right away but one day I’m gonna walk down that driveway.”

Ronnie said the Fourth Circuit confirmed his constant cry of actual innocence and that a violation of his constitutional rights occurred. Judges Stephanie Thatcher, a white Obama nominee, and James Wynn, a Black native of Concord, wrote strong statements that favored Ronnie’s innocence and abhorred the injustice. They stated constant and extreme police misconduct contributed to Ronnie’s wrongful conviction and he was ‘not linked to the crime scene in any way.”

“When a state tests evidence in an effort to build a case, it is the state’s responsibility to turn over the results to the defendant…rather than hide the fact that the tests ever occurred. In this case, the state did lie and withheld evidence,” wrote Thacker.

“Given our country’s historical treatment of Black men accused of raping white women, takes on a particularly sinister meaning because Ronnie could have been killed, at that time,” wrote Wynn.

 Attorney Jamie Lau, Duke University Law professor, worked tirelessly for years to exonerate Ronnie, said the case bears racial injustice and NC should look at its racist past before moving forward in confronting systemic racial injustice.

Lynda Smith, Ronnie’s sister, of seven siblings, said she is extremely excited about his release from prison, on August 27^th, “free at last, free at last, God almighty, he is free at last.”  

  “My only regret is that momma did not live to see this day. I know she is looking down and now resting peacefully. I can tell her, yes momma, Ronnie is home,” said Lynda.

I share stories to create and increase awareness to expose the unknown.

Here you will find stories about: Wrongful Convictions, Inequality, Racial Injustices,