Trayvon Martin and Davontae Sanford - A tale of two evils.
Trayvon
Martin and Davontae Sanford - A tale of two evils. While Detroiters'
response to the Travyon Martin verdict was understandably strong, an
even greater evil where a young 14 year old kid was induced by a corrupt
prosecutor to plead guilty to crimes he did not commit and then
sentenced to a lengthy prison term of 35-50 years happened right here in
DETROIT for which you should all be equally
outraged. You have heard the news, heard the facts and know the case
very well. I do not need to recount it all on this post. They key fact
in his case, however, is that Vincent Smothers, the professed hitman
for Detroit Police, later confessed to murdering four people on Runyon
Street for which Mr. Sanford, a mentally disabled kid was wrongfully
convicted. Why are so many Detroiters silent in the face of that
injustice?
If your silence is because you are fed up with
crime, the greater crime on your hands is your apparent willingness to
let a 14 year old rot in prison despite his innocence. If your silence
is because you are fed up with crime, the greater crime is knowing that
the victims on Runyon Street did not get justice by sending an innocent
14 year old mentally disabled kid to prison for those crimes. Your
silence is betrayal and will become karma.
Mr. Sanford lost
his life, just like Trayvon Martin - a life where he should have been
allowed to graduate from school, go to college and enjoy all the things
every other innocent teenager his age has enjoyed.
While
Detroiters lifted their voices and raised their fists for Travyon
Martin, a child of our own was also stolen from us by a system filled
with caprice and malice. The least thing to do is call the Wayne County
Prosecutor up and ask her to do what is morally right and set him free.
I know I will.
The
Michigan Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument in the Davontae
Sanford case for Tuesday, August 6, 2013 at 10 a.m. at the Cadillac
Place Building on West Grand Boulevard. This is the case where 14 year
old Davontae Sanford was induced to plead guilty to four murders for
which professed hitman for Detroit Police Vincent Smothers later
confessed. Kym Worthy refuses to set Davontae's conviction aside given
the newly-discovered evidence of Smothers' admitted role in the murders -
a tremendous injustice. After oral argument we will make a statement
urging prosecutor Kym Worthy to do her job and confess error and set
that kid free. While initially we intended to confront the prosecutor
outside the appeals court to shout him down, we have opted for a more
civil demonstration so as not to jeopardize Davontae's chances on
appeal, which I believe are very good. But shame on the prosecutor for
sucking up the blood of an innocent kid!
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