My First Mistake

Greetings good people who take time out for me! 

The latest news with me is that I started taking classes at Ashland University last week. It's been so long since I've done this that I actually forgot what it takes to have a full load. It will be challenging for sure, but I will always find time to drop by here for a chat.😊 

I've been thinking that maybe for those of you who are truly following my situation, that you would like to know how I got caught up in this--all the behind the scene antics that one prosecutor went through to destroy my life because he was angry at me. I take my blame as well for not just doing the right thing, but it never should have ended up this drastic. I have actually started a book on it. Not so much about being here, but about how I got here and why this has gone on so long.That's a story you must know to understand how I have spent most of my adult life in prison. 

We always want to think that when something like this happens, when a man's life is at stake--facing the death penalty, that everything is done correctly. I mean, if you want to try and justify legally killing a man or keeping him in prison for almost 40 years, it should at least be above water how you do it. We all believe that justice system is correct.That these people who hold the power over a person's life would not fall to dirty tactics. I even thought that at one time myself. I would have bet my life that people would never have convicted me for a murder I didn't commit. No way! But that was not the case. Now with all the exonerations of innocent people, everyone can see how bad it really is.The exonerated were the blessed ones. God's intervention that they didn't die on death row. And yes, I was blessed as well with my sentence commuted, but it's not in its completion yet. I still have a ways to go. And we will get me there eventually. But it won't be justice. We are well beyond getting justice, and they will never say that I am innocent of this crime.

So I must go through the PROCESS before they will release me. So far the court, appeal and clemency process have not gone in my favor, so no, I don't trust the process. In fact, I feel mistreated by the process. It all started when I was 23 years old. I really wasn't a criminal beyond a few petty crimes.I had never really dealt with the wheels of the system.The upper echelon so to speak. I knew how serious the shooting of Sanders Leach was, but they had the person who did the actual murder. He had confessed. He just mentioned my name as being a part of it. Okay, so I thought if I explain my part, everything will be okay, right? No evidence and no witness. Just this person saying he was with me when he killed this man.No worries,right? That was my first bad decision-thinking no worries. So I came down to the police station to talk with the police and tell them why I was there. And here I sit, 37 years later and counting. Still hoping...And that's where the story will begin, with that first bad decision of thinking no worries.

So keep your eyes on this space and I will walk you through what happen and how I got here...More later...Peace.Arthur.