"There's a saying that you're innocent until proven guilty, but that's bullshit. That's a myth." - Francis Wolfe, former public defender, Cook County, Chicago.
It is unimaginably and awfully frightening when a person becomes a victim of his own innocence, frightening enough when one is guilty, but even more so when he is totally innocent, when he does not know what has brought him to that situation, when he is wrongfully convicted simply because he happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, when he is treated like a criminal or when he is coerced into a false confession. When life deals that person a low blow, sometimes it is hard for him to get out of it because the criminal justice system is tough and dysfunctional and more often than not, the system is a one-way street. One such harrowing story actually happened to a nice young man called Jovan Mosley in Chicago in 1999.
Jovan Mosley, at the time nineteen years of age, a good kid from one of Chicago's very bad neighbourhoods, was coerced into confessing to a crime he didn't commit and made to sign a false confession. Charged with murder and armed robbery, both eligible for the death penalty, he spent five years and eight months in a prison for violent criminals without a trial.
Jovan grew up on the rough streets of Chicago's Southeast Side. With one brother dead of HIV complications, another in jail for arson and murder, and most kids his age in gangs, Jovan struggled to be different. He excelled in school, dreamed of being a lawyer, and had been accepted to Ohio State.
Then on August 6, 1999, Jovan witnessed a fight that would result in the terrible death of fifty-one-year-old Howard Thomas Jr.
Six months later, he was arrested, cruelly questioned, and forced into a confession. His parents, both unemployed, could ill afford his bond set at $1.5 million by a judge.
Sent to a holding jail for violent criminals, he tried ceaselessly to get a trial so he could argue his case. He studied what casework he could, rigorously questioning his public defenders but, time after time, his case was shoved aside.
Amiable, bright, and peaceable, he struggled to stay alive in prison.
At this point, one might question the presumption of guilt as widely practised by law enforcement. The arrest process that Jovan underwent was degrading and agonizing to say the least. Police have been known to throw an arrestee to the ground or against a car. Other police brutalities like duress, coercion, intoxication, diminished capacity, mental impairment and threats are all common stories.
However, as Rob Warden, the executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Law School said, "Police detectives are always under immense pressure to solve crimes, often atrocious ones. Arguably, they have one of the hardest jobs in the world. They're underpaid, undermanned, and they get little or no assistance from the street. So they decide who they think is responsible. It's the whole tunnel vision phenomena (cop intuition)."
More often than not, cops themselves are always in danger as much as the next person walking down the street. Their jobs are hazardous and dangerous and so before we readily point our finger at them, police brutality is probably warranted. As the author wrote, "And yet, what are the police to do? Find out what makes each individual comfortable and take the necessary steps to put that person at ease? Cases would rarely get solved with such a scenario."
About five years on in early February 2005, Jovan had begun to lose hope when, by chance, he met Catharine O'Daniel, a successful and well-respected criminal defense lawyer. Although nearly all cases with a signed confession result in a conviction, she was so moved by him, and so convinced of his innocence, that Cathy accepted Jovan as her first pro bono client. Cathy asked Laura Caldwell to join her and together they battled for Jovan's exoneration.
Long Way Home (2010) is Laura's firsthand account of a true story of a breakdown of the justice system which sent a nice kid to a maximum-security jail - Division 11 or SuperMax as the inmates called it - for nearly six years without a trial. It is also a story of how human kindness and friendship gave Jovan a fighting chance to give him back his life. Stories like Jovan Mosley's should be told and read by all in the hope that it will make a positive change to all those involved in the justice system or to those who fight and clamour for justice. It is a thought-provoking, moving, sad, happy, inspirational and remarkable true story all in one. We should be glad that there is a good ending for Jovan as well as his family and at the same time continue to pray and hope for those who find themselves in a dire situation as Jovan had and did. Jovan has since earned his bachelor's degree from Loyola University School of Law and gotten married to his wife, Andrea. All the best of luck to him.
About the author: Laura Caldwell, a former civil litigator, is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she is also an award-winning law professor who started the Life After Innocence Project. The project assists wrongfully convicted individuals or others affected by the criminal justice system to help them re-enter society and reclaim their lives. The author of ten novels, published in thirteen languages in more than twenty countries, Long Way Home is Caldwell's first work of nonfiction. She lives in Chicago.
Here are the two key people from the book:
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