Thread by @tcita

Today is #WrongfulConvictionDay -- a day near and dear to my heart.

This year, three more members of @The_MIP family came home: Rodney Lincoln, Faye Jacobs, and John Brown. #WrongfulConvictionDay

While they are free, they are not yet exonerated. #WrongfulConvictionDay

Rodney Lincoln's sentenced was commuted on June 1, 2018 by out going Gov. Eric Greitens, who noted he was innocent, but failed to grant a full pardon. The arc bends towards justice, but justice is still not done. #WrongfulConvictionDay

Faye Jacobs, who was just 16 when she was sentenced to LWOP for a crime she did not commit in 1992, was released on July 18, 2018. After we filed a federal habeas petition, the state agreed to resentence her to time served, ending her innocence appeal. #WrongfulConvictionDay

Most recently, on Sept. 19, 2018, John Brown walked free after a court reversed his conviction, finding the state withheld, destroyed, and manufactured evidence. After 26 years, he is free, but the State is still appealing the court's reversal. #WrongfulConvictionDay

Their return home is on step on the journey towards justice. Since coming home, Mr. Lincoln has lived life to the fullest-- jetskiing, skydiving, you name it. But nothing will make up for lost time or lack of recognition of his innocence. #WrongfulConvictionDay

Faye is working hard to regain the life she lost at 16, joining a reentry program and now moving to KC to begin her life here. But that new beginning is not the end of the fight for a full pardon. #WrongfulConvictionDay

John is home and hugging his grandchild for the first time, unable to celebrate with us today because like most exonerees, he was released with nothing, not even a birth certificate to get his ID. #WrongfulConvictionDay

And these are the successes. Thousands more wait for their turn. For their opportunity to walk free in the sun. #WrongfulConvictionDay

The majority of them are people of color without access to the resources to find justice. #WrongfulConvictionDay

Because that is the sad truth about the justice system in America. "It is better to be rich and guilty than poor and innocent." -Bryan Stevenson #WrongfulConvictionDay

We have a system that values finality over fairness; results over justice. #WrongfulConvictionDay

But we can fix it. #WrongfulConvictionDay

We can change the system if we do it together. #WrongfulConvictionDay

Rodney, Faye, and John are living examples of hope. Not just theirs, but ours as a society. That we can make our world a more fair and just place. #WrongfulConvictionDay

You can join the fight for greater justice for the wrongfully convicted and stand with the Innocence Network against racial bias in the criminal justice system and sign this pledge. actionsprout.io/0203F9/?source… #WrongfulConvictionDay

You can provide resources for those who have none and donate to your local innocence organization, like @The_MIP here: mightycause.com/team/Coj2018 #WrongfulConvictionDay

You can support innocent individuals as they begin their lives. You can find John Brown's fundraiser here: gofundme.com/manage/john-br… #WrongfulConvictionDay

You can support Faye Jacobs here: gofundme.com/faye-jacobs-is… #WrongfulConvictionDay

And you can support Rodney Lincoln here: gofundme.com/RodneyLincolnF… #WrongfulConvictionDay

You can raise your voice in support of those still awaiting justice. Like @The_MIP & @innocence client Marcellus Williams, whose execution was stayed after we asked the Gov to appoint a board of inquiry to review the DNA evidence. innocenceproject.org/commute-death-… #WrongfulConvictionDay

Fact is that #WrongfulConvictionDay is so dear to me not because it's a reminder of those who have come home or those still waiting. Not because it illuminates the problems that still remain to be fixed. But bc it reminds us of what we can achieve together. We can create justice.

The world we want to exist is available if we do it together. Justice is there--for victims, for the wrongfully convicted, for society--if we believe it's important enough to strive towards. #WrongfulConvictionDay