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Jonathan Fleming

4/22/2014

1 Comment

 
PictureJonathan celebrates his first Brooklyn Nets game
It certainly seems that lately someone is getting exonerated or paid damages for wrongful convictions at least once a week. What used to happen once every few years is happening on a widespread scale now. The question we always seem to ask is, "How could this have happened", and its a reasonable question. But sometimes its easy to see how someone could have been wrongly convicted by well meaning people who truly thought they had the right person. But rarely does a case come along like that of Jonathan Fleming. Alibis come and go, and its also easy to see how one might dismiss an alibi given by a loved one. But Jonathan Fleming was on vacation. In another state. He served 24 years and 8 months in prison.

This should never have happened.


The Crime

The case centered on the shooting death of a rival drug dealer of Fleming's, Daryl "Black" Rush, who was shot in Brooklyn early on the morning of August 15, 1989. At the time, Fleming told the police he had been in Orlando,  Florida at Disney world and provided plane tickets videos, and postcards that he thought would clear his name. Unfortunately, as prosecutors will do, they said he could have made a quick plane trip back to do the murder in time to return to his vacation. Since a woman had gone on the record that she had seen Fleming shoot Rush (something she later recanted, saying she had done it to avoid jail on a different charge), Fleming was arrested. He claimed to have a phone bill receipt that he had paid that would prove he was in Florida at a time that would have cleared him from suspicion. Police claimed no such receipt was found in his belongings.

When the defense asked the District Attorney's office to do a review of the case last year, they found a receipt for a phone bill, paid in Florida, time-stamped 5 hours before the murder. In addition, defense found witnesses that pointed to a different shooter. 

How hard could it have been for the police to have found these same people? This is one of those cases that really makes you believe that everyone is corrupt. The fact that this could happen when the man had proof in his pocket that was just sitting in the D.A.'s file is absolutely incredible to me. 
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Hiding Evidence
This really is a case for the books. When you think about it, its almost funny, like a bad joke. The police had a dead drug dealer on their hands. So what do they do? They track down his rival, who has a solid alibi. They hide evidence that supports his story and find a criminal with something to lose willing to say they saw him do it. And the prosecutor managed to convince twelve strangers that they should ignore his alibi, because he 'could have' taken a plane back to commit the murder before returning to Florida on his vacation. Although there was no evidence of any of that. But it didn't matter. Even with the lone shred of evidence, the eyewitness, recanted weeks after his conviction, it didn't matter. It didn't matter until cases were jointly being reviewed by his attorney's the DA's Conviction Review Unit.

You see, when Fleming was arrested, he told the police about the phone bill and that he believed the receipt was in his pocket. They told the defense there was no receipt, but when the review unit found it, it had been dated and logged in by the police, just as all belongings are, on the very same evening he was arrested. Fleming's former girlfriend also confirmed his story when interviewed, stating that she had phoned him the night of the murder and spoken to him when he was in Florida. Phone records supported her claim. 

When the 'eyewitness' attempted to recant her testimony, the judge threw it out because he said she did not have enough facts to back up her story.
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Sorry about that whole 'losing 25 years of your life thing'....
We're still cool, right??

The bottom line in this case is not one of an overzealous prosecution, or of police looking to a husband for the wife's murder because he has the only possible motive they can fathom. The bottom line here is one of absolute corruption. Corruption by the police. Corruption by the prosecution. The night Jonathan was arrested they KNEW he was in Florida at the time of the murder. When they coerced the woman on parole found in a stolen van to give a statement that she witnessed Fleming murder Rush, they KNEW they were setting up an innocent man. And when the Prosecution put her on the stand, he KNEW she was committing Perjury and swearing to have seen something that was impossible for her to have seen. 

In my opinion, the biggest reason that these wrongful convictions surprise most people is that we don't want to believe that police and prosecutors act in this way. But it happens all the time. The LA Ramparts Division, Brooklyn Detective Louis Scarcella, The Kids-For-Cash Scheme; These are all examples of public officials and public servants not only going against our best interests, but actively working against those they claim to serve to further their own lust for drugs, money or power.

And when it happens, we do not want to hear that it was a few bad apples. The Blue Wall of Silence is one of the biggest threats to justice that exists. It is an institutionalized code of behavior, where many horrible actions are tolerated, acknowledged and sometimes even ordered by superiors. We need this to change. We are not going to continue to swallow the lie that 'those guys were the exception, most cops are good'. This is why we have seen the rise of unofficial slogans such as 'Don't Snitch' in areas where the relationship between the police and the community is especially tense.


Because of all of the deeds done to him, Jonathan lost almost 25 years of his life. Miraculously, his spirit is unbroken. As I write this, we have just lost the great Rubin "Hurricane" Carter at age 76 to prostate cancer. Carter and John Artis, who remained at Carter's bedside until his death, were both wrongfully convicted of a triple murder before they were finally exonerated. The movie, "Hurricane" starring Denzel Washington was made chronicling his journey. Carter was a true warrior and fought for the wrongly convicted until his passing. Quite eloquently, he had this to say before he passed:

"I lived in hell for the first 49 years, and have been in heaven for the past 28 years. To live in a world where truth matters and justice, however late, really happens, that world would be heaven enough for us all."(Source)
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Sources & Links

Man Wrongfully Convicted in 1989 Brooklyn Murder is Set Free

Brooklyn Tops National Chart for Wrongful Convictions

Jonathan Fleming, Convicted in Killing Death Despite Vacation Alibi, Freed After 24 Years
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Comments

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Article written by Mike Palmer
Copyright © 2014 
Freedom For All 
All Rights Reserved


1 Comment
brendakiehlmeier link
4/24/2014 04:25:18 am


My name is Brenda,my son believed in the 2nd amendment,gun saved his life,see what happenes when the arresting officer is a relative of the attacker.
Please Share!!!
5 years of injustice...This video is a call for immediate action for my son. I am trying to overturn his crooked conviction, and currently looking for missing evidence in his case.
For more information see ErieeJustice911 channel or ErieParties/JoelAtkin,http://youtu.be/hA6o3DGSb-o
http://www.facebook.com/joel.atkin.52/photos_all
This last link is where all the legal papers are supporting my questions,also at the justiceforjoel site has the witness statements videos.Please don't take my word for it check all this out and if this was your son would you have questions!Thank You David Codrea for the wonderful piece he wrote on my sons case!!!


Brenda Kiehlmeier( mother of Joel Atkin ) Talks With Erie Pa CopWatch


Call for Rights- No Rights for the Poor

5 years of injustice... This video is a call for immediate action for my son. I am trying to overturn his crooked conviction, and currently looking for missi...

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    mom, music enthusiast, writer and injustice fighter

    Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves~ Abraham Lincoln 


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