VIDEO In The Blink Of An Eye, 1996

 

Sept 26, 2013

Mister Vee 2 years ago

I enjoyed this movie, but for such a compelling story, it deserves an all star cast. Furthermore, I can identify with the storyline: I too was incarcerated several years for a crime I did not commit. It would have been great if I had a friend to come to my rescue in the same manner. After six years of battling the system, I won a favorable ruling through a habeas court. To my dismay, after having spent in upwards of $60,000 toward legal expenses and exhaustive efforts, the State’s Attorney General appealed my favorable ruling. So after languishing for another year,  the state supreme court sided with the attorney general and let my wrongful conviction stand. Tragic but true. Hopefully someday the world will hear my story. Today I’m still dealing with the aftermath. I feel so broken and let down by a system I really believed in. If it were not for the grace of God and the love and support of my family I couldn’t go on. Amazingly I do not totally condemn the system for such a travesty and gross miscarriage of justice. After all  the system does work sometimes. But as evidenced by this movie and my story, it definitely needs fixing to say the least. Movies like this help to raise the public awareness of what really goes on in the American justice system. All across America you have hard nosed overly ambitious district attorneys who will go for a win at any expense. If it means stacking a jury, tampering with  or suppressing evidence to assure such a win. If they can get away with doing this to people who have spent their life’s savings to prove their innocence, can you imagine what they do to those who have no financial resources at all? Having said that, if any of you all are ever picked for jury duty be a thinker. Don’t just presume a person is guilty because he or she is on trial. Don’t fall into stupidity and be led by those who don’t give a damn one way or another. You would be astonished to find out how some will vote guilty because they got bored with the proceedings, or they wanted to get back to their favorite soap opera, a job, etc. I have even heard jurors comment that a defendant is guilty based on what kind of shoes or clothing he had on. Sad but pathetic when you consider that someone’s life is in the balance. Before one serves on a jury they should truly understand what reasonable doubt is. Another mistake that jurors make like in my case, they will be unsure so they will vote guilty on charges which they think are the least severe but many times they are misled and such charges may call for a mandatory minimum. This is called a compromised verdict. Then they later find some resolve in believing that if a person is really innocent, they’ll get out on an appeal. In the movies, you might see people get an appeal bond, never seeing the inside of a prison, then win their appeal in 6 months. In real life it doesn’t happen that way. Often a person will spend over half their sentences incarcerated before this occurs. Most times it’s just not going to happen. My mother raised me in such a way that I am not filled with hate and I still have love for the people who lied on me, I will never seek revenge, i just hope the God I believe in will compel them to come forward and tell the truth. My family and I (especially my beloved mother who has had 3 strokes and a heart attack behind all this) have suffered enough! So yeah I liked the movie. Maybe if enough are posted like this the world will wake up!