For years, when she’d walk into her downtown St. Paul
office, criminal defense lawyer Deborah Ellis would see a photo of
Louisiana death row inmate Glenn Ford perched at eye level on the
reception desk. It was “a reminder to fight the good fight,” she said.
On Tuesday
night, Ellis watched on television as Ford, 64, walked out of Louisiana
State Prison in Angola. He was one of the longest-serving death row
inmates in U.S. history to be exonerated and released. “I’ve been crying
ever since,” Ellis said.
The rare
and dramatic moment came hours after a judge granted the state’s request
to vacate Ford’s murder conviction. And it came after three decades of
exhausting, discouraging work and failed legal appeals by Ellis and
other attorneys, including several from Minnesota. In 1984, Ford, who is
black, was convicted of first-degree murder by an all-white jury in the
November 1983 killing of Isadore Rozeman in his jewelry store-home in
Shreveport, La.
For more of the story, go to
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/249995501.html
No comments:
Post a Comment