Page 2 - Deforest Johnson News Today

The states case relied entirely on a woman who said that she overheard a three-way jail phone call in which a man referred to himself as toforest johnson admitted to the crime. the woman had never met mr. johnson, and she did not know his voice. but her testimony was enough for the jury to convict. it turns out that the woman was paid $5,000 for her testimony after the trial, a factor which was never disclosed to mr. johnson or his lawyers. in fact, his lawyers did not find out until 2003, and d...

Chambers accusations should have been painfully and obviously false. but apparently they were not. both men went to trial for capital murder. just ahead of the trial, the estate offered him immunity if he would say that to forrest johnson was the one who murdered the officer. he refused. he told his attorney quote, i see that they wont charge me if he said i did it if it were the true i would say it in the heartbeat but i am not lying for anyone, including the cops. fords trial ended in a hung j...

Time. and they tend not to sort of, once they ruled on an issue theyre not going to, its very difficult to give and go back and look at a later. but i do think we use it is very important. right now, he is caught in the system. and the alabama courts are sort of limited by case law and omitted by these post conviction rules about how they have to listen to some of these evidence. i dont get excuses the ruling but it is, it sort of explains it. the album attorney general and the 11 of governor do...

They publicly expressed disappointment in the trial. one said, quote, when you look back at all of the stuff the jury did not know, i feel like we were used like pawns in a chess game, not even knowing we were being used. it is all very disturbing to read all of this now. johnsons defense now has ten witnesses who put him in a different part of town at the time of the murder. and yet justice is not any closer. this week, the alabama court of criminal appeals rejected johnsons claim that prosecut...

And when theyre really certain that the person is innocent. so as i started doing more and more reporting on the case in talking to the attorneys who were involved. it just became clearer and clearer that this was a real injustice that had gone unaddressed. >> so all of this stuff that i tried to outline, things that you wrote about that show all of the things that seem to be wrong about having but convicted mr. johnson. it all became very narrow this week because the alabama court of appeals ru...

Defense. end quote. no experience. no training. no time to investigate. a trifecta of trial disaster. when the court later agreed to give him a private investigator, they only provided funds for someone, well, someone no one would want. johnsons current lawyers describe this p i. as quote a brain-damaged alcoholic racist suicidal homeless man who had already been fired from at leaf one capital case for incompetence, had been operating without a business license for at least five years, and could...

To find prosecutorial or police misconduct. but when you get to conviction, our system means that thats the time that the courts are least likely to reopen your case. so as soon as you get access to all of this evidence that could potentially for you, the courts make it almost impossible for you to get back in. and when they do, its piecemeal, its one issue at a time. and they tend not to sort of, once they ruled on an issue theyre not going to, its very difficult to give and go back and look at...

Year old yolanda chambers. according to the washington post, even the prosecutors in this case have admitted that since the 1995 murder, chambers quote, had told more than 300 lies about who was involved and what she knew. that was the person who was the primary witness in the case against deforest johnsons friend, and he is the man who named johnson as the one who pulled the trigger. she came forward as a potential witness only after the governors office announced a 10,000 dollar award for anyo...

Claiming they had proof beyond a reasonable doubt that, i dont know, both of them did it? either of them did it? one of them did it? they didnt know. so they let the jurors decide. that happened based on the word of one unreliable witness, yolanda chambers and even the prosecutors admitted in the case that since the 1995 murder, chambers had told more than 300 lies about who was involved, and what she knew. that is the person who is the primary witness in the case against toforest johnsons frien...

Explain. >> it the alabama attorney general and the alabama govern deer have those excuses, they could end this case tomorrow, they could free this guy, mr. johnson and end this injustice tomorrow and they havent, even before my article posted about this case, why it has been three years, there is no sense of urgency and i think thats what is unforgivable here. >> they got the same evidence that you know about, thank you very much for reporting on this case and keeping it in the front, forefront...