The Wheels of Injustice:
He Spent 24 Years in Prison for Something he Didn’t Do –
Here is the Evidence
to Prove It
By Jason Renard Walker,
Deputy Minister of Labor – NABPP
Absolute power corrupts absolutely, or however the
saying go; which is how the District Attorney’s office in Dallas County,
Dallas, Texas has been operating from the early 1990s up to today.
It’s highly possible that these same corrupt tactics
have been used way before what I’m about to describe, but I choose to focus on
the documented events I was able to witness and research. This includes an
outright wrongful conviction campaign by D.A. Jason January, who tried to coax
false statements from witnesses in a successful effort to frame a black man for
murder, then suppressed every witness that told the truth.
Unlike traditional journalism on the wrongfully
accused that is extremely wordy and filled with statistical rhetoric, this
piece is designed to bring action and awareness to a corrupt judicial system in
Texas and set someone free.
Timmy A. Dawson #681033, who is a native of Dallas and
as of now resides at the Michael Unit maximum security prison in Tennessee
Colony, Texas, is a victim of being wrongfully convicted. But in his case it
was deliberate.
After spending over 24 years in prison, filing all
sorts of appeals and writs to prove his innocence and having gained no ground
towards his release, Dawson is forced to wake up to the day-to-day- fact that
he may have to spend the rest of his life in prison for a murder he, witnesses,
and facts say he didn’t commit.
Throughout his incarceration he’s had to deal with the
burden of stress; high blood pressure; knee surgery; the death of his father,
brother, two aunts, half sister, and stepmother; all on the back of being born
with a bad heart.
He’s also had to deal with seeking a probate lawyer to
help him reclaim the land, oil, and mineral rights his dad left him. This is in
relation to his half sister and another associate forging Dawson’s name on
documents in order to falsely obtain possession since neither were heirs. These
are documented events!
Dawson rightfully feels that if the D.A.’s office
wouldn’t have hidden witnesses and evidence, “I’d have been exonerated”.
On the night of December 4, 1993 in Dallas, several
credible witnesses – namely Monica Kyles, Latrecia White and Gregory Paul – all
state that they saw two dark skinned black men, one tall and one short (Dawson
is light skinned), fire several shots at another black man, Curtis Lean Brown,
before fleeing the scene on foot.
All three witnesses reported seeing the shooting from
two different locations, with Kyles standing in her bedroom window, and White
being near the John D’s night club with Paul, who says he was around 30 feet
away from the shooting.
All three contest that they spoke with D.A. January
during the trial, denying that Dawson was one of the shooters. “The D.A. never called
me up on the witness stand because I told him I didn’t see a light complexion
guy,” White wrote in her affidavit. “The man that was on trial was a very light
complexion man and the two men shooting were very dark complexion. I was never
called to the witness stand to testify,” Kyles stated in hers.
In an attempt to invent a motive for Dawson and give
the state a theory, January claimed that the shooting was behind a dispute over
a jacket (that didn’t contain Dawson’s DNA) at the John D’s night club that
escalated after closing hours.
The only person and witness to testify, Cassandra
Wilson, went along with the D.A.’s program and adopted the jacket theory. This
is why she was called to testify and the other three witnesses hidden from the
defense.
Contrary to the wheels of justice, January’s only goal
was to find someone willing to finger Dawson as one of the shooters, with
little regards to the overwhelming amount of contradicting evidence that he
himself tried to manipulate – pure opportunism.
During an appeal hearing for a retrial that was
denied, evidence supporting Dawson’s innocence mounted. As the cliché goes: the
flood gates to hell opened.
On Feb 11, 2000 Leroy Griffen, an investigator for the
public defenders office, provided an affidavit bearing witness to the
following: “During Dawson’s trial, I overheard a black female, who was a state
witness, say to another state witness that she was going to get up on the
witness stand and lie about what she know of the murder. I don’t recall the
female’s name, but I learned later from the attorney representing Mr. Dawson
that only one black female testified. The black female who testified is the
person who I overheard say that she was going to lie…”
Another woman, Michelle Woods, told Tim’s counsel
Gracie Lewis that she heard Paul say, “It’s a shame that that man is going to
the pen for something he didn’t do”. This prompted Lewis to investigate the
claim which generated a snowball effect and spearheaded the suppressed
witnesses into existence, who then provided sworn affidavits with no obligation
other than to tell the truth.
Despite this exposure of mishandled witnesses, Dawson
has received very small and limited amounts of legal assistance. Chris Scott,
who was exonerated in 2009 for a murder he says he didn’t commit, briefly
reached out to Dawson under the notion that he would help him get exonerated
too.
This effort resulted in Dawson’s case getting a very
general and undetailed mention in the mainstream publication Men’s Journal (March 2016 issue) that
only noted his conviction being a result of bad lawyering, no evidence, etc.
This did nothing to help further his progress or need of legal help.
This is mainly due to the fact that his current prison
location, address, correctly spelled first name, and prison ID number weren’t
listed, nor was there any proof that withheld witnesses got deliberately
suppressed from testifying about what really happened. And that these witnesses
eventually wrote affidavits expressing the same.
Dawson explained that as soon as the article was in
print and the sensational rewards for the writer reaped, Scott (who only
visited Dawson a few times) simply vanished when it became obvious that it
would take more resources than a glory seeking styled article to net his
release and possibly more. Not to mention that Scott never told him that the
basis for their brief exchange was to compile anecdotal support for a
mainstream article.
This may have played a part in Dawson’s lack of
subsequent exposure and legal help, since by reading the article it seemed like
Dawson had a network of support via Scott and the legal team he mentioned.
The same kind of help that Scott mentioned having
trouble receiving is the very same help Dawson needs. But Dawson’s case isn’t
unique at all, other prisoners throughout Texas, and many at the Michael Unit,
are serving time under wrongful and questionable convictions.
This case in particular stands out because the
conviction was singlehandedly a result of January’s effort in using his
integrity and cunning skill to craft and manipulate the trial’s outcome. An
effort I’m all too familiar with.
I was the victim of something similar in December
2000. But the D.A. on this burglary case, Brian Corrigan, was unsuccessful in
manufacturing a conviction. This was with help from law enforcement.
During a pretrial hearing, the victim and only witness
to the crime, Tonya Scroggins, testified that I wasn’t the person to commit the
crime. She then pointed at the state’s witness and known informant, Ron Reed,
who she accused of the burglary to the oohs and ahs of courtroom spectators.
Even though she refused to change her story, this
didn’t persuade the Judge to dismiss the charge but only to launch a conviction
campaign with the D.A. and my court-appointed attorney, John Hendrix’ help.
This resulted in me being strategically placed around
informants in hope that I would admit guilt to the many prisoners who claimed
that admittance is the first step to release. This carried on for over a year
until a not guilty verdict was reached on December 12, 2001 (see cause no.
F00-24176-PM).
This only validates how systemically manufactured
evidence is used in the Dallas County D.A.’s office and probably within the
Judge’s chamber and beyond; as one of the jailers who didn’t like me was
mysteriously part of the jury pool and nearly made the cut.
In early 2002 the Dallas Morning News published a
short article about dirty cop, Officer De La Paz, who was exposed for his role
in arresting random people for cocaine, but the drugs turned out to be sheet
rock he himself planted in the evidence room.
The initial field test deemed the drugs positive but
follow up tests to pounds of seized cocaine De La Paz had a hand in turned out
to be sheet rock. This called for dozens of drug related cases to be brought
back to court and many cases dismissed.
The Dallas County D.A. and Sheriffs’ offices have a
history of employing such bad apples where, after exposure, the story fed to
the public is that it was the work of that individual who was fired (or
resigned) and the problem solved.
In reality knowledge of and participation in these
scandals streak throughout the department’s entire ranks and are behooved by
judges signing faulty search warrants. And forensic experts who often mishandle
DNA tests and other sensitive evidence.
This is why men and women like Dawson and their cases
are kept out of the public eye and witnesses who know the truth are suppressed
by the very same officials that have the official duty to seek justice for the
victim of injustice.
If witnesses, evidence, and facts say Dawson is an
innocent man, why is he still in prison after 24 years without the slightest
hint on who to turn to for help?
As of today, the only help he has is any that comes as
a result of the exposure of what the state of Texas has hid for nearly three
decades – which is the truth!
Dare To Struggle, Dare To Win. All Power to the People
Jason Renard Walker
#1532092
Please check for Jason's current address by going to TDCJ's inmate locator website.
Jason is reporting being moved often and experiencing mail disruption (more information to follow).
Reprinted with permission from sfbayview: http://sfbayview.com/2018/04/the-wheels-of-injustice-he-spent-24-years-in-prison-for-something-he-didnt-do-here-is-the-evidence-to-prove-it/
