Years after brothers serve 20 years for rape they said they did not commit, judge tosses wrongful conviction
Jefferson County Circuit Judge Shanta’ Owens ruled last month that the two men were wrongfully convicted of rape in 1993, a crime the two men always declared they did not commit. A crime for which each served two decades in prison.
Owens noted: “The report revealed additional blood evidence that was present at the scene and never tested.”
Meadows, now 48, was just 19 when he was incarcerated. He reached EOS the May after his brother. “Five, five, twenty-fifteen,” he tells me.
In 2012, three years before reaching EOS, Meadows married his long-time girlfriend. “I thank God for her,” he says, “for helping me navigate through financially. Having a wife that’s with you makes a whole lot of difference.”
He has three stepsons—from high-school age to 22 years old. He talks fondly of “raising them boys who they don’t get caught up—just talking them through life.”
It was all the harder because they were not able to live as a family due to Meadows’ sex-offender status, which didn’t allow him to live under the same roof as children. Instead, he lived with a family friend in Trussville. Meadows visited his wife’s home, could stay for hours, but he would leave before sundown. “It’s hard trying to raise three teenage boys when you can’t be there all the time,” he says.
This is exactly why there needs to be accountability for those who work in the system.
Absolutely. If laws were enacted to hold cops and DAs liable for withholding proof of someone’s evidence, they’d start to think twice.
I believe in and eye for an eye. Make all those responsible serve the same amount of time these innocent guys had to serve.
I hope that is a way for them to get paid for their lost time of life. I have seen some get exonerated but not given a dime. Make this right. They cannot get back those years, but they can be compensated for every year from the time arrested until now. Money cannot restore the past, but it can sure make it a bit easier to move on.
It’s good to hear good news. It’s unfortunate that most people who read it won’t understand the box they were living in and finally have a means to get out of probably had much to do with a registry that supposedly was not part of their “punishment”. A great deal of their oppression outside of the 20 years of incarceration probably stemmed from a civil regulatory scheme imposed on them resulting from a wrongful conviction. Will they be compensated for being entrapped in that box? Does anyone care that their lives were being put at risk outside of that incarceration period due to a government hit list? Where is the compensation for that defamation? The many hindrances placed on them beyond the punishment? Who will make amends for that time, emotion, constriction, loss of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness?
Logical
Since prison, Probation, House arrest, and parole are all punishment, they may have a good chance of compensation for any of those they served. But since the registry has time and time again been deemed non punitive, it would take a very special judge to say that should be covered as well.
If that did happen, that would basically be saying the registry is in fact punishment (in a sense) and could be used as evidence of such? Either way, I wish them well on their new journey.
If they really want to cut down on these wrongful convictions which are really much more prevalent than LE want to admit. Not only pay the wrongfully convicted but also file charges against those responsible for withholding evidence that would have kept it from happening. Also they should be fired and never able to work in law enforcement again. Perhaps there should be a registry with the same punishment that is required of sex offenders in that area.
David
There is one word that covers their behinds in many case. “Immunity”. Some, like the feds often get something called “Blanket immunity”. (In special cases)
More and more that is going away with cases like George Floyd, however, there seems to be an “Unspoken” rule that sex offenders are fair game for any and all harassment. And with so many judges not wanting to take a hard stance on law enforcement, they wave their magic wand, and the cop is exonerated, cleared and for the heck of it, given a medal of appreciation.
Most of my time was spent in Homicide and it really messed me up mentally. And since there were not many living people to harass, other cops went after me. They laughed at me when I prayed for the soul of the dead, even if they were, in their own words, a scum bag.
This is exactly why all jurisdictions need conviction integrity units that act independently from prosecutors to review cases of DNA conflicts, withholding of exculpatory evidence, ineffective assistance of defense counsel, etc.
I do not understand how someone can live with themselves after sending the wrong people to prison, just to close a case. I cannot even imagine over the years how many innocent people were sent away across the country.
Having said that, there are also a lot of bad people who continue to get away with crimes due to lack of evidence, proof or willing witnesses. In those cases, sometimes someone will snitch on the Wrong person to keep the law off of their own backs, causing an innocent person’s life to be ruined.
I have a question: What happen to those people that hide the evidence or chose not to present the evidence to counsel? as a result 2 live were lost on the system for so many years? do they go to prison for that? what is preventing others from doing the same? does someone know?
In a perfect world the filth who withheld the evidence would be incarcerated for the same 20 years, but we know that won’t happen. In fact, they will likely claim they are still guilty. This is what they did after destroying evidence in my case and then lying to the court about its existence. There are rarely any consequences for these heinous acts and so they continue to act with impunity.
Agreed, David. The feds withheld exculpatory evidence in my case and presented demonstrably false evidence. I have to proof, just need a great lawyer!