Convicted With No Evidence: a Very Dangerous Precedent!
Convicted With No Evidence: a Very Dangerous Precedent!
by Rev. Edward Pinkney
October 11, 2016
I am Reverend Edward Pinkney, a community activist who tragically became a political prisoner in Michigan on December 15, 2014. On July 26, 2016 the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected my appeal. I was convicted in Berrien County, Michigan by an all-white jury that was motivated by something other than the truth.
I have already served over 21 months as a result of a Jim Crow trial that had me accused of altering dates on a recall petition against then Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower. The prosecutor and judge both instructed the jury they could convict me “with no evidence.” Indeed, there was no evidence. I am an innocent man, threatened, charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced in an effort to isolate and silence me against the power of the land-grabbing, job-outsourcing, criminal Whirlpool Corporation that has its headquarters in Benton Harbor. My unusually harsh sentence was imposed by county judge Sterling Shrock.
On September 7, 2016, the Michigan Supreme Court denied me bond while accepting my application for leave. It will take up to a year for the Supreme Court to reach its decision on my Appeal. The corruption inside the courtroom and the justice system today must stop.
The Court of Appeal decision is published and sets a very dangerous precedent for the people of the State of Michigan and all around the country. The decision indicates that there is sufficient evidence to convict even when there is absolutely NO evidence at all! The prosecution’s case rested on the idea that since I was an outspoken organizer, active in political and social matters (both related to and unrelated to any election), I must have been motivated to alter dates. The prosecution offered no witnesses, no confession, no proof, no evidence of guilt; yet, I was convicted and sentenced to an unusually lengthy sentence of 2.5 to 10 years.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/10/11/convicted-with-no-evidence-a-very-dangerous-precedent/