Perfect Evidence

If you woke up one morning and were accused of a murder that you didn't commit, would you fight for your freedom or would you lose hope?

In 1986, there were 284 murders in Chicago, Illinois. Linda Rosetti was among these unfortunate victims. In October of 1986, 23-year-old caucasian Roscetti was brutally raped and murdered in a predominantly black neighborhood, and the community put a lot of pressure on the police force to hold someone responsible for the horrendous crime. Through a series of misconduct and misdirection, the police got Calvin Ollins, 14 years old at the time, to sign a confession in exchange for seeing his mother. The confession named himself, his older brother Larry, their friend Omar, and their friend Marcellius as the perpetrators of the crime. They were all innocent. Though they had no real evidence against them, the four men were still brought to trial for the murder. Each one of them was under the age of 19. In exchange for a lighter sentence, Marcellius made a deal and testified at the trials of the other three boys, fabricating details and events to ensure that he would not serve a life sentence. The three boys were then sent to prison for 15 years, beginning to lose hope that they would ever get out. A quarter of a century after the original crime, the three boys, now grown men, began to discuss the details of their respective trials. What they found shocked them. They discovered a discrepancy in the presentation of the DNA evidence left at the crime scene. Eventually, they persuaded an attorney to take their case, and the men were freed. After they were released, two men in Chicago confessed to the murder of Linda Roscetti.

I feel a variety of different emotions when I think of this story: shock, anger, sadness, fear, helplessness, etc. I find it so disgusting that the police who were investigating this case could think for one moment that they were doing the right thing. If I were a family member of a murder victim, I would want justice for the REAL perpetrators of the crime. Taking innocent boys off of the street and charging them with serious offenses, while the actual criminals continue to live in the community, doesn't do anyone any good. It's incredibly irritating to think that these men lost a quarter of their lives to lies, and there's no way that they can ever get them back. I also seriously question the character of Marcellius, who lied on the stand against his three other friends in exchange for a lighter sentence. While the other three men can live their lives with a clean conscious, Marcellius has to carry the guilt that he betrayed his friends with him forever. The fact that the prosecutor who altered the DNA evidence in his favor didn't face any consequences is ridiculous. He essentially stole 45 years of life, and he has to pay no price. Ultimately, I find Larry, Calvin, and Omar inspiring. They never lost hope that someone would believe that they were innocent and take them out of prison. Instead of becoming dark people after being housed with serious criminals, they came out of the experience as men elated to have their freedom and return to the world from which they were so cruelly stolen.