Lucky convict

•American gets $21m for wrongful conviction 39 years after

The report that Craig Coley, an American, who spent 39 years in prison on a wrongful conviction, received $21 million compensation from Simi Valley City, should jolt our tardy criminal justice operators, to put their house in order. Coley, now 71, was wrongfully convicted in 1978 for the murder of his girlfriend, Rhonda Witcht, and her four year-old son, Donald. He was pardoned by the then-California state governor Jerry Brown in 2017, following a DNA evidence which exculpated him.

In settling the claim by Coley, Simi City Manager, Eric Levith, said: “while no amount of money can make up for what happened to Mr. Coley, settling this case is the right thing to do for Mr. Coley and our community.” On its part, California’s Victim Compensation Board awarded Coley $1.95 million last year, for the wrongful conviction. Coley currently spends time speaking to convicts who maintain their innocence, urging them not to give up hope in pursuit of justice.

In our country, majority of those in jail are serving what can be referred to as ‘awaiting trial jail terms’. By that coinage, we refer to the tragic system which allows the accused to spend years in jail, while the trial drags. In many instances, after decades of incarceration, the ‘prisoners’ are released without conviction. Indeed, in some cases, the prosecuting agencies after making a mess of the trial process, abandons them, with the case files missing.

So, we imagine the cost, if the states or the prosecution agencies in Nigeria are held to account, and made to pay compensation for unlawful imprisonment, while the prosecution lingers. No doubt, many of the faltering states or agencies will go bankrupt, paying compensation to victims of wrongful imprisonment. In the American case, the “39 years Coley spent behind bars was the longest prison term ever overturned in California.”

The late Gani Fawehinmi, who spent many years in jail, especially under the military, as he fought the oppressive system, was one prominent victim of several wrongful incarceration. There are several other prisoners of conscience like him, who spent terms in jail fighting the right cause, who deserve compensation. On the lower rung are ordinary folks, who are either framed up or exposed to imprisonment for what is more of a nuisance than a crime in the cities. We have many of this category of persons in prisons in the metropolis.

Another major lesson from the Coley case is the tenacity of the victim to get justice, years after conviction. Instead of wallowing in self-pity and resigning to fate, Coley and his supporters continued to push for a review, until his innocence was proven, with emergent technology. Also, the authorities deserve praise for allowing the use of improved technology like DNA to re-examine a matter decided 39 years ago. In our clime, where records are not properly kept, perhaps the case file would have been lost years ago.

We can imagine what would have happened if Coley had been sentenced to death and indeed executed. It is because of the possibility of miscarriage of justice that some people are strongly advocating for the abolition of capital punishment. Coley might have spent the better part of his productive life in prison; at least he is fortunate to get his compensation for wrongful conviction. We can only imagine the gravity of the injustice if he had been executed for the alleged crime.

No doubt, part of the challenge in our country is the miscued federal system, which affects the criminal justice system in many ways. In our peculiar federation, while most of the crimes are state crimes, it is a federally controlled police that investigate, and in some instances prosecute. Where they are tardy, the state which suffers the consequences of the crime has no power to improve the system or punish for tardiness. Also, the prison which incarcerates belong to the Federal Government, and sometimes their sloppiness contributes to the slow prosecution of crime.

So we warn, before those wrongfully imprisoned start seeking compensation, relevant agencies must ensure that innocent persons don’t suffer for a crime not committed. Perhaps, we also need a re-ordered federation.