Glenn Ford spent almost 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit; on Tuesday 11th he was exonerated, thus becoming one of the longest serving death row inmates to be freed in the United States. The news comes as a shock in the already heated arguments regarding the alleged inconsistencies of the US justice system.
Ford was imprisoned for the murder of his employer, a white man Isadore Roseman on the 5th of November 1983, and was put on the death row in 1984. The flaws of his trial were numerous; his prosecutors ensured he had as small a chance of walking free as possible. For the case, an all-white jury panel was assembled to try the African American Ford, and as eyewitnesses or weapons of murder were not found, a girlfriend of the man originally suspected in the case, was hired for testimony. Marvella Brown later, under cross-examination, admitted her false allegations in court.
To further the case, a series of ‘expert witnesses’ also testified against Ford, citing his left-handedness among others as proof. Later these testimonies were all proved to be largely inconclusive.
Despite Ford’s continuous appeals, he did not face a re-trial until 2013, not even when the Louisiana Supreme Court deemed his conviction seriously questionable.
Ford becomes the 144th death row inmate to walk free in the last 40 years, further fueling arguments around the adequacy of the US justice system and the employment of capital punishment in the United States.
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