3 minute read
Pro Bono Services Lead to a Second Chance
Ed Cassidy, Cari Martell and paralegal Leslie Anderson began representing Michael Wearry, a young African American man on death row in Louisiana in 2009. It was a tough case. In 1998, Mr. Wearry and four others were charged and convicted of murdering a teenage pizza delivery driver. The arrest came two years after the crime and was based on the statements of one man – a jailhouse informant – who presented numerous and inconsistent statements to the police. Mr. Wearry was sentenced to death in 2002.
Partnering with the Capital Post-Conviction Center of Louisiana (now known as the Mwalimu Center for Justice), and through an extensive post-conviction investigation, the team came to strongly believe that Mr. Wearry did not receive a fair trial and that a significant amount of evidence was not presented. The team presented their new evidence and called 36 witnesses at a hearing in front of a trial judge. After the trial court denied a new trial, the team then submitted the record to the Louisiana Supreme Court. Unlike the original trial lawyer’s file, which was bare bones considering this was a capital case, the new record submitted to the Louisiana Supreme Court now filled over nine banker’s boxes. Unfortunately, the Court denied the request for a new trial. However, in a dissent, the chief justice said he would have reversed based on the quality of Mr. Wearry’s representation at trial. Normally, the next step in a post-conviction proceeding would be to petition the federal courts, and then the U.S. Supreme Court. The Wearry team made the decision to directly petition the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari review, while also preparing to file briefs at the federal court level. In the petition, Wearry’s team wrote that Wearry’s public defender admitted that he,
conducted essentially no investigation, had no strategic reasons for not preparing a defense and met with the petitioner (Wearry) perhaps once before trial.
Because only a very small percentage of cases submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court for review are granted, the team was encouraged after the Court requested the entire trial record be submitted.
The Supreme Court set the case for conference seven times before ultimately (and without requiring any oral arguments, as is customary), issuing a “per curiam” opinion summarily reversing the first-degree murder conviction on the grounds the prosecution failed to disclose key evidence that cast doubt on Wearry’s involvement as described by the state’s star witness, the jailhouse informant. The Court wrote,
Beyond a doubt, the newly revealed evidence suffices to undermine confidence in Wearry’s conviction. The State’s trial evidence resembles a house of cards, built on a jury crediting [the informant’s] account rather than crediting Wearry’s alibi.
Update
After the SCOTUS ruling, the District Attorney sought to retry Mr. Wearry and again seek the death penalty. On the eve of a second trial, the prosecution offered Mr. Wearry a plea. In February 2023, Mr. Wearry was released and is now enjoying time with his family and loved ones.
