Justice for Savory

THE BEGINNINGS

Emmett:
“As we bought Emmett’s round-trip ticket, there was a loud blast above us, up on the platform…followed by the conductor’s announcing, ‘All aboard.’

Emmett started up those steps like nobody’s business, carrying his suitcase and his box lunch. I called to him. ‘Bo, you didn’t kiss me goodbye. How do I know I’ll ever see you again?’

He stopped, turned around, and headed back. ‘Aw, Mama’…At least he came back and gave me a kiss.”

~Death of Innocence by Mamie Till-Mobley


Boarding that train to visit his cousins, fourteen year-old Emmett began his travels eager to reunite with his extended family. He had no concept of the hatred he would encounter in Mississippi, the barrier of racism that would take his life. On August 28, 1955, Emmett Till was sound alseep, sharing a bed with his cousin Simeon Wright, when Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam abducted him. And the rest of the story is history.


Johnnie:

Another fourteen year old was abducted from a supposedly safe space, his school, on January 25th, 1977. One week prior, Johnnie Lee Savory spent time at his friend James Robinson’s house, drawing pictures, eating hot dogs and corn, and playing karate. The next day, James Robinson and his older sister, Connie Cooper, were brutally murdered. Under pressure to find a suspect, the police asked the school principal to collect Johnnie. After the police transferred him to their office for questioning, Johnnie Lee Savory never returned to school or his home again. 

Johnnie explains:

“They thought I could just be thrown away, and that I’d die in prison…But something happened that no one expected; I survived.  And all of the people who put me away don’t know what to do about that. 

And I’m not going away.  I’m going to fight until the truth is known about what happened to me, and everyone knows that Peoria sent a 14 year old boy to prison for 30 years for a crime he did not do.”

LIVING HISTORY

Emmett’s story does not end with his death in 1955, nor does Johnnie’s end with his imprisonment in 1977. When speaking of Emmett’s legacy in a panel discussion about Fred Hampton, historian Adam Green declared that the response to Emmett’s death demonstrated the ability “of people to affirm life when those in power deal death.” Johnnie’s resolve to affirm his own life and fight for freedom led to his eventual release from prison. This fight is not yet over and we all have a role to play in this struggle. Sign the petition, affirm life, and spread the word to your family and friends.

Emmett Till 

In 1955, fourteen year-old Emmett Till traveled from Chicago to Money, Mississippi, to visit his cousins. He returned home in a casket, his body distorted almost beyond recognition. As punishment for whistling at Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, outside the local grocery store, Carolyn’s husband, Roy Bryant, and brother-in-law, J.W. Milam, abducted Emmett in the middle of the night. They proceeded to torture, mutilate, shoot him, tie him to a seventy-pound cotton gin fan, and toss him into the Tallahatchie River. An all-white jury acquitted Milam and Bryant, although they later sold their confession to Look magazine.  

While officials in Mississippi tried to dispose of the body, Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, demanded that her son's body be returned to her and made the momentous decision to have an open casket funeral. A picture of his corpse was plastered on the cover of newspapers and magazines across the nation and over 50,000 people attended Emmett’s funeral. Emmett Till is one of the catalysts of the civil rights movement as his death forced a nation to confront injustice. 
 

Johnnie Lee Savory  

Convicted of double murder by an all-white jury in 1977 at the age of fourteen, Savory served thirty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Released on parole in 2006, Savory still has not been officially exonerated. After his release from prison, Johnnie attended a play about Emmett Till and found himself overwhelmed with emotion as he related to the horrible fate of another innocent fourteen-year old child. Johnnie’s deep connection to Emmett was cemented when he discovered that they share the same birthday, July 25th.

Voices for Justice

Johnnie and Emmett’s cases both represent a state-sponsored denial of justice and the loss of innocence for children, for communities of color, and for our entire nation. However, these stories also are a part of a collective story for change, they contribute to the struggle for justice. Emmett’s death sparked change in this nation and his mother ensured that his legacy lives on for eternity. While Emmett’s voice was silenced, the strength and courage of so many in the civil rights movement allowed for their collective voice to be heard and heeded.

As Johnnie’s story reminds us, the civil rights movement does not and cannot remain in the past. Johnnie uses his voice to be part of this continued movement for justice for all people and you can contribute your voice to this movement as well. We are seeking 11,000 signatures to present a petition to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to order DNA testing to exonerate Johnnie Lee Savory. I will continue to blog intertwining Emmett and Johnnie’s stories to illuminate the connections between the past and the present, and the continued struggle for justice. Sign the petition, speak out against wrongful convictions, and join in this powerful movement.  
 

Recently, Johnnie Lee Savory and Steve Drizin, the Center on Wrongful Convictions' legal director, spoke at Northwestern University about their fight to get Illinois to test evidence in Johnnie's case for DNA.

You can listen to their talk on Innocence Speaks: the podcast of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.

Though forensic DNA testing is routine today, it didn’t exist when Johnnie was convicted in 1977.   The Center believes that DNA testing will not only exonerate Johnnie, but it will also identify the person who committed the murders for which Johnnie was sent to prison.

And yet, as The New York Times reported, Illinois has repeatedly refused to hand over this evidence "on the grounds that a jury was convinced of his guilt without DNA and that the 175 convicts already exonerated by DNA were 'statistically insignificant.'"

You can join Johnnie fight for justice today.  Take two minutes, e-mail Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, and ask him to order DNA testing for Johnnie Lee Savory.

In the United States, DNA evidence is used everyday to send people to prison.  Since the late 1980s, DNA evidence has also been used to exonerate more than 200 innocent men and women.  And yet, for more than 10 years, the State of Illinois has blocked DNA testing for Johnnie Lee Savory.

In 1977, when Johnnie was 14 years old, he was sent to prison for murdering his friend and his friend’s sister in their hometown of Peoria, Illinois.  Johnnie’s conviction rests on a foundation that has crumbled.  The key witnesses in his case have recanted their testimony, telling authorities that police had pressured them to lie about Johnnie.  

DNA testing didn’t exist when Johnnie was convicted more than 30 years ago.  If it had, the evidence would have been tested as part of routine police procedure.   

Given these facts, The New York Times recently asked, why the state has persistently refused to grant this testing? 

Only Peoria County State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons knows.  However, given his previous attempts to justify his actions, it is unlikely that he can offer a reasonable explanation.  

When asked by the Chicago Sun-Times why he opposes testing for Johnnie, Lyons said that "as a prosecutor, I understand that justice is the most important objective, but I also understand in wild goose chases like this when defense lawyers say something, I know that just saying it does not make it true."

Lyons also once suggested to a local magazine that he’d simply “set [him]self on fire” before allowing Johnnie to test the evidence that would likely not only exonerate him, but also establish the identity of the real killer.

Johnnie’s only hope for justice lies with Governor Quinn.  He can order DNA testing today, and he’ll do it if enough people demand it.

Take one minute to e-mail Governor Quinn.  Tell him to order DNA testing for Johnnie Lee Savory.

Justice delayed should not mean justice denied.

 

For 10 years, the Center on Wrongful Convictions has fought to identify and rectify wrongful convictions and other serious miscarriages of justice.

Without the Center's work, Johnnie Lee Savory would probably still be in prison for crimes he did not commit.  The same could be said for scores of other innocent people in Illinois and across the country.

If you want to learn more about the Center, check out this video.  


If you care about rectifying wrongful convictions, you should donate to the Center. (I just gave them $10--$1 for each year.)

On average, each pending case cost roughly $46,000.  More than half of this  amount comes from private donations.   By donating to the Center, you can literally help save an innocent person like Johnnie Lee Savory from the living hell of a wrongful conviction.

If you can't donate now, but want to know more about this Center, you can join their new facebook group.

 

Since Johnnie Lee Savory was released from prison, he has been organizing with other unjustly convicted people, including many of the survivors of former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge's regime of torture.

For decades these survivors have cried out for justice, and finally, on October 21, 2008, their calls were heard when U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald arrested Burge for his crimes.

In this video, some of the survivors talk about what happened to them and their continuing fight for justice.  

In "A Battle is Won, But the Fight Continues," Johnnie talks about how he brought together the people and organizations that eventually helped him win his parole after spending 30 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.


You can watch the rest of Johnnie's four-part interview on his YouTube channel.

Though Johnnie is free today, his fight is not over.  

The State of Illinois still considers Johnnie a murderer, and yet refuses to test the DNA on the evidence that was used to convict him.  A DNA test could not only help establish Johnnie's innocence, but it could also point to the identity of the real killer.

Because Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions has offered to pay for the testing, Illinois has nothing to lose here--except the cowardly lies and false excuses that imprisoned an innocent man.

You can help Johnnie win this fight today.  Join the growing list of Johnnie's allies, which includes the late Justice Prentice Marshall, The Innocence Project, the law firm of Jenner & Block, the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions, and many others.

Click here and tell IL Governor Rod Blagojevich to order DNA testing on the evidence that was used to send Johnnie to prison for 30 years for a crime he did not commit.

You can also join Justice for Savory on facebook and MySpace.

If you have any questions or comments about Justice for Savory, send us an e-mai at justiceforsavory@gmail.com

Rob Warden is the cofounder and executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law.  

I linked to this video of Mr. Warden in my last post, but it's so powerful that I think it deserves to stand alone.  

In the video, Mr. Warden explains why the evidence in Johnnie Savory's case demands DNA testing, which Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons stubbornly refuses to permit.  

You can join Mr. Warden's and the Center on Wrongful Convictions' fight for Johnnie  by sending one e-mail.

Click here and tell IL Governor Rod Blagojevich to order DNA testing on the evidence that was used to send Johnnie to prison for 30 years for a crime he did not commit.

If you're on facebook, look up Johnnie Lee Savory and join the Justice for Savory group.  You can also become Johnnie's MySpace friend by clicking here.

If you have any questions or comments about Justice for Savory, send us an e-mai at justiceforsavory@gmail.com

How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed
To live in a land where justice is a game.
-Bob Dylan, "Hurricane"

When Johnnie Lee Savory is finally exonerated and the story of his fight for justice is written, there will be many troubling questions for our society to ponder.

Why in 1977 did the Peoria Police falsely accuse a 14-year-old boy for the murder of his best friend and his best friend’s sister and ignore the evidence that pointed to the victims' stepfather?

How were the Peoria Police able to hold Johnnie for 36 hours without a lawyer and then coerce him into signing a false confession, which the prosecution then used to secure a guilty verdict in Johnnie’s first trial?

How was the prosecution at Johnnie's first and second trial able to use misleading evidence and false testimony to convict a young boy of brutal crimes he did not commit?  

But once Johnnie's innocence is established beyond doubt, perhaps the most troubling question will be placed on the shoulders of Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons.

Lyons says he is absolutely convinced that Johnnie is guilty of the crimes for which he spent 30 years in prison.  Despite his confidence, Lyons refuses to order DNA tests that would conclusively establish Johnnie's guilt or innocence.  Why?

There are compelling reasons to find Johnnie's case deserves DNA testing.  Not only was DNA testing unavailable when Johnnie was tried, but the two pieces of evidence that were used to convict him rest upon a crumbling foundation.

Two witnesses who testified at Johnnie second trial that Johnnie had told them he committed the murders have since recanted their testimony, saying under oath that the Peoria police had pressured them to lie.  

The only other piece of evidence was Johnnie’s father’s bloody pants.  The pants were several sizes too big for Johnnie, and Johnnie’s father had told the jury that the blood was from a prior injury he had received.  The jury chose not to believe Johnnie’s father. DNA testing could definitively establish whose blood was on the pants.

And yet, Lyons refuses to submit the evidence for DNA testing absent a court order.

You might say that Lyons is afraid to put his money where his mouth is--except Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions has offered to pay for the tests, so they would not cost either the state or Peoria County a dime.  All Lyons has to do is literally hand over the 30-year-old evidence.

So, why won't Lyons order the DNA tests for Johnnie's case?  

In a recent Chicago Sun Times editorial that asked Governor Blagojevich to order DNA testing for Johnnie, Lyons tried to explain his reasoning:

"As a prosecutor, I understand that justice is the most important objective, but I also understand in wild goose chases like this when defense lawyers say something, I know that just saying it does not make it true."

This statement makes no sense.

It's offensive and ridiculous to characterize DNA testing as "a wild goose chase," particularly when DNA has exonerated to date more than 200 people in the United States.  This is according to the Innocence Project, which has joined with innocence and wrongful conviction organizations across the country and in Canada in asking Illinois to test the DNA in Johnnie's case.

Additionally, despite what Lyons suggests, it's not just Johnnie's lawyers at Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions and Jenner & Block, one of the most prestigious law firms in the country, that believe his case requires DNA testing.

Since Johnnie was released in 2006, he has organized a broad coalition of support from some of the most influential and respected lawyers and legal minds in the country.  His allies include five former U.S. Attorneys, men and women appointed by the President of the United States to enforce federal law.  Johnnie's most tireless supporter was the late Justice Prentice Marshall, a federal district judge appointed by Richard Nixon, and one of the most respected jurists Illinois has ever produced.

With nothing to personally gain, Johnnie's supporters all agree that his case from start to finish was grossly mishandled, and that the evidence used to convict him demands DNA testing.  

But Lyons remains steadfast in his opposition, saying in a recent interview, "I'd set myself on fire before I'd give one ounce of leniency to these murderers."  

Of course, such bluster fails to explain why Lyons refuses to test the DNA in Johnnie's case, but it reveals a great deal about how Lyons views his job as Peoria State’s Attorney.

Hoping his constituents will confuse tough-sounding talk with an actual commitment to the law, Lyons is the kind of prosecutor who is more interested in scoring cheap political points than with ensuring that justice is served and that truth prevails.  

Fortunately, this November the people of Peoria will have a chance to vote on whether they want to keep Lyons in his present job.  

Hopefully they'll exercise more wisdom and judgment than Lyons has as their State's Attorney.

Whether you live in Peoria or not, you can join Johnnie's fight for justice today by sending one e-mail. 

Click here and tell IL Governor Rod Blagojevich to order DNA testing on the evidence that was used to send Johnnie to prison for 30 years for a crime he did not commit.

If you're on facebook, look up Johnnie Lee Savory and join the Justice for Savory group.  You can also become Johnnie's MySpace friend by clicking here.

If you have any questions or comments about Justice for Savory, send us an e-mai at justiceforsavory@gmail.com

In part three of Falsely Accused, Unjustly Convicted, Johnnie Lee Savory describes how the results of his first trial were thrown out when he was 17 years old.

In 1980, the 3rd District Appellate Court of Illinois found that Johnnie's false confession should never have been presented to the jury.  (You can read about how Johnnie was coerced into falsely confessing to double murder when he was 14 years old here.)  The Court then ordered a new trial.

Without his false confession, the prosecution admitted to Peoria's Journal Star that they had no case against Johnnie.  

It looked as if Johnnie was going to be released after spending three years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

The prosecution, however, did not let the truth get in their way.  Lacking credible evidence that would tie Johnnie to the scene of the crime, they manufactured a case against him.  

The prosecution struck a deal with a man in prison, and got him and two of his relatives to testify that Johnnie had admitted to them that he was responsible for the murders.  

Despite the fact that these witnesses had not testified in the first trial, the all-white jury convicted Johnnie and re-sentenced him to 40-80 years in prison.

In 2003, two of the three witnesses who testified against Johnnie recanted their testimony, telling authorities under oath that they had been pressured by police to lie about Johnnie Lee Savory.

At every turn, Johnnie has fought back against the awkward wrath of a broken legal system.

Now it's your turn.  

Join Johnnie's fight for justice today by sending one e-mail.  

Click here and tell IL Governor Rod Blagojevich to order DNA testing on the evidence that was used to send Johnnie to prison for 30 years for a crime he did not commit.

If you're on facebook, look up Johnnie Lee Savory and join the Justice for Savory group.  You can also find Johnnie on MySpace here.

If you have any questions or comments about Justice for Savory, send us an e-mai at justiceforsavory@gmail.com