Presumed Guilty

"The subject of wrongful convictions is rarely addressed in the public forum.

Wrongful convictions and their subsequent incarcerations are rarely as accidental as we are led to believe. More often than not, they are the result of State actors deliberately creating criminality where none existed. These intentional acts of malfeasance are based on bias, agenda, or political aspirations.

According to the 2023 Annual Report by the National Registry of Exonerations, between 1989 and 2023, 3,478 people were wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. During this time over 31,678 years were stolen from the children they left behind, the spouses that moved on, and family/parents who died or had to bury the wrongfully convicted person.

The numbers found in the report only account for those people for whom misconduct and malfeasance were identified and addressed. How many people have remain incarcerated because of deliberate manipulation and misuse of the criminal legal system?

My name is Jeff Ford. In August of 2011, I was arrested for a crime the evidence proved I did not commit. Based on the prosecution's knowing misrepresentation of evidence and subornation of perjured testimony, I was wrongfully convicted and given a life sentence.

Over the last nine years, during which the State has denied me access to the complete record of my court hearings, namely prosecution's preliminary hearing testimony that 1) I was not identified as the probable suspect to arrest and 2) stated its intent to request a (4th) post arrest collection of evidence to establish my identity to arrest, I have been fighting for my exoneration.

Once in prison, my family helped me acquire over $3,000.00 worth of law books to fight my conviction.

While fighting my own battle, I began helping others with theirs. I am among those burdened to bear the title 'Jailhouse Lawyer'. 

Though most people who are incarcerated are guilty of the crime(s) for which they were convicted, more often than not prosecutors, police, and judges break the law they were sworn to uphold, to prove 'guilt'.

People in the general public have the privilege to go about their days, oblivious to prosecutorial misconduct, police brutality, ineffective assistance of counsel, and abuse of judicial discretion - until they or their family are behind bars. This blog is my opportunity to shed light on what the system really looks like behind a 'wrongful conviction'.

In addition to seeking professional assistance with my case and requesting funds to renew my antiquated (personal) law library, I will expose how Lady Justice is allowed to 'peek', and the ways that true justice is intentionally denied to many of millions of people who remain behind bars as a result of  

Deliberate Injustice"