COLUMBIA, S.C. /New York Netwire/ — Johnny Davis, federal inmate, is currently serving a life sentence for what a number of attorneys and Davis’s former attorney believe to be an unjust conviction after a federal drug sweep. Davis has been in prison for 11 years and was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison. After reviewing case documents, William Mallory Kent, P.A., and several other attorneys strongly agree, says Davis.
In letters to Wake Forest Law School, Georgetown Law School and the University Of Virginia Law School, Kent wrote, “I have been doing federal criminal appellate work for more than 25 years and this is one of the more egregious miscarriage of justice I have ever seen.”
Davis’s legal defense team has also contacted Margaret C. Love, a pardon attorney in Washington D.C., and a representative for the Rev. Al Sharpton of National Action Network, seeking support and assistance to help correct this terrible miscarriage of justice.
Kent, who does pro bono work, strongly believes that if one of these universities was to get involved and do pro bono work for Davis that the case could catapult into being a high profile one. Davis could likely receive the justice he deserves and be released.
Davis, a former jazz/blues club and restaurant owner, is currently fighting for his freedom after being unable to obtain law enforcement assistance when he tried to have the matter reported to authorities. He contacted an attorney and an agent from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division before he was ever arrested or indicted.
The initial arrest involved a federal drug sweep that included 42 African Americans. The court records prove that there was no evidence presented at Davis’s trial to show that he was part of this alleged drug operation, nor did anyone arrested ever testify that Davis had any role in this drug operation.
Davis’s court-appointed attorney refused to call a key witness who was an attorney and later signed a sworn affidavit which clearly reported that Davis contacted him requesting law enforcement assistance from the beginning. Davis did not want to get caught up in a drug operation and was actually trying to report the man distributing drugs in the area.
Additionally, another attorney – Michael A. Grace from Winston-Salem, North Carolina – was retained by Davis’s family after the trial, and allegedly committed a number of egregious errors during the time he appealed Davis’s conviction and sentence.
According to Davis, Grace prepared the appeal and submitted documents to The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals misstating facts and evidence that were never a part of the court records and were never presented during Davis’s trial.
The “misstated facts and evidence” translated into what the Circuit Court mistakenly considered to be “overwhelming evidence” against Davis, not realizing that these misstated facts and evidence were ever part of the court records.
The primary misstated facts by Grace were as follows:
* crack cocaine was found in Davis’s vehicle;
* the federal authorities captured Davis’s voice on a cell phone wiretap recording discussing drugs deals with others who were arrested; and
* an undercover agent purchased at least 1,000 grams of cocaine from Davis.
Grace also allowed government prosecutors to use stricken testimony as evidence and the Circuit Court considered it part of its overwhelming evidence against Davis.
Government prosecutors admitted that they did, in fact, use testimony that was stricken from the records as evidence. They said that Davis was never captured on any of the cell phone wiretap recordings and crack cocaine was never purchased or seized from Davis or his vehicle during the investigation.
Multiple attorneys who have reviewed this case have said that Grace’s alleged egregious errors misled the Circuit Court and led them to believe that the misstated facts and evidence was presented during Davis’s trial and that they were a part of the court records; they were not.
For more information, visit: http://www.jdaneye4justice.com/ .
Editorial Note for Legal Matters: All alleged facts, errors, omissions, statements by attorneys and others, and related information herein was provided by the news source, Mr. Davis, who is solely responsible for this content.
NEWS SOURCE: Johnny Davis :: This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (who is solely responsible for its accuracy) by Send2Press® Newswire, a service of Neotrope®. Original syndication source of this news item: https://www.send2press.com/newswire/Prominent-Attorney-Kent-Says-Worst-Miscarriage-of-Justice-Seen-in-25-Years_2013-08-0819-002.shtml.
