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November 15, 2017 The Skanner Page 9 News ‘God is so Good,’ Says Man Freed After 5 Decades in Prison Attorneys say police knew, but never acted upon, information pointing to a diff erent suspect By Stacey Plaisance Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. — A 65-year-old man who was arrested at 19 and sen- tenced to life without parole walked out of prison on Wednesday, saying “God is so good” aft er his rape convic- tion was overturned by a judge. Authorities withheld evidence that could have exonerated Wilbert Jones decades ago and their case against him was “weak at best,” State District Judge Richard Anderson said. “Freedom. Aft er more than 45 years and ten months. That’s going through my mind,” Jones said as he hugged his brother, Plem Jones, and other rela- tives outside the gates of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. Jones also thanked his legal team at the Innocence Project New Orleans, saying “without them, this wouldn’t be possible.” Doing all that time was “very diffi - cult,” Jones said, but he told reporters he holds no resentment. “I forgave. I forgive,” Jones said. “I didn’t have control of it. Why should I worry about it? I’m in charge of myself.” Attorney Emily Maw praised “the ex- traordinary strength” of a man “who has spent over 16,000 days in prison for something he didn’t do,” and would nev- ertheless “come out with a faith in God and in humanity.” Prosecutors said they do not intend to retry Jones, but they also said they would ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to review last month’s decision by the judge. Court spokesman Robert Gunn said Wednesday morning that no such request had been fi led. Jones has yet to be cleared; the judge set his bail at $2,000. Maw told The Associated Press that it would be “legally incorrect and moral- ly problematic” if the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Offi ce insists on try- ing to uphold the conviction, because by doing so, it would be “saying that when Wilbert Jones was arrested in 1972 as a young, 19-year-old poor Black man, he did not deserve the rights that people deserve today.” The district attorney’s offi ce did not immediately respond to the AP’s re- quest for comment. Jones was arrested on suspicion of abducting a nurse at gunpoint from a Baton Rouge hospital’s parking lot and raping her behind a building on the night of Oct. 2, 1971. He was convicted of aggravated rape at a 1974 retrial that “rested entirely” on the nurse’s testi- mony and her “questionable identifi ca- tion” of Jones as her assailant, the judge said. The nurse, who died in 2008, picked Jones out of a police lineup more than three months aft er the rape, but she also told police that the man who raped her was taller and had a “much rough- er” voice than Jones had. Jones’ lawyers claim the nurse’s de- scription matches a man who was ar- rested but never charged in the rape of a woman abducted from the parking lot of another Baton Rouge hospital, just 27 days aft er the nurse’s attack. The same man also was arrested on suspi- cion of raping yet another woman in 1973, but was only charged and convict- ed of armed robbery in that case. Anderson said the evidence shows police knew of the similarities between that man and the nurse’s description of her attacker. –NEW– LOCAT ION F oundation 32nd annual MARTIN LUTHER JAN. 15 2018 KING, JR. 8:30AM-10:30AM Breakfast RED LION ON THE RIVER – JANZTEN BEACH 909 N HAYDEN ISLAND DR, PORTLAND, OR keynote speaker TICKETS ON SALE at TheSkanner.com Cheryl grace SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF U.S. STRATEGIC COMMUNITY ALLIANCES AND CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT FOR NIELSEN Cheryl Grace is the visionary behind Nielsen’s African-American Consumer Report. This award-winning report led to the company’s historic creation of Nielsen’s Diversity Insights Series. Each report focuses on the rapidly growing African-American, Hispanic, or Asian consumer base. Cheryl is known for her engaging and refreshing perspective about why we buy what we buy. #SKBreakfast H Health & Services Let’s turn the answers on.
