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Man Freed After Twenty-Seven Years In Prison For Crimes He Didn’t Commit

By goodblacknews on March 23, 2011

By 

RICHMOND — After spending 27 years in prison for rapes and attacks prosecutors now say he did not commit, Thomas Haynesworth started a new life as a free man Monday.

At his mother’s cozy bungalow, where a spare bedroom has always waited for him, Haynesworth ate the Chinese takeout he had been craving — chicken fried rice for lunch. For the first time in his life, he placed a call on a cellphone. Two nieces he had just met crawled into his lap as he relaxed on a recliner in the living room.

It was his 46th birthday, and he was finally home.

“I’m just going to sit here and relax and spend time with my mother,” Haynesworth said.

Haynesworth was an 18-year-old high school dropout when was arrested as he walked to the market to buy sweet potatoes and bread for Sunday dinner. He told police they had the wrong man.

Now, nearly three decades later, Virginia Attorney General Ken T. Cuccinelli II and two prosecutors say they believe he was telling the truth. DNA and other evidence, they say, point to another attacker.

Haynesworth has his freedom, but he is still fighting to clear his name. He was released after Gov. Robert F. Mc­Don­nell (R) asked the parole board to review his case. The state of Virginia is supporting Haynesworth’s bid to have the Virginia Court of Appeals issue a “Writ of Actual Innocence.”

“I believe in Mr. Haynesworth’s innocence, and I will continue to work toward a complete vindication,” Cuccinelli said in a written statement.

Haynesworth said he will continue fighting for exoneration. He thinks the court “will see the truth,” he said.

But Monday was about celebrating and starting anew.

About 11:20 a.m., Haynesworth, wearing khaki pants and a button-down shirt, walked out of the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt carrying his television and a single garbage bag that held the rest of his belongings.

“He’s home,” his mother, Dolores Haynesworth, said as she tucked her arm around her son. “It’s still hard to believe. I’m holding him, but it’s still hard to believe.”

Haynesworth has never googled, used an ATM or traveled on an airplane. He doesn’t have a driver’s license. During nearly three decades behind bars, he was told when to eat, exercise and go to bed. He said he’s ready to catch up with a world he knows only from television and books.

But for starters, he craves simple things. He wants to sit on a porch, reconnect with old friends and enjoy some of his mother’s fried trout.

“It’s been a long journey,” Haynesworth said. “I just want to reflect and sit down and talk to my momma and eat a meal with her.”

Haynesworth was arrested on a February afternoon in 1984 when his mother sent him out to buy groceries. A woman who had been attacked days earlier saw Haynesworth and told a police officer he was the man.

Haynesworth, who had no criminal record, maintained from the start that he was innocent. But five women ultimately identified him as their attacker. He was convicted in three attacks and acquitted in one; one case was dropped.

In 2005, in the wake of the exonerations of five other wrongly convicted men, then-Virginia governor Mark R. Warner (D) ordered a sweeping review of thousands of criminal cases from 1973 through 1988. Haynesworth’s was among them.

Using technology that wasn’t available in the 1980s, authorities tested DNA collected from a January 1984 rape for which Haynesworth was convicted. The results cleared him and implicated a convicted rapist named Leon Davis.

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project took on Haynesworth’s case. DNA testing exonerated Haynesworth in a second rape in which he had been a suspect. Again, Davis was implicated.

Davis lived in the same neighborhood as Haynesworth. They resembled each other and have the same blood type.

Davis, who is jailed on other charges, has declined to be interviewed.

Haynesworth also was convicted in two attacks for which there is no genetic evidence. Prosecutors who have reexamined the cases are convinced he was wrongly convicted of those crimes, too.

Haynesworth said guards at the prison woke him up about 1 a.m. Monday to tell him he soon would be released. The other inmates gave him a birthday card that he brought home.

Hours later he was walking outside, hugging his mother and sisters. News photographers shot photos and reporters fired questions at him.

“Back in the hands of the people that love him,” a nephew said.

“I always believed this day would come,” Haynesworth said. “I didn’t think it would take 27 years.”

At home, he checked out his new bedroom and decided it would need some of his own touches. His mother’s dog, Stud, snapped at him. And he settled back in the easy chair as his mother prepared to whip up a dinner of scalloped potatoes, string beans and her son’s favorite trout.

“When we’re here tonight and it’s just the two of us, it will sink in,” she said.

 

Obama Administration Drops Defense Of Anti-Gay Marriage Law

By goodblacknews on February 23, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major policy reversal, the Obama administration said Wednesday that it will no longer defend the constitutionality of a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage.
Attorney General Eric Holder said President Barack Obama has concluded that the administration cannot defend the federal law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. He noted that the congressional debate during passage of the Defense of Marriage Act “contains numerous expressions reflecting moral disapproval of gays and lesbians and their intimate and family relationships – precisely the kind of stereotype-based thinking and animus the (Constitution’s)Equal Protection Clause is designed to guard against.”
The Justice Department had defended the act in court until now.
“Much of the legal landscape has changed in the 15 years since Congress passed” the Defense of Marriage Act, Holder said in a statement. He noted that the Supreme Court has ruled that laws criminalizing homosexual conduct are unconstitutional and that Congress has repealed the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
Holder wrote to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, that Obama has concluded the Defense of Marriage Act fails to meet a rigorous standard under which courts view with suspicion any laws targeting minority groups who have suffered a history of discrimination.
The attorney general said the Justice Department had defended the law in court until now because the government was able to advance reasonable arguments for the law based on a less strict standard.
At a December news conference, in response to a reporters’ question, Obama revealed that his position on gay marriage is “constantly evolving.” He has opposed such marriages and supported instead civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. The president said such civil unions are his baseline — at this point, as he put it.
“This is something that we’re going to continue to debate, and I personally am going to continue to wrestle with going forward,” he said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

Obama Signs Child Nutrition Bill

By goodblacknews on December 13, 2010


Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama signed a sweeping overhaul of child nutrition standards Monday, enacting a law meant to encourage better eating habits in part by giving the federal government more authority to set standards for food sold in vending machines and elsewhere on school grounds.
Among other things, the $4.5 billion measure provides more money to poor areas to subsidize free meals and requires schools to abide by health guidelines drafted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To help offset the higher cost of including more fruits and vegetables, the bill increases the reimbursement rate for school lunches.
The bill is about “giving our kids the healthy futures they deserve,” the president said during a bill signing ceremony at a Washington elementary school. “Right now across the country too many kids don’t have access to school meals.”
Even when they do, he added, too often the meals aren’t sufficiently nutritious. As a result, he said, one out of every three children in America is overweight or obese.
Some Democrats had objected to the bill because it is funded in part by stripping $2.2 billion from the federal food stamp program. Congress also voted over the summer to take money from the program to fund legislation sending money to cash-strapped states to avoid teacher layoffs.
The cuts largely negate a spending increase provided to the food stamp program by the 2009 economic stimulus plan. Administration officials reportedly have promised anxious liberals that they will work to find ways to restore the higher funding levels.
The measure has been a top priority for first lady Michelle Obama, who has championed it as part of her “Let’s Move” initiative to combat child obesity in the United States.
“Had I not been able to get this bill passed, I would be sleeping on the couch,” the president joked shortly before signing the measure into law.
“We won’t go into that,” the first lady said. “Let’s just say it got done. Don’t have to go down that road.”

SEED School in D.C. Shapes Scholars!

By goodblacknews on June 1, 2010
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(CBS)  A few miles from the White House in southeast Washington sit some of the worst public schools in America. The students there are mostly poor, mostly black, and their test scores are low. Only one in three finish high school; of those who do go on to college, just five percent graduate.
But right in the middle of this same area is also one of the most successful and innovative public schools in the country. Started in 1998, the school is called SEED. It’s the nation’s first urban public boarding school.
Ninety one percent of the students finish high school, and 95 percent go on to college. It’s a charter school that’s getting national attention. Admission is by lottery, open to any family in the district willing to take a chance. 

Obama Mandates Rules to Raise Fuel Standards

By goodblacknews on May 22, 2010
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By PETER BAKER
Published: May 21, 2010
WASHINGTON — President Obama ordered the government on Friday to develop tougher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, advancing the fight against climate change without waiting for Congress.  Mr. Obama announced the creation of a national policy that will result in less greenhouse-gas pollution from medium- and heavy-duty trucks for the first time, and will further reduce exhaust from cars and light-duty trucks beyond the requirements he had already put in place.  “Today’s announcement is an essential part of our energy strategy, but it’s not a substitute for other necessary steps,” Mr. Obama said in a Rose Garden ceremony on Friday, flanked by auto and truck manufacturers. He repeated his hope that Congress will pass an energy bill by the end of the year. “In the meantime,” he added, “I’m going to take every sensible, responsible action that I can take using my authority as president.”
Mr. Obama said that reducing fuel use would save money for businesses and consumers, and he linked his new policy to the enormous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “The disaster in the gulf only underscores that, even as we pursue domestic reduction to reduce our reliance on imported oil, our long-term security depends on the development of alternative sources of fuel and new transportation technologies,” he said.  The executive memorandum the president signed on Friday orders theEnvironmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department to develop new fuel and emissions standards more strict than those formalized last month, but the memorandum did not propose specific fuel-economy figures.
Under last month’s rules, new cars must get at least 35.5 miles to a gallon of fuel, on average, by 2016, in combined city and highway driving. The president’s new plan would order further improvements in fuel efficiency for cars and light trucks made in 2017 and beyond, and in medium and heavy trucks made in 2014 through 2018.  In addition, Mr. Obama’s directive orders more federal support for the development of new vehicles like advanced electric cars, and it instructs the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce emissions of other kinds of pollutants by motor vehicles, besides greenhouse gases.  Environmentalists hailed the move. “President Obama’s oil savings proposal will reduce our dependence on oil,” said Daniel J. Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal research organization. “More efficient cars and trucks will help to protect families’ budgets as well as America’s shores.”
Medium and heavy trucks represent only 4 percent of all vehicles on American highways, but they consume more than 20 percent of the fuel used in road transportation, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental advocacy organization. Improving the average fuel economy of these trucks by 3.7 miles to the gallon would, by 2030, reduce American oil consumption by 11 billion gallons a year, the group said.
Mr. Obama said existing technology could improve the fuel economy of tractor-trailers, as an example, by 25 percent. Over all, he said that within 20 years he wants the nation’s vehicles to be using half the fuel and produce half the pollution they do today.
Building cleaner vehicles costs money, but may ultimately save consumers more through lower gasoline bills. The policy already enacted will add about $1,000 to the cost of an average new car by 2016, but save about $3,000 in fuel over the life of the vehicle, according to government officials.
Mr. Obama was joined on Friday by environmental leaders and representatives of major truck manufacturers who supported the new policy. Among them were the chief executives of Volvo, Daimler Trucks North America, Cummins and Navistar, the head of the American Trucking Association and a garbage-truck driver in his uniform.  Manufacturers want a single national standard set over the long term because that is easier to comply with than the patchwork of state and national regulations that had been imposed in the past.
Before the president’s initial policy a year ago, car and light-truck makers were facing fuel-efficiency standards being developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in response to Congressional legislation; separate greenhouse-gas standards being developed by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act; and the possibility of separate standards enacted in California and 13 other states.  “The federal government is looking 15 years down the road and uniting all the diverse stakeholders to work towards the same national goal,” Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in a statement. Noting the collaboration over the set of rules enacted last month, he added, “This approach achieved success once before, so we are optimistic that we can do it again.”
Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, a nonprofit group, said the new policy would promote the use of clean diesel technology. “Diesel engines offer an unmatched combination of energy efficiency, work capability, reliability and now near-zero-emissions environmental performance,” he said.

President and First Lady Appearing At Commencements Of Several HBCUs

By goodblacknews on May 7, 2010
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The president, first lady and members of the administration will be making a commencement tour of HBCUs, making addresses and appearances at eleven institutions:

This month, President Obama, the First Lady, and officials from throughout the Administration will deliver commencement addresses to Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the nation.  This weekend Mrs. Obama will send off the graduates of University of Arkansas – Pine Bluff Saturday, May 8th and President Obama will greet the graduates of Hampton University Sunday, May 9th.  In total, eleven HBCUs will receive commencement addresses from Obama Administration officials this year.

Other officials participating in graduation ceremonies include Secretary Robert Gates, Department of Defense (Morehouse College), Secretary Arne Duncan, Department of Education (Xavier University), Administrator Charles Bolden, NASA (Huston-Tillotson University), Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President (Morgan State University), Melody Barnes, Director, White House Domestic Policy Council (Virginia Union University), and Ambassador Susan Rice, United Nations (Spelman College).  In addition, John Wilson, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, is scheduled to speak to Wilberforce University, Wiley College, and Harris-Stowe State University.

During a recent White House ceremony honoring HBCUs, President Obama spoke of the importance of these institutions to the well-being of not just the African American community, but to the entire nation.

President Obama said, “[W]e’re not only doing this because these schools are a gateway to a better future for African Americans; we’re doing it because their success is vital to a better future for all Americans.”

Below is the complete schedule of administration appearances

Obama Administration HBCU Commencement Schedule*

Saturday, May 1st

· John Wilson, Executive Director, White House Initiative on HBCUs – Wilberforce University

Saturday, May 8th

· First Lady Michelle Obama – University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

· Secretary Arne Duncan, Department of Education – Xavier University

· NASA Administrator Charles Bolden – Huston-Tillotson University

· White House Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes – Virginia Union University

· John Wilson, Executive Director, White House Initiative on HBCUs – Wiley College

May 9th

· President Barack Obama – Hampton University

May 11th

· John Wilson, Executive Director, White House Initiative on HBCUs – Harris-Stowe State University

May 15th

· Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President – Morgan State University

May 16th

· Secretary Robert Gates, Department of Defense – Morehouse College

· Ambassador Susan Rice, United Nations – Spelman College

article via www.theroot.com

Syracuse University Law School Team Works Cold Cases From Civil Rights Era

By goodblacknews on April 25, 2010

Never Too Late For Justice:  Syracuse University Law School Professor Paula Johnson and her team work with families to solve cold cases from the Civil Rights era!  Watch the story on CNN by clicking here.

Good Black News Weekend Wrap Up – Sunday, April 11, 2010

By goodblacknews on April 24, 2010

Good Black News Weekend Wrap Up April 11, 2010

Listen to the Good Black News Weekend Wrap Up!  Listen by clicking the link above!

Black Residents Of Mossville Win Hearing In Legal Battle Over Industrial Pollution

By goodblacknews on March 30, 2010
(industrial pollution image via wikipedia commons)

According to nola.com, African-American residents of Mossville, Louisiana, a community just west of Lake Charles, have won a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on charges that the U.S. government violated their rights to privacy and racial equality in not forcing local chemical plants to stop polluting.

To quote the article:

Mossville is adjacent to 14 chemical plants and refineries that release millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land and water each year, according to federal and state records.

Its residents have filed a variety of lawsuits and complaints against the plants and the Environmental Protection Agency in attempts to recover damages and reduce pollution, which includes cancer-causing dioxin and vinyl chloride.

Tests by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registery in 2007 found chemicals in residents’ body fat that were the same as chemicals emitted by some of the nearby industries.

Several of the companies and their predecessors have been involved in releases of chemicals that have eaten the paint off cars, killed bushes and trees in people’s front yards, and polluted adjacent waterways.

“We believe that environmental protection should not be based on the color of our skin,” said Dorothy Felix, a petitioner in the case and a vice president of Mossville Environmental Action Now. “Our government can and must do better to protect our human rights.”

To read more, go to: https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/black-residents-of-mossville-win-hearing-in-legal-battle-over-industrial-pollution/article_548a59ef-7724-5181-8c78-ea324648f933.html.

or: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/26/toxic.town.mossville.epa/index.html