THE STORY OF MELVIN RAY, another one of the many innocent people in prison. Melvin needs a lawyer to insure that he can finally receive a fair trial and to prove his innocence!
Dear Reader:
Thank you for visiting my website. Unfortunately, I am currently serving a sentence of life without parole in the Alabama Department of Corrections for a crime of murder that I did not commit.
After reading my site, which in the future, will include updates on my current legal filings; my trial transcripts and evidence that I have collected post-trial; I pray that you will be inspired to join in my efforts to prove my innocence and to help me correct this miscarriage of justice. To use the words of one of my juror's (whom I presented some of my post-trial finds to) said: "My trial was not in any way fair and the proceedings were a "travesty of justice"."
At the present, the problem for me is not that I don't have evidence of my innocence or that I am making merely baseless accusations that are unsubstantiated by physical, credible and or scientific evidence. Nor as will be explained, is it a problem for me to prove that my trial attorney knew of but failed to even investigate, let alone present evidence concerning my alibi, alibi witnesses and documentary evidence to prove my whereabouts on the day and during the time the crime occurred.
Note: After a hearing in Federal Court to resolve the dispute between me and my alibi witnesses and our sworn contention that we had provided counsel with our alibi; against counsel;s sworn affidavits that we had not; the district court found my alibi witnesses to be credible and that they had provided counsel with an account of my whereabouts and made themselves available to testify. Counsel ultimately admitted that he was aware of the alibi, but ended up giving an explanation that, as will be shown, is refuted by the record.
I also have a ballistics report that was previously suppressed by the prosecutor, which essentially proves my innocence and proves that the State knowingly allowed false testimony from four separate witnesses; including the co-defendant, concerning the caliber of weapon that was used to kill the victim.
The co-defendant in my case, who turned States evidence, but who denied doing so pursuant to any deal in exchange for his testimony; testified that I kept a 9mm and a .357 at his fiances' house and that he saw me retrieve this 9mm and shoot the deceased. The ballistics report that was suppressed by the prosecutor states, conclusively that the deceased was shot with a .380 auto caliber weapon. The co-defendant, a pathologist, a CSI and a detective all testified concerning this 9mm.
Counsel, of course, has admitted that he did not investigate the ballistics evidence and even states that the State never disclosed the report. For some reason, the Courts won't review this claim. They say it is not specific.
You view my pleadings and be the judge for yourself. By the way, the co-defendants testimony that he did not have a deal, well, it was false, too. I have a copy of the deal. It was in his court files, placed there after my trial ended, when he was set free - all charges dismissed. Counsel never looked! So, I'm convicted on false testimony by a compromised witness who testified that he saw me kill the victim with a 9mm, while I have proof that he lied about his deal and proof that the victim was killed with a .380 auto.
A caveat, though must be entered here, because death by gunshot is not the only cause of death in this case. The first autopsy conducted concluded that the cause of death was asphyxiation. However, neither this doctor nor his autopsy was presented at my trial. I was able to contact this doctor post-trial, after finding him in Beaumont, Texas. According to an email he sent, gunshot is not the cause of death. He states that he told the prosecutor this and in his words,"My trial counsel should have saw the game being played and not allowed it." Now this takes us to the second autopsy, 21 months later, that found gunshot as the cause of death.
According to the second doctor, gunshot is the cause of death. After this second autopsy was completed on January 5, 2001 and received by the prosecutor on January 10, 2001; the co-defendant on January 13, 2001 gave his fourth conflicting statement. More importantly, this was the first statement where he ever mentioned a gun or gunshot. To date, I still don't know where the facts came from that the prosecutor relied on to exhume the deceased body to change the cause of death.
At first, the prosecutor said that the information had come from the co-defendant. But, the co-defendant denied this at trial. Instead, the co-defendant testified that he had no contact with the prosecutor from the time of his initial interrogation on March 28, 1999, which he escaped from and was not found until 6 months later, until the date he gave the statement on January 13, 2001.
When the co-defendant denied providing this information, I later filed a claim of prosecutorial misconduct for providing false information in his pleadings to get the body exhumed and requested disclosure of the identity of the source of the information. The prosecutor responded by pleading in their brief that investigators had gotten the information "from the street" and further said that they did not disclose where it had come from and did not have to. The courts have denied my every attempt to find out the source of this information that came "from the street".
My jury was just as perplexed then as I am now, as they stopped their deliberations on the first day to ask the court two questions: 1. Where did the information of gunshot come from? 2. Can we view the original and second autopsy reports?
The Judge answered the first question by saying that they would have to decide that from the evidence and as to the second question, the Judge explained that they could view only the evidence submitted during the trial. The jury was not able to view either autopsy report because neither on was submitted by my lawyer or the state !!
Thus, the jury only heard from one pathologist, the second one and never saw either report. Of course my lawyer has admitted that he never investigated, interviewed or subpoenaed the doctor who conducted the original autopsy.
By now you have probably ascertained that my lawyer was incompetent and are wondering what could possibly be preventing me from getting relief. Especially, since there is no evidence of any kind connecting me to this crime and the only supposed witness is the co-defendant. Well, I will explain the problem..........POLITICS. How so you ask?
My trial lawyer is now a U.S. Congressman Artur G. Davis, 7th Congressional District of Alabama. So, imagine the obstacles this presents..........thus the fact that he first denied, under oath, that I ever provided him with my alibi witnesses and evidence in State court, then admitted, under oath, in Federal court that I had - this is called perjury!
and the fact that he admitted (then denied) that he never investigated any defense for my trial, bears no consequence when the only party being damaged is an indigent litigant with no legal assistance. Furthermore, the court has even said that counsel "could not have" investigated his alleged defense before trial. This means that I didn't have any defense.
For those of you who do not know, Congressman Davis first ran for office in 2000. Needless to say, the money I paid to retain his services for my defense was spent to support his unsuccessful first campaign. According, to Mr. Davis, this was "his money for retention purposes only". I found this out during trial, when I saw that I didn't have a single witness not even the first pathologist. So, by time my trial began on January 2001, my funds had already been spent on a losing cause - his campaign: Davis for 2000! (I guess you can say I lost twice.)
As you can see, the problems I am facing in my case are manifold, yet you have not seen them all. Other issues, ranging from a witness getting caught lying when he too just like the co-defendant, falsely denied having a deal with the State in exchange for his testimony. A witness testifying that she saw me on Thursday, April 22, 1999, at the crime scene moving a large object around 3:00 P.M., where the State says that the day was Friday March 26, 1999.
As to this witness, the State did not disclose her identity or address prior to trial. Therefore, my family subsequently was able to retain a private investigator who sent to the then residence of this witness and took pictures and measurements. We discovered, amazingly that this witness lived on an entirely different street from the crime scene, over 175 feet away and whose house is blocked from the view of the crime scene by two trees, each over 30 feet tall. (I will include photos) The court says that I haven't proved that these two trees were blocking her view on March 26, 1999 - even though she says it was April 22, 1999, three days after I had turned myself in.
As I've stated..........I AM INNOCENT. I NEED A LAWYER! day 3,214..........and counting.
PLEASE SEND ANY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS OR REQUESTS TO:
MELVIN RAY
#163343, M-35
3700 HOLMAN UNIT,
ATMORE, AL 36503
