We decided to investigate this and, really, that’s how it all came together. They went out and did all the field work. “Abra Potkin (who was at Lincoln Square at the time) and Vanessa Potkin (at the Innocence Project) also were involved as were Christine and Lee (for XCON). We started getting involved in unscripted two years ago and this came up with Lincoln Square and they thought it might be a fit for us,” said Tennon. “Viola and I are very interested in social justice. Tennon said the show came together through a number of people, including Lincoln Square, the news division of ABC. Julius jones update tv#The executive producers on The Last Defense are Academy Award winner Davis ( Fences), Tennon and TV development and production head Andrew Wang via JuVee Productions Christine Connor and Lee Beckett for XCON Productions Vanessa Potkin, Aida Leisenring and Morgan Hertzan for Lincoln Square Productions. We have to keep shining a light, shining a light.” There are cracks in the system and people fall through it all the time and it happens way to often. “If there is any glimmer that someone on death row could be innocent, we really need to dig in. “JuVee has started to receive letters from people on death row proclaiming their innocence, and I wish we could investigate every one of them, but I’d be an old man with a beard by that time,” Tennon, JuVee’s President of Production and Development, told Deadline. The show has also prompted a flurry of letters from other inmates sitting on death row to the production offices of Academy Award winning actress Viola Davis and her husband Julius Tennon’s company JuVee Productions (one of the exec producers on The Last Defense). Said Baish: “A number of prisoners, most are on death row, who are claiming innocence have also reached out to us about their cases and asked how they could get The Last Defense to also look at their individual cases.” It’s inconceivable that we somehow managed to keep all of them from being executed, but we can’t say how many.”Īnd how many people on death row today may be innocent of their crime? Said Gross: “We don’t know that number either, but judging from the overall rate of innocence among defendants sentenced to death that we found in our 2014 study, it has to be at least dozens and could be a hundred or more.” Hundreds of innocent people were sentenced to death in that period. Gross told Deadline that Jones would have been one of those inmates included in the study.Īsked how many innocent people were put to death during the time examined in the study, Gross told Deadline: “We don’t know that number. The lead author of that study is Samuel Gross, Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Michigan and Senior Editor of the National Registry of Exonerations. The study - which no one has ever disputed - examined the estimated rate of innocence. How frequently do innocent people get executed? A study conducted from 1973 to 2004 and released in 2014 estimated that 4.1% of those on death row in this country are most likely innocent. Jones has been sitting on death row now for 19 years and is 38 years old. The second is the case of Jones, 19 at the time of the murder of the Edmond, OK businessman. The first was a mother accused of murdering her children in Rowlett, Texas. In its first season, The Last Defense has taken another look at two cases of inmates sitting on death row who may not have committed the murders they were charged with. Powell, that could also make an impact on the 1999 case. If Jones’ DNA is not on the red bandana worn by the shooter of Mr. In addition, the lawyers are also in the process of testing for DNA on a red bandana which is a key piece of evidence that was used against Jones. “If it finds merit in this issue, the Court could do one of three things - one, it could find that Julius’ constitutional rights were violated and he is entitled to a new trial, it could say that an evidentiary hearing is needed or it could dismiss it.” We asked the Court to reconsider that decision and it is now looking at the merits of that issue,” said Baich. “During our investigation, we learned the juror used the N-word and we asked court of criminal appeals to look at that issue. “What The Last Defense did was bring the issue of racism in the criminal justice system to the forefront and also this case to national attention, and I think that people are paying attention to that,” said Dale Baich, one of Jones’ lawyers. While putting together the program on Julius Jones, one of the exec producers communicated with one of the jurors on that case who alleged another juror used the N-word in talking about the Jones’ case after the first break in the trial, saying, “Well, they should just take this n***** out back, shoot him and bury him under the jail.” It was something that the lawyers for Jones found in their investigation. Julius jones update series#Lauren Ash Joins New ABC Comedy Series 'Not Dead Yet'
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