Wrongfully Convicted Man Celebrates Year of Freedom

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Wrongfully Convicted Man Celebrates Year of Freedom

 

Public Affairs, 212-854-2650
 
NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2010—Nearly a year after he was exonerated for a crime he did not commit, Fernando Bermudez will speak at Columbia Law School about spending nearly 20 years as an innocent man in prison and what it has been like to regain freedom.
 
Bermudez will speak Thursday, 6:30 p.m. in Room 104 of Jerome Greene Hall, 435 West 116th St. He will mark the Nov. 12 anniversary of his release from prison in a case that was widely publicized as an example of how difficult it is to overturn convictions without DNA evidence.
 
“Getting the word out in terms of social awareness has become an important part of my life, Bermudez said.  “I want to prevent what happened to me from happening to anyone else.”

The event is being sponsored by the Civil Rights Law Society of Columbia Law School. Also scheduled to appear are:
 
  • Mary Ann Di Bari, Defense Attorney for  Bermudez
  • Edwin Grimsley, Case Analyst, Innocence Project
  • Richard Haddad, Litigation Associate, Proskauer Rose LLP 
In a case that prompted widespread attention to the issue of wrongful conviction, New York State Supreme Court Justice John Cataldo overturned Bermudez's 1991 conviction for the murder of Raymond Blount in Greenwich Village.
  
"I hope for you a much better future," Cataldo said after ruling in favor of Bermudez, who was released from Sing Sing prison last Nov. 20 at age 40, and returned to his wife, three children, family and friends, and a world far different from the world he had left.
 
Bermudez, who served 18 years of a 23-years-to-life sentence, was convicted after his photo was selected by witnesses, mostly teenagers, held in police custody for many hours. He denied being at the scene and had alibi witnesses who supported his account. He did not know anyone at the scene and nobody at the scene knew his name.
 
Cataldo found that one witness lied when he identified Bermudez, while others collectively viewed mug shots before they identified his picture. The witness who lied had faced possible charges himself.
 
All the witnesses who initially picked Bermudez's photo had long since recanted and said Bermudez was the wrong man, although he remained in jail long after. Witnesses said they had seen Bermudez seated in a lineup and only later saw him standing, realizing he was far taller than the shooter.
  
Since his release, Bermudez has spoken at schools and hearings regarding the issue of wrongful conviction and steps that can be taken to protect those who are innocent from being incarcerated.
 
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