New Evidence Proves Gross Prosecutorial Misconduct—
The Only Trial Evidence Was Lies Manufactured By The DA & COPS!
Dismiss the Charges!
Free Major Tillery Now!
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June 15, 2016: Family and friends outside courthouse.
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Philadelphia, June 15, 2016: Major Tillery filed a new Post-Conviction Relief Act (PCRA petition) in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. His newly discovered evidence is the sworn declarations of the two jailhouse informants who testified at Tillery’s trial in May 1985: their testimony was lies made up by the prosecutors and police.
Major Tillery has always stated his innocence. He’s been in prison for over 30 years, twenty of them in solitary confinement, for crimes he did not commit.
There was no evidence against Major Tillery for the 1976 poolroom shootings that left one man dead and another wounded—except for these informant’s false testimony. The surviving victim gave a statement to homicide detectives saying the shooters were “Dave” and “Rickie.” Major Tillery was not a suspect.
Jailhouse snitch Emanuel Claitt had over thirty criminal charges pending against him when homicide detectives coerced him to provide evidence against at least five men for murders thought to be related to drug dealing. In May 1980 Claitt gave a statement making Major Tillery and William Franklin the poolroom shooters. Claitt wasn’t at the scene of the shooting. He had no direct information about it! Everything he testified to was given to him by the prosecution and the cops.
In return for his lying testimony about Major Tillery, most of Claitt’s charges were dismissed and his numerous sentences resulted in just a year and a half in jail.
Additionally, while Claitt was in custody the police arranged for him to have sexual trysts with his girlfriends in homicide police interview rooms.
The other false witness at Tillery’s 1985 trial was Robert Mickens, who has provided a similar history of being coerced to lie against Major Tillery and given plea deals and sexual favors in return.
Based on these new sworn declarations, Tillery's petition states that he is factually innocent, that his case involves “gross prosecutorial misconduct violating the fundamentals of due process” and his conviction is a “fundamental miscarriage of justice that shocks the conscience”. The due process violations in this case warrant not a reversal of this conviction and a new trial, but dismissal of the charges and his immediate freedom from prison.
This case is a particularly grotesque example of the corruption and misconduct of the Philadelphia district attorney’s office under Edward Rendell and carried out by Assistant DAs Barbara Christie and Roger King, and Leonard Ross.
Tillery's trial took place at the same time as the firebombing of the MOVE Osage Avenue commune on May 13, 1985. During the trial, the prosecution worked to demonize Tillery by repeatedly bringing into evidence that he was a high-ranking official in the Nation of Islam.
Major Tillery is now 65 years old, and has spent over thirty years in prison for a crime he did not commit, mostly in solitary confinement in max prisons. He has liver problems, arthritis and rheumatism, back problems, a skin rash and Hepatitis C. From prison, he filed and won the lawsuit, Tillery v. Owens (1990), which forced the PA Department of Corrections to provide mental health and medical care and end double celling (4 men to a small cell) at SCI Pittsburgh. Last year stood up for Mumia Abu-Jamal and told SCI Mahanoy prison Superintendent John Kerestes that “Mumia is dying” and needed to be taken to a hospital. For this, prison officials retaliated against Tillery and he was shipped to SCI Frackville, set up for a prison violation and spent months in solitary confinement.
Major Tillery is an innocent man. He needs your help to overturn his conviction, expose the prosecutors and police who framed him up, and win his freedom. For over thirty years in prison, Major Tillery has fought for himself and other prisoners. He is fighting now for his freedom. To do this he needs your help--
Publicity, Protest and Money!
To get this new PCRA filed and into court has cost money. Much more is needed to complete the investigation to further expose the corruption of the prosecution and police that led to his conviction. He needs lawyers to make sure this case is not ignored. Please help, now.
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HOW YOU CAN HELP
Financial Support—Tillery's investigation is ongoing, to get this case filed has been costly and he needs funds for a legal team to fight this to his freedom!
Go to JPay.com;
code: Major Tillery AM9786 PADOC
Tell Philadelphia District Attorney
Seth Williams:
Free Major Tillery! He is an innocent man, framed by police and and prosecution.
Call: 215-686-8711 or
Email: DA_Central@phila.gov
Write to:
Major Tillery AM 9786
SCI Frackville
1111 Altamont Blvd.
Frackville, PA 17931
For More Information, Go To: Justice4MajorTillery/blogspot
Call/Write:
Kamilah Iddeen (717) 379-9009, Kamilah29@yahoo.com
Nancy Lockhart (843) 412-2035, thewrongfulconviction@gmail.com
Rachel Wolkenstein, Esq. (917) 689-4009, RachelWolkenstein@gmail.com
