About 40 years ago, eight men — all either teenagers or in their early 20s at the time — were convicted of murdering 49-year-old Catherine Fuller in an alley off 8th and H streets in Northeast D.C.
On Oct. 1, 1984, Fuller, a wife and mother of six, had cut through the alley on her way to a store when she was attacked, sexually assaulted, beaten and left to die in the alley only two blocks away from her home.
The eight men could have avoided a significant portion of their prison time if they had taken a deal admitting they murdered and sexually assaulted Fuller. That could end up making things difficult, as six of the convicted men who are still alive are now hoping President Joe Biden will be convinced by the evidence that suggests they are innocent and pardon them in the last few weeks of his administration.
Typically, the final weeks of a president’s term is when most pardons are granted. For D.C. residents, the only way to get a pardon is from the president, since there’s no governor to step in and issue one.
But everyone involved admits it’s a long shot.
Pardons not usually granted for those claiming innocence
“This case has some pretty serious uphill battles,” said Shawn Armbrust, the executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, which has helped apply for the pardon. “Typically, pardons in the federal government — presidential pardons — aren’t for cases where people are claiming innocence.”
One of the men she’s helping is Chris Turner.
“My argument is that I am actually innocent,” Turner said. “I spent 26 years in prison for a crime I did not commit, had no involvement with, no knowledge of.”
In the years since his conviction and the 26 years he spent in prison, advocates and attorneys have said that evidence was withheld that would have impacted the outcome of his trial — and cleared the names of Russell Overton, Timothy Catlett, Charles Turner, Cliff Yarborough, and Levy Rouse. However, the Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that the evidence withheld by prosecutors wouldn’t have changed the outcome of their trials.
But Armbrust is hopeful that the president and the Department of Justice will see it differently, and grant a rare pardon to the group of men who are adamant they’re innocent.
“You’re not supposed to be claiming innocence in a pardon,” she said.
Instead, the application is more of a narrative of your post-prison life and what makes you stand out as being worthy of being pardoned. The applications do include all of that, alongside the evidence she said supports their claims of innocence.
“There’s this misconception that everybody claims they’re innocent, and that’s not true,” Armbrust said. “There are penalties at every phase of the process for people who claim innocence. So if you plead guilty, you get a lesser sentence.”
“When you’re seeking clemency, you’re penalized for claiming innocence,” she added. “So I think even though people kind of roll their eyes and say everybody convicted of a crime says they’re innocent, that is inaccurate, because it’s, frankly, just illogical for people to claim innocence because of the way the system works and most people end up admitting it.”
How pardons could change these men’s lives
For nearly 40 years, these men have maintained that they did not commit the crime.
“We’re still active in our community today, and I think a pardon would speak volumes about how far along we’ve came,” Turner said. “It also will, I think, inspire others to feel like, no matter what their situation and circumstances, that they can actually overcome.”
It would also provide him incredible peace of mind, which he’s been searching for since his conviction in 1985.
“A pardon would impact me significantly in a number of areas, including work-related matters. I could get a better job than what I actually have. I could maybe come close to getting paid my worth,” said Turner.
“People still look at the charge 40 years ago and it’s held against us. It’s held against us in our work performance. There are certain places that we cannot live because of a criminal record. There are countries we can’t go to because there’s a criminal record still against our names that shouldn’t be there,” he added.
And, he said, their convictions mean justice still eludes everyone involved.
“There is injustice for Mrs. Fuller’s family. There’s injustice for this community,” he said.
Waiting for Biden to act, plus next steps
For now, Turner, his attorneys with the firm Williams and Connolly and everyone else involved can only wait.
A podcast titled The Alley continues to be updated with more information about their case, as does a website devoted to their cause — which includes a link to all of the court records and the pardon application.
“We think it’s a pretty strong case, and we also think it’s a really huge stain on D.C. that this injustice was allowed to happen and that it’s never been corrected,” Armbrust said. “And so we hope the president’s going to take that step and undo — clean up that stain.”
If President Biden doesn’t come through for them, the fight to clear their names won’t end. The lawyers working with the six petitioners are willing to continue to plead their case to the Trump administration, too.
But again, since most pardons come at the end of presidential terms, this might be their best opportunity.
“We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t have some hope that it could get on the radar of the people who need to see it,” she said. “But it’s a long shot. And we’ve got to do everything we can in the next two months to push and push and push to make sure it gets there.”
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