Montez Spradley, sentenced to death by an Alabama judge in 2008 over a jury’s 10-2 recommendation for life without parole, was freed from prison on September 4. Spradley spent 9.5 years incarcerated, including 3.5 years on death row. He was granted a new trial in 2011 as a result of multiple evidentiary errors in his trial. The state’s key witness against Spradley, his ex-girlfriend, Alisha Booker, later testified that she had lied at trial because Spradley was cheating on her. “I just felt he was doing me wrong,” she said. Booker also testified that when she told law enforcement officials that she had lied, they told her that she faced jail time and having her children taken away from her if she did not stick to her original story. The defense has also alleged that Booker received $10,000 in reward money for her testimony. Spradley agreed to an Alford plea or “best interest” plea, in which a defendant does not admit guilt, but finds it in his best interest to plead guilty. Alabama is one of only three states that allows a judge to override a jury’s recommendation for life, and the only state where such a judicial override has been used in 16 years. In more than 90% of the overrides, judges overruled life verdicts to impose a death sentence, mostly against African-American defendants and disproportionately during judicial election years. Upon his release, Spradley said, “It was horrible, horrible to be on death row for a crime I didn’t do. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I can’t make up for the years I’ve missed, but I’m so glad to be alive so I can be there for my children.”

(K. Faulk, “Alabama man who once spent time on death row: ‘I’m so glad to be alive’,” AL.com, September 10, 2015.) See Released from Death Row (Partial Innocence) and Judge/Jury. (UPDATE: The Washington Post has published a detailed colum about the Spradley case. R. Balko, The outrageous conviction of Montez Spradley, The Washington Post, September 21, 2015.)

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