ME Part 1 of 4, (PEOPLE V. PERRIE THOMPSON) Page 1.

May 16, 2015

A lot has been said about me since my incarceration. Several inaccuracies and unfounded rumors. So I will take this opportunity to clear up and clarify a few things.

This is part 1 of 4, which will address my case and the criminal justice system.

There is a wide spread misconception that there was a substantial amount of evidence against me. Absolutely untrue! I am a causality of a failing criminal justice system. To say I did not receive a fair trial would be a gross understatement. My so called constitutional rights to a fair trial by due process appeared to be waived during my trial! My sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel was non-existent. These rights exist only on paper, because they certainly did not exist at my trial. Throughout America poor minorities are standing trial for very serious offenses with pre-paid overworked, overwhelmed Public Defenders, who often have no incentives to vigorously defend their often indigent client. I witnessed our criminal justice system up close and very personal. The perception that America is giving off to the outside world, as being this great fair democracy, is contrary to what's taking place in court rooms across our nation. Poor minorities such as myself, have no rights to a fair trial. If your indigent and going to trial with a public defender, your odds of being acquitted are slim to none. Quoting "Rapper Plies", "If you don't got a paid lawyer, then don't go to trial." I had no choice but to go on trial with a public defender. Who had nearly 20 other cases and who had just finished 3 trials, back to back to back, before representing me at trial. My public defender knew very little about me or my case. He only visited me one time before trial. He did not investigate...

Page 2.

...any of the evidence in my case. He did not interview any witnesses, did not visit the crime scene, nor did he investigate the credibility of the two witnesses used against me. He merely showed up to trial and said, "My client did not commit this crime." He failed to present any evidence or argument to support my defense.

My conviction was based on the testimony of a informant, who was a convicted felon, incarcerated during my trial, who told police I admitted murdering victim to him, which is a blatant lie. Their other witness was the victim's friend, who testimony changed every time he spoke. The state knew their case against me was very weak, so their strategy was to bury me with gang evidence, my trial was more about the gangs involved then it was about the actual crime. I was a admitted gangmember, so what the state did was show the jury a substantial amount of evidence about how horrible the gang was, which included evidence of several murders committed by the gang. Practically saying to jury, "If he didn't commit this crime, he's a part of this vicious gang so he's a threat to society." Considering the graphic nature of the gang evidence, it is very unlikely a law abiding juror is going to let a admitted gangmember walk after hearing for 2 weeks about how vicious of a gang he was a part of. So essentially I was convicted for being a admitted member of this gang. I believe once the state established I was a member of this gang, the jury had already decided I was guilty, no matter whether or not I committed this particular crime.

So these rumors about there being overwhelming evidence against me is truly inaccurate. Two witnesses is all they had against me. Two very inconsistent witnesses at that. I truly believe if I had private counsel I would have walked. I also heard there's a rumor about a video...

Page 3.

...that allegedly recorded me committing the crime. Again, that's also not true. There was a video in my case, however the video allegedly malfunctioned and only caught parts of the murder. The parts the camera did capture were very blurry, which even prompted the prosecution to admit at trial that the video was to blurry to identify any one. So all these rumors are just that, rumors! I was convicted because of prosecutional misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel and the gang evidence.

Finally on a lighter note, my appeal is looking very promising, my luck appears to be growing. So the fight for my freedom and justice will continue, stay prayed up!

Truly yours,
Perrie Thompson