NBC Action News Mark Clegg's Report Journey Toward Freedom

I would like to share a great story reported by my friend: Mark Clegg
NBC Action News
Journey to Freedom

Innocent until proven guilty – that is the foundation of the United States' justice system. But can you prove guilt when it doesn't exist?

Depending on how you look at him, Joe Amrine is a lucky guy. He is alive, but at 51 years old he is still serving time for a crime he didn't commit.

"Dying scares me now for real," Amrine said. "I spent all that time on death row."

Dennis Fritz, like Amrine, also spent years in prison for a murder he didn't commit.

"It was a roller coaster ride out of hell every day in that penitentiary," Fritz commented.

Despite nearly losing everything before being exonerated and finally released from prison, both men say they'll never be truly free.

"I have not found any peace," Amrine said. "Like I said, 26 years is a long time to be in prison."

Fritz added, "Every time a cop car would drive by or the telephone would ring and nobody would be on the phone, you know, I would be thinking they were coming after me again."

Burglary, forgery and robbery charges landed Amrine in prison in 1977. Several years into his 15-year sentence, someone murdered another inmate. Amrine got the blame. He was charged, convicted and sentenced to death. Multiple appeals were denied.

"So now, I'm facing the situation where I've got to come to grips with myself – you're going to get executed," Amrine recalled.

All for a crime he didn't commit.

Fritz was charged with the rape and murder of Debbie Sue Carter.

"I had never met her in my life," Fritz said.

He was sentenced to life in prison for a crime he had nothing do with.

Both men spent much of their lives behind bars. After being cleared by DNA evidence, they were released. One man stands free while the other is still imprisoned from within.

"A counselor came to my door and was hollering in through the door," Fritz said.

Amrine added, "So he says, 'You're leaving tomorrow.'"

"I actually just dropped to my knees and just thanked the Lord and was weeping and sobbing," Fritz said.

Amrine said, "I seen all the cameras and stuff and I said, 'Ah yeah, I'm gone.'"

NBC Action News cameras watched Amrine walk out of prison a free man on July 28, 2003. But the road back home has been anything but easy.

"Every day I wake up, I find a new problem," Amrine said of the years since his release. "And they all lead right back to being in prison."

From relationships to crowds; from paying bills to holding a job, it's a struggle for Amrine. He spends much of his time in solitude at his favorite park. And for a time, he fell back into drugs.

"During that I remember going to the park and just sitting there crying because my whole situation… it was just too much," he said.

Fritz lived in fear for two solid years after his release. It was only after the real killer was charged that he found any peace.

"And so in my mind, instead of doing 12 years, I did 14 years," he said.

Eight and a half years later he still has flashbacks.

"Out of the blue... actually, I can see something that will flash me back to a certain incident that happened in the penitentiary," Fritz said.

Fritz found a great deal of peace writing his story in the book Journey Toward Justice. He also worked with author John Grisham in telling the story of his and Ron Williamson's case. "The Innocent Man" became another Grisham best-seller.

"My mission right now, and probably for the rest of my life, is to help wrongfully convicted inmates out," he said.

It's a helping hand that can make a difference for someone like Amrine, who still struggles to find his way.

"I don't see how anybody could be in prison that long for something they didn't do and get out and actually experience the real feel of freedom," Amrine said.

According to the Innocence Project, which helped free Fritz, DNA has cleared 208 people nationwide and led to their release from prison.

Fritz sued and won compensation for the years he spent in prison. Amrine filed a similar lawsuit, but it was thrown out by the courts. He is appealing. The case is expected to come up in January.

But just because you have money doesn't mean all is good. The Oklahoma district attorney who convicted Fritz recently filed a lawsuit against Fritz and Grisham, claiming libel and slander.

Reported by: Mark Clegg
NBC Action News

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Comments can also be added on my blog, "Barbara's Journey Toward Justice" here

Dennis Fritz and Ron Williamson were exonerated and released in April 1999

From The Innocence Project

DENNIS FRITZ
Incident Year: 1982

Jurisdiction: OK

Charge: Murder

Conviction: 1st Degree Murder

Sentence: Life
Year of Conviction: 1988

Exoneration Year: 1999

Sentence Served: 11 Years

Real perpetrator found? Yes

Contributing Causes: Unreliable/Limited Science, False Confessions, Informants/Snitches

Compensation? Yes


Dennis Fritz, along with co-defendant Ron Williamson, was convicted in 1988, in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, of the murder of Debra Sue Carter. Her body had been found six years earlier. Fritz was sentenced to life in prison. Williamson was sent to death row.

The twenty-one year old victim had left her waitressing job and was found raped and murdered in her apartment the following day. Fritz and Williamson were known to frequent the establishment where the victim worked. The prosecution presented evidence that the victim had previously complained to a friend that they "made her nervous." Williamson had been seen at the restaurant the night of the murder without Fritz.

Fritz was not charged until five years later after the murder (delayed by state exhumation of victim after an incorrect analysis of finger prints at the scene was noted). An inmate that Fritz was paired with eventually came forward and stated that Fritz had confessed to the murder. This jailhouse snitch gave a two hour taped interview revealing what Fritz had allegedly confessed to him. This confession came one day before the prosecution would have been forced to drop the charges against Fritz. Another informant testified that she had heard Williamson threaten to harm his mother as he had the victim. Williamson was also seen at the bar the night of the murder, according to a witness named Glenn Gore. Additionally, police had statements from Williamson regarding a dream he had about the crime.

Forensic testing was performed on various items of evidence. Seventeen hairs were recovered and were "matched" to both Fritz and Williamson. The semen evidence suggested that the perpetrator(s) were non-secretors, as Fritz and Williamson are. Fritz could not remember his exact whereabouts during the day of the crime due to the amount of time, five years, that had passed.

Fritz's appeals were denied. He later contacted the Innocence Project for help. It was learned that the physical evidence was going to be tested due to appeals filed by Ron Williamson's lawyers. Fritz filed an injunction to make sure that the evidence would not be totally consumed until the cases were joined with regard to DNA testing.

DNA testing revealed that neither Fritz nor Williamson deposited the spermatozoa found in the victim. Further testing proved that none of the many hairs that were labeled "matches" belonged to them. The profile obtained from the semen evidence matched Glenn Gore, one of the state's witnesses at trial. Gore escaped from work release shortly after testing was concluded and was later apprehended.

Dennis Fritz and Ron Williamson were exonerated and released in April 1999. Williamson had, at one point, come within five days of execution. The two had been wrongfully incarcerated, respectively, for eleven years.

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