I read this story over the weekend and am still sick over it! In a nutshell, this young Bronx man, David Clarke, spent the past four years in prison at Riker's Island for a murder that he didn't commit, and he spent the past four years desperately trying to prove that he was, indeed, innocent.
The unique thing about this story was that David was a National Honor Society Student, who was a sure bet for a full academic scholarship through college before his 2007 arrest. To prove his innocence, David would send these really well-written letters to endless recipients in hopes to be freed. Some of the letters would read: “I feel like I am trapped in a system that was designed to try to keep me in jail rather than find justice. I am not looking for sympathy from anyone, nor am I looking for any favors. All I want is a fair trial to prove that I am innocent.”
In March of this year, the clean-cut, soft-spoken 23-year-old, left his Riker's cell for a Bronx courtroom, where a jury of his peers needed only 20 minutes to acquit him after a monthlong trial. The jury felt so badly about Clarke's case that they didn't even break for lunch because they didn't want him to spend another minute in jail. The words "Not Guilty" rang through Clarke's ears for the next eight months until last week when he was gunned down and killed by an unknown gunman in front of his Bronx home.
That's right! The ex-murder suspect became a murder victim, in a 'penne-ante' neighborhood beef that was unrelated to the prior murder case. It turns out, David Clarke won a fist fight last week, and the loser vowed to come back with a gun for revenge. According to Clarke's friend, they thought that it was a joke since the kid was around 16 or 17, but he apparently came back five minutes later and started shooting. Clarke was shot in the neck and would bleed to death while the shooter fled and is still at large.
Clarke's mother and family were devastated as she cried, "Four years in Rikers, to come here and die in eight months? It's not even fair!" She's right! This was not fair! This kid had a bright future before the judicial system wrongfully accused him of murder. He was on track to make a good life for himself and his single mother, as an honor student who almost got a free ride through college. Clarke worked every day to help his mother pay her bills. When he was identified by witnesses as the one who stabbed 20-year-old, Jonathan Diaz, in February 2007, months after the slaying, Clarke would falsely admit to the murder, which he would claim was 'under duress'. The arrest would put his college dreams on hold. He was even forced to get his GED in jail, as opposed to receiving an actual high school diploma. His mother said that he was even searching for Universities online days before his untimely death.
This story just kills me because first of all, you never want to see someone die, but secondly, you never want to see someone die who is trying to make something of themselves. The person who took David's life should be found and tortured for taking this poor kid's life!
Read the full story here:
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