Sep 30 2009
James Woodard Receives Pardon from Texas Governor
After spending more than 27 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit, James Woodard has finally received a pardon from Texas Governor Rick Perry. That event officially makes Woodard the 39th man exonerated by DNA evidence in Texas.
Upon learning that the Governor formally cleared his name, Mr. Woodard said: “I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the individuals who helped me gain my freedom. Also, I wish to extend a personal thank you to Governor Perry for signing my pardon. He is a warm and sincere person.” According to Innocence Project of Texas Chief Counsel, Jeff Blackburn, “This is not just a great day for James Woodard, it’s a great day for Texas justice. It shows that Governor Perry can and will do the right thing when the situation requires it.“
Woodard became a free man in April 2008, when his murder conviction was reversed in a Dallas County courtroom after DNA proved he was innocent of the crime. More than a year later, James Woodard has received the pardon he waited for nearly three decades.
Mr. Woodard was represented by IPOT Chief Counsel Jeff Blackburn and Jason Partney on his pardon application. As a result of the Governor granting the pardon, Woodard is now eligible to receive compensation from the state under the Timothy Cole Compensation Act. That Act is named after IPOT Exoneree, Timothy Cole, who spent approximately 13 years in prison for a sexual assault he did not commit and later became the first person posthumously exonerated by DNA evidence in Texas.
I am almost sure there were some kind of reasonable doubt indicators in these types of cases that were ignored by the people that could have made a difference in these almost totally destroyed human lives. May God judge the people that made and make their careers off of the lives of people they knowingly have a sent to jail/hell and destroyed these families of innocent peoples lives because of what they may think and not what they know (police to investigators to procecutors to judges). Those folks that are willing to gang up on a person and make a lie the truth to destroy because of their low life personal..beliefs and not on the “TRUE” facts and doubts that they have to be aware of but continue to destroy anyway. I know there was truth to be found but those snakes in the process of destroying anothers’ life for their “own” personal satisfaction, should be put to the same hell they and their organized conspiracy committed in the name of the people of the state or federal goverment they claimed to represent. Let them be judged and sent where they belong (Hell).