June 3, 2004
Hi Everyone,
For many of you receiving this update it may be your first time. I have decided to spread this message across to more of my family members and friends. To those of you new on this list "If these email messages and updates are not in harmony with your thinking at this time please let me know, and I'll remove your name from this list." If you're interested in learning more about Michael's wrongful conviction I encourage you to visit his web site at http://www.freemichaelnow.com/Index.html. To review any of the past Group Email Updates I have sent out visit http://www.freemichaelnow.com/email_updates.html.
I want to thank all of you for visiting Michael's site. We just went over the 2000 mark meaning over 2000 people to date have visited Michael's site. I just went out to the site a couple of days ago and the count was less than 1900. So in the past couple of days there has been a lot of activity on his site. I don't know what's cause it but I'm grateful and thank all of you who have visited Michael's site. I encourage those that haven't signed Michael's Guest Book and to those of you receiving this message for the first time please sign his Guest Book. You may do so by visiting http://www.freemichaelnow.com/Guest_Book.html. Only 15 more entries and we'll reach 100. Thanks to all of you that have signed Michael's Guest Book. Also Michael always appreciates your cards and letters. You may contact Michael by visiting http://www.freemichaelnow.com/send_letter.html. Michael answers all letters and cards.
I would like to reach out for your help. Michael requires money to live in prison. I know that may seem like a surprise but prisoners receive the bare bone necessities while they are incarcerated. Those of you that can contribute, and it doesn't have to be much ($10.00 or whatever you can afford), please do so. The prison only accepts money orders. So please make your money order out to Michael O'Laughlin W80371 and send it to the address in http://www.freemichaelnow.com/send_letter.html. Thanks very much.
Yesterday I visited with Michael at the prison. The visit was wonderful and really touched my heart. Sadly this is not always the case. Sometimes I feel Michael needs to be more patient and let the process of freeing him from his wrongful conviction take it's course. But then I realize that's easy for me to say because I'm not spending 35-50 years in prison for a crime I did not commit. When I leave the prison I'm free to go back to the wonderful life God has blessed me with. Michael does not have that freedom, it has been taken away from him and wrongfully so. He has to go back to a tiny cell where he's locked down at least 21 hours a day, eats food that sometimes is not fit for a dog, and is subject to humiliation by guards and prison officials. So the lesson for me is that until I walk in someone else's shoes I don't really understand what they are going through.
That is why I have been corresponding with Scott Hornoff so I can try and better understand what Michael goes through. Some of you may have seen Scott's story on NBC Dateline a few months ago. Scott was a Rhode Island police officer that was wrongfully convicted of a murder. After spending six years in prison the person that actually committed the crime came forward and admitted to the crime. But even with that admission the authorities did not want to release Scott. They did not want to release him because they did not want to admit they made a mistake. Scott was finally released and a Superior Court Judge ordered the city in Rhode Island where Scott was a police officer to reinstate him and to give him all the back pay due him. Not surprisingly the city is appealing the judge's order. To this day the Attorney General of Rhode Island and the head of the Rhode Island State Police have not given Scott an apology. Their explanation is they felt they did their job the best they could. Scott has really grown through this experience and is reaching out to others that have been wrongfully convicted. Scott has agreed to correspond with Michael, and I feel this is wonderful because Scott can really understand what Michael is going through. I cannot because thankfully I've never experienced it. Scott has. I guess you can say Scott has been there and done that.
Michael also was telling me about a fellow inmate that has been in prison for twenty-eight years for a crime he has not committed. Everytime he gets close to being freed something gets in the way and he continues to spend time in prison. One year ago this would be inconceivable for me to understand or believe. I didn't know about wrongful convictions and probably didn't take them too serious. After all it didn't affect me. I felt the police would rarely if ever make these type of mistakes. Well, the police do make mistakes. The prosecutors and judges make mistakes and send people to prison for crimes they did not commit. Statistics state that approximately 5% of people in prison don't belong there because they didn't commit the crime they were accused of. And the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is right up there leading the nation in wrongful convictions. Recently the local Fox News Channel and the Boston Herald did a one week report on Wrongful convictions in the Boston area. It was a real eye opener. It seem like every day a wrongful convicted prisoner is released from prison. Yet it's not easy. Turning a conviction around is very, very difficult. Even when the evidence clearly points to that person's innocence. Why is that? It's because the police and prosecutors don't want to and/or can't admit they made a mistake. They'd rather let someone spend years and years in prison for a crime they didn't commit then admit their mistake. It takes a big person to admit a mistake and say I was wrong. In defense of the police and prosecutors they do get it right most of the time (probably greater then 95%), but for those poor people that have been wrongfully convicted it is an uphill battle. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has proposed the formation of an Innocence Commission to review wrongfully convicted cases. The 21 District Attorneys of the commonwealth have come forward and stated there is no need for an Innocence Commission because they feel that as a group they can monitor wrongful convictions and put a stop to them. The very people that have wrongfully convicted the innocent now want to get to the bottom of it and prevent if from happening in the future. I don't want to be pessimistic but it sounds like the story of the fox guarding the hen house.
Even with an outstanding Brief written by Michael's lawyer and the New England Innocence Project becoming involved with Michael's case it's still an uphill battle. Michael understands all this, far better then me, and for that very reason is why he sometimes becomes depressed. He's very grateful for all your support and prayers, but also realizes the battle he faces. In the past I've told Michael "You're here for a reason" or "God has a plan for you" or "This is a lesson for you to learn." This may be sound spiritual guidance but it falls on deaf ears when in you're in a situation like Michael is in. I think I'll try and be more selective in the guidance I give Michael in the future.
In closing I want to say that Michael is very grateful to The New England Innocence Project for agreeing to review his case. I to am grateful and am hopeful that something positive will come out of their effort. I am also grateful for the job Michael's lawyer has done with his Brief. I continue to pray and thank all of you for your support and prayers.
My very best to all of you,
Dick
P.S. "If these email messages and updates are not in harmony with your thinking at this time please let me know, and I'll remove your name from this list."
