What was dewey bozella accused of

My faith in the law system was horrible. It still is. I had tears coming out of my eyes. Finally, finally, finally. At the age of just turning 23 to 24 to the age of 50 years old. I got this verdict overturned. And that was the first time that I felt that justice was done.

Tell everyone sort of what that experience was like to fight for compensation and to live as a free man for the first time in 26 years without any compensation or protection from the government. Bozella: I never went back to pick up my forty dollars of bus ticket money, whatever I have in there they can have it, I never went back. Me, I had none of them rights. I was completely on my own. Friedman: You talked about the struggle when you first got out of prison, just adjusting to a lot of resources you could draw on personally, your education and some of the support that you had and your personal resilience.

Can you talk a little bit about adjusting to that. Bozella: Well, first and foremost, I want to explain the coincidence that happened to me when I was learning how to drive and I finally got to pass the test, and I made to what we call the Poughkeepsie Galleria.

I parked the car and I went inside and when I went I got something to eat and it was Chinese food and I picked it up and then I went and I sat with my back up against the wall, and when I sat with my back up against the wall, I finally got hit with reality. Bozella: Boxing helped me understand moral obligation, responsibility and discipline. Bozella: Completely take control of your life. Your message is powerful and inspiring, and so we thank you for joining us on our podcast at WilmerHale to continue to spread that message and to continue to highlight the injustices that caused your wrongful incarceration and that unfortunately still require our attention and effort today.

And also I want to thank Shauna for joining us. Dewey, you are truly an inspiration and your courage has inspired me and everybody that you meet, so thank you.

Walsh: Thank you so much, Dewey, Ross and Shauna. We continue to be inspired by this story, and appreciate you sharing it with us and our listeners. Thank you, everyone, as well for joining us on this episode of In the Public Interest. If you enjoyed this podcast, please take a minute to share it with a friend, and subscribe, rate and review us wherever you get your podcast.

I hope you will join us for our next episode. See you then. Unless you are an existing client, before communicating with WilmerHale by e-mail or otherwise , please read the Disclaimer referenced by this link. The Disclaimer is also accessible from the opening of this website. As noted therein, until you have received from us a written statement that we represent you in a particular manner an "engagement letter" you should not send to us any confidential information about any such matter.

After we have undertaken representation of you concerning a matter, you will be our client, and we may thereafter exchange confidential information freely. Ross E. Subscribe to podcast. John F. Brendan R. Notice Unless you are an existing client, before communicating with WilmerHale by e-mail or otherwise , please read the Disclaimer referenced by this link.

Thank you for your interest in WilmerHale. Across all those years behind bars, Bozella had every reason to lose hope, every excuse to give up. Four times he could have walked out of New York 's notorious Sing Sing prison a free man - if only he would have admitted to the crime. Each time he refused, maintaining his innocence. In October , Bozella was formally cleared and released from prison.

Boxer Bernard Hopkins heard Bozella's story, and offered him the chance to fight on the undercard of his championship bout against Chad Dawson at the Staples Center Saturday night. This is not a charity case," Hopkins told the Los Angeles Times this week. Born in Brooklyn, N. One brother later was stabbed and killed. And another bother was shot in the head. He moved to upstate Poughkeepsie, N. But trouble soon came knocking.

In both of Bozella's trials, "it was close enough" that any small thing could have made a difference. Crapser, who was unmarried and didn't have children, owned the two-family brick home she lived in, residing on the first floor. She rented the upstairs area. Crapser "lived a quiet life alone," the Journal reported in She spent the last night of her life, Tuesday, June 14, , playing bingo at Saint Joseph's Church.

A couple she was friendly with drove her home just before 11 p. Crapser's cousin discovered the elderly woman's apartment had been ransacked the next morning. She called police. Police found Crapser's body on her kitchen floor, according to trial transcripts. Her hands and legs were wrapped with electrical cords and "nylon-type" clotheslines. A T-shirt and a lady's slip were wrapped around her head.

She had been struck with a blunt object. A handkerchief, two cloth collars and a long, thin piece of crocheted lace had been stuffed down her throat, held in place with a chisel-like instrument with a wooden handle, according to trial transcripts. Crapser's autopsy revealed she had died of suffocation. Police believed that Crapser surprised burglars, who were already inside her apartment when she got home.

But it was hard to tell what, if anything, was stolen from her small apartment, which former police Chief Stewart Bowles said was clean, but packed with "boxes, paper, old pictures, newspapers and other memorabilia," according to Journal archives. She had rings on her fingers. Her television set was undisturbed. The City of Poughkeepsie was a "volatile" place in , Regula said. But Crapser's murder, "a horrendous crime," was still shocking to local residents "and we all put our best efforts forward to find out what happened.

That involved questioning local young men with criminal records who regularly hung out in Mansion Square Park, just blocks from Crapser's apartment, Steiman said. Among them were brothers Lamar and Stanley Smith.

When they were questioned, they told police they didn't know anything about the murder. But when Lamar Smith was arrested for an unrelated robbery soon after, he told police he saw Bozella and year-old Wayne Moseley on Crapser's front porch the night of the slaying, according to court transcripts. The two were "messing" with the front door, Lamar Smith told police. Stanley Smith corroborated his brother's account. Please avoid sharing any personal information in the comments below and join us in making this a hate-speech free and safe space for everyone.

Join our mailing list. Little evidence pointed to Mr. He did not fit the description provided to the police. And he Despite a challenging year, 20 vital policy reforms were passed across the U. Philip and Nathan Barnett were wrongly convicted for a murder in West Virginia. After 14 years, they have been exonerated by DNA.