It was 1984 when Willie Stokes was convicted of murdering a man during a dice game in Philadelphia. But Stokes, now 61, has just walked free from a life sentence. Why?
Police offered trial witness Franklin Lee sex, drugs, and a lighter sentence for his own criminal charges, as long as he said Stokes was the murderer so they could close the case! During the trial, Lee withdrew his story. But Stokes still went to prison, and Lee was convicted with perjury only days later.
Even though Lee went to prison over false evidence prosecutors used to win Stokes’ case, it took 31 years for Stokes to have this critical exonerating information – and seven more years until he was actually released.
But Stokes isn’t alone.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, “At least five other men remain incarcerated on cases fraught with ‘sex for lies’ allegations.”
“The cases needed to be closed,” said Stokes’ lawyer. “The inner-city minority were interchangeable, as long as you had someone in the defendant’s chair.”
From detectives trading sex for anti-Black arrests to prosecutors working the system to win cases, it's clear that the criminal legal system is not designed to fight for justice. Even after uncovering the lies, they would’ve let Stokes, or any of us, sit in prison forever.