CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Data from the National Registry of Exonerations reveals Black people are more likely to be wrongfully incarcerated for crimes they did not commit than any other group in America. According to the registry’s researchers, Black people are just over 13 percent of the U.S. population, but are 53 percent of the roughly 3,200 exonerations since 1989. And when the News 3 team of investigators analyzed the registry’s numbers for Virginia, the database showed that of the 64 people exonerated in Virginia since 1989, half of them were Black men.
Related: Data shows Black men receive harsher punishments than whites for same crimes
“Clearly, you can see that during our particular time of incarceration, something was wrong with the justice system,” said Rojai Fentress, a client of the University of Virginia Innocence Project. Fentress spent 24 years in prison for a 1996 murder in Richmond. He was freed in 2020 when former governor Ralph Northam granted a conditional pardon, citing evidence that detective used an intoxicated woman’s unreliable testimony to convict Fentress.
“Seek justice, not convictions,” said Darnell Phillips, who was freed on parole in 2018 after spending nearly 28 years in prison for the rape of a Virginia Beach girl in 1990. However, UVA Innocence Project attorneys learned the DNA evidence from the crime scene match someone else, and Virginia Beach detectives lied to the young victim about the weight of evidence against Phillips. She now supports his exoneration.
“Don't hide from the facts that exist, because you could be doing another individual like me, locking them away, throwing them away, putting the key away, thinking that he'll never walk free,” Phillips said.
Related: Virginia does not compensate innocent people who plead guilty under duress
“I fought for my freedom since day one, since the day he put the handcuffs on,” said Messiah Johnson, who spent 21 years in prison for robbery in Norfolk before being freed by former governor Terry McAuliffe in 2018 with a conditional pardon, also citing evidence pointing to Johnson’s innocence following investigations by attorneys with the UVA Innocence Project.
Related: Norfolk man with "credible evidence of innocence" seeks exoneration
Each of the men, who shared their stories during conversation with Investigator Jessica Larche at the UVA Innocence Project, was convicted in Virginia in the 1990s, when incarceration rates began to soar nationwide.
“This is a problem that needs to be addressed,” Fentress said.
The UVA Innocence Project estimates between 40,000 and 230,000 prisoners in America are actually innocent. The National Registry of Exonerations points to mistaken witness identification – which is more likely to happen with to black defendants – misconduct by police and prosecutors, and false or misleading evidence as the leading factors in wrongful incarceration. Additionally, the Sentencing Project also found inherent biases from police, prosecutors and judges can influence arrests, convictions, and sentences.
“I just want to live!” said Fentress, who is awaiting exoneration. So are Phillips and Johnson, despite overwhelming evidence of their innocence.
Governor Glenn Youngkin has until the end of his term to decide if he’ll use his power to grant the men an absolute pardon, which would exonerate them and make them eligible for compensation from the state for the time they spent in prison for crimes they did not commit.
Related: Virginia’s compensation for the wrongfully incarcerated falls behind national average
“I’ve just been waiting for someone to do the right thing,” said Phillips, who still has to register as a sex offender because courts have failed to exonerate him despite the mountain of evidence clearing him of the crime. “All I want is for that last shackle on me to be broken off.”
Phillips continued, “We're [all] going to stand before God. My conscience is clear.”
