TWELVE+ YEARS BEHIND BARS FOR A CRIME HE DIDN'T COMMIT AND HIS POST CONVICTION RELIEF APPLICATION WAS DENIED BY THE DA AND THE COURT!!
We presented COMPELLING new evidence of several witnesses to the ACTUAL SHOOTER who confessed on his deathbed to the shooting in 2010!
The DA said "it's easy to pin the shooting on someone who's dead..." And the DA states that none of this evidence is new and "could have been uncovered with DUE DILIGENCE back in 2010"
But the fact is that this confession was made by the actual shooter in January 2017, but didn't get to Channen's family until almost TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATER. It wasn't until mid 2019 when the shooter's family finally connected with Channen's sister on FB to say "we have information that could exonerate your brother"...
So someone please enlighten me
1. How could Channen or his family have known who actually pulled the trigger? Channen wasn't involved in the gang OR the shooting and wasn't even in Tulsa at the time of the crime!
2. How could "due diligence" have predicted that the shooter was going to die of brain cancer in 2017 and confess to the shooting to clear his conscience that an innocent man was sitting in prison??
The DA simply regurgitated a bunch of weak testimony from the trial by 2 incredibly UNRELIABLE witnesses, both known liars, felons and suspected informants!
And the judge did not even give Channen's attorney the chance to respond to these ridiculous points by the DA before she DENIED him the chance for a new evidentiary hearing!
Where is the accountability? Where is the oversight?? How about Oklahoma institute some Conviction Integrity Units to ensure that these prosecutors and detectives got it right? Because in this case (and many others)...THEY DIDN'T!
Well, we are not giving up, Oklahoma! Don't think for a minute that this is over! It's only fanning the flames of determination to change this broken system and get Channen Smith home!
Please support Channen by signing and sharing his petition for a new evidentiary hearing! Please do NOT be silent about this injustice!