Petition
On July 30, 2002, Roman Noel, was arrested and charged with the burglary of a bank in Valdosta, Lowndes county, Georgia. Other charges included Kidnapping for moving a bank employee from a couch to a counter. In all, he was sentenced to Life without parole plus 45 years. There was no one hurt, no blood shed, and most importantly no life taken, except his. During his trial a 16 year old high school student from Lowndes High school named, "Ashley" helped picked his jury. She was introduced by name to the jury pool in open court during the voir dire (jury selection) portion of the trial by the attorney (Jon W. McClure). The voir dire (jury selection) portion of his trial transcript can prove his claims via audio recordings of the actual trial, but the clerk of court, the judge and the state prosecutor will not supply the complete transcripts. There have been several US Supreme Court ruling that rendered Roman qualified to have the Life without parole taken off of his sentence (Garza v. State (S07G1628 11/03/08) but no actions have been taken regardless of his attempts.
During trial, the one bank employee (and only victim) was coached by the prosecutor to provide 2 different version of the same event in order to secure a conviction on the kidnapping charge. After 18 years of incarceration, Roman still have not been given an appeal. In December of 2009, Roman wrote the Georgia court of appeal asking about his status and because of his attorney's failure to file an appeal, the courts considered his "letter" as an appeal and denied it. The State Bar of Georgia, and the Judicial Qualification Committe were made aware of the matter via greivances and they swept the matter under the rug. Even with hundreds of USPS certified return receipt letters to judges, prosecutors, and his own personal lawyers no one has taken his plea into consideration. As one of the few prisoners in the state of Georgia whose jury was selected by a minor, Roman was clearly deprived of the protection of the 14th Amendment rights to due process and equal protection under the law.
Even with all the opposition to his freedom, Roman occupies his time writing books of which he has 9 unpublished works completed. He also draws up schematics of prototypes he would like to some day build in hopes of filing for patents for ideas he conjures up. After 18 years in prison, Roman is no longer a threat to society, with time he has matured and realized that nothing worth having comes through quick and nefarious means. Hard work, discipline, humility and frugal industriousness will bring about long term yield of growth in his future endeavors. He is also a participant of the prison's Evidence Based Program. He remains disciplinary report free and maintains a strict work regimen that fosters work ethics through details (work assignments) within the institution.
With this Covid - 19 pandemic sweeping through prisons, we're asking your signature on this petition to prevent this man from a dying for a crime where a life wasn't taken, and no one was physically harmed.