Why My Son Walif Smith Should Be Freed

My son was convicted in 1994 for a 1990 murder he did not commit.  Walif was convicted solely on the testimony of one witness.  The witness has given written affidavits and taken a polygraph saying  that his original testimonies were false.  That leaves zero evidence against my son. No witness, no physical evidence, no DNA, no motive, in fact nothing tying him to the crime.  Yet my son is currently serving a 30-year to life sentence for a crime he had no part in. 

One fall day a woman was murdered and this is when Walif’s journey began.  Walif was age 14 at this time a young man, living a normal life.  Everyone in the neighborhood went to see what was going on and was wandering what had happened down the street and the police told us someone had been murdered.  The police questioned everybody in the neighborhood and no one knew anything.  We never heard anything else about the incident.

Three years later after the incident the madness began; out of nowhere the police arrested Walif for the woman’s murder.  We were told the gun that was used in the murder was found in North Carolina.  The gun was used in another murder in North Carolina by an older man who lived in the same neighborhood as we did during the time of the incident.  There was no evidence placing Walif at the crime scene.

All the evidence in Walif’s case was not presented during his trial.  He was found guilty and was sentence to 30 years to life at the age of 17 for a crime he did not commit.  He was waived up as an adult and the judge was not sure if she could give him 30 years or life, so she gave him life. 

Today, Walif has been incarcerated for 24 years now and does not know if he will ever come home because his current maximum release date reads “N/A”.  Today, we have new evidences in Walif’s case and the main witness have recant saying that he made false statements to get a reduce sentence.

I believe that Walif’s case can be re- open and his innocent can be proved. 

But, the final decision can be still made by Attorney General Christopher Porrino to re-open Walif's case.  I believe that if enough people sign this petition, Attorney General Porrino will see that the public supports Walif’s release and will do the right thing and allow him to come home.

I ask you to please sign this petition and help begin to right this wrong.

Thank You,

Mary Baker

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