Thomas Darling was convicted solely off the misguidance of his attorney in taking a plea deal. The vast number of cases brought under our system of mass incarceration means that plea bargaining is the only way for courts to get through the sheer number of cases in their dockets. This system lacks process, fairness, and often even rule of law. Thomas Darling and his family hope you will support this effort to enhance his chances of receiving a fair trial.

In 2010 Thomas was arrested for a crime he did not commit. On May 17th of 2011 Thomas Darling was wrongfully found guilty of murder. Thomas was convicted in the Superior Court of Lee County and sentenced to life in prison. Thomas’s attorney misguided him by telling him if he took a plea deal for Child neglect (due to the fact Thomas was trying to give the child CPR before calling 911) he would receive 7 years. This was not the case in fact he was still sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. The United States Justice System failed when they incarcerated an innocent man for a crime he did not commit. 

In fact a plea offer is ineffective assistance of counsel. There is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s errors, Thomas would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial. Thomas Darling is innocent; with evidence and retrial this can be proven.

The trial attorney’s grossly inaccurate statement to the defendant about the amount of time he would be required to serve if he pled guilty amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel and rendered the guilty plea involuntary.

Thomas darling is a prisoner within the prison system of GEORGIA. A Life sentence in this state is just what it says, life, even with the possibility of parole, a prisoner must spend at least thirty years in confinement before being considered for parole.

A man like Thomas Darling, if convicted at age thirty would be eligible for parole at age sixty, and the thirty years mandatory will be spent in some of the harshest and brutal conditions that you could only imagine in a third world country. In fact, at this moment Thomas Darling is at Macon State Prison, Oglethorpe Georgia, one of the most brutal prisons in this state.

By his innocence Thomas does not deserve to spend 30 years to life in prison. It’s not only unjust for Thomas and his family but also for the victim. The true person who is guilty of this heinous crime still has their freedom, is able to walk the streets and live in the shadows maybe plotting on another victim. We the people cannot sit back blindly and let this false injustice continue. We’re fighting for justice on both ends!

As a loving father of two young and beautiful daughters, Thomas would never commit such an act. Thomas’s children have to grow up knowing their country wrongfully convicted their father.  When Thomas was arrested his children were only 5 and 8 years old. They have gone 12 years without their father and this family does not deserve to suffer for what this failed system has drawn their father out to be any longer. 12 years is 12 years too long.

My personal view is that we must do better for all the Thomas’s of our nation. Please sign and support this petition for Thomas Darling's fair trial. Please sign this petition to help Thomas return to a life he fully deserves. Help Thomas get home!

Thomas is currently looking for an attorney to represent him for a post-conviction case for fair trial.