Lancaster County is currently involved in a $163,000,000.00 prison expansion and relocation project, while neighboring Dauphin County is taking a very different approach that will reduce their prison population. Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo has acknowledged that the police and his prosecutors don’t always get it right and has allocated $50,000 for a Conviction Integrity Unit to vet out wrongful convictions. Dauphin County is the fourth county in PA to establish an independent review process for problematic criminal cases that land innocent people behind bars.

   As a former police officer of 12 years working for local organizations and Lancaster County itself, I’ve witnessed the reality of how officials can manipulate, embellish, and hand-select the truth to secure convictions at all levels of the criminal justice process. I've also seen how cases can be hand-selected for prosecution based upon socioeconomic status. 

   Not everyone in jail or prison is guilty, and organizations like The National Registration of Exonerations show us that. Per their data, 3,248 innocent people have been exonerated since 1989. Things such as Official Misconduct, False Accusations, False Confessions, Mistaken Identifications, Indigent Defense issues and an overall lack of accountability for police and prosecutors contribute to many of these wrongful convictions.  

   Lancaster County is not immune to these issues and has seen two documented wrongful convictions. Those victims were exonerated by happenstance years later. The first individual, Charles Dubbs, was exonerated when another man confessed to sexually assaulting two women, the crimes for which Dubbs was serving a 12-40 year prison sentence. The second individual, James Bell, Jr., was sentenced to a 2-5 year prison sentence for drug charges based upon an Inadequate Legal Defense, Perjury/False Accusation, and Official Misconduct. Mr. Bell was only exonerated based upon the actions of a savvy Senior Public Defender who re-investigated the case and found critical errors. These men were convicted in court and lost their freedom, only to be exonerated by chance. How many other people like this do you think could be out there?

   On January 6th, 2020, District Attorney Adams was sworn into office as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in Lancaster County. At that time, she rendered the following statement: "I want to move the office forward with a fresh perspective while never losing sight of our core function to seek justice in each and every case." Our position here is that "justice" doesn't always end with prosecution and/or incarceration. 

   Please help us on a local level by signing this petition. By doing so, you are helping to call on District Attorney Heather Adams to reallocate funds and begin a Conviction Integrity Unit to vet out these issues here in Lancaster County, PA.