DO NOT FEEL OBLIGATED TO DONATE TO THIS SITE. IF YOU ARE FEELING LED TO HELP FINANCIALLY, CHANNEN NEEDS DONATIONS TOWARDS HIS LEGAL FUND. YOU CAN DONATE AT HIS WEBSITE AT justiceforchannen.org AND CLICK THE DONATE BUTTON. THANK YOU!

I am petitioning on behalf of inmate #569312, who is incarcerated at Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy, Oklahoma. This is the way the media, the court system, the prosecution, and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections want you to see him, as nothing more than a number in a sea of numbers, worthy only of being locked away and never heard from again. Yet he is so much more than that!

His name is Channen Ray Ozell Smith. He is a man of strong Christian faith, a son, a brother, an uncle to 8 nieces and nephews, a mentor, and a friend. Channen was working towards becoming both a pilot and a certified welder prior to his incarceration. He was a young man with a bright future ahead of him. That future was stolen from him on November 17th, 2010 when he was arrested for a crime he didn't commit.

Since his arrest in 2010, Channen has maintained his innocence. He was not tried by the real facts, nor by a jury of his true peers. Because Channen could not afford to hire an adequate defense team, he was appointed several different public defenders, and the one who ultimately defended Channen was over-worked, over-extended, going through a divorce and therefore ill-prepared to defend Channen's life. Channen's trial was anything but 'fair'. Because of the circumstances of his upbringing, and the low-income and gang-run neighborhoods that Channen grew up in, it was easy for the all-white, middle class jury to assume that someone “like him” could be capable of committing such a terrible act of violence. However, MANY critical pieces of evidence were never presented, key witnesses were not spoken to, nor asked to testify on his behalf, there was no DNA evidence and no murder weapon was ever recovered. Channen was found guilty simply based on the testimonies of incredibly unreliable witnesses.

Through the hard work of private investigators, advocates, and new witnesses coming forward, the truth has finally come to light and the following facts have been revealed:

• There was a death-bed confession from someone else! This man died of brain cancer in January 2017, knew intimate details of the crime and wanted to clear his conscience that Channen, an innocent man, was (and still is!) sitting in prison for this crime. This man had a physical altercation with the victim the night before the shooting, whereas Channen had never had any conflicts with the victim. This shows clear motive for the crime. The actual shooter was also tied to the owner of the vehicle which was used in the crime. He also provided the location of where he disposed of the murder weapon (which was never recovered by police). His dying wish was for the truth of Channen's innocence to be revealed so that Channen could go home to his family.
• Several more witnesses have come forward in support of Channen since the actual shooter's confession in 2017. These witnesses also knew the truth about who actually committed the crime, but were being loyal to their friend by not snitching on him. Since his death, they have come forward to help clear Channen's name
• Numerous inconsistencies in statements of two key witnesses, as well as recanted statements. Each time these key witnesses were asked about what happened the night of the shooting, their testimonies changed.  One of the prosecution's witnesses has admitted to a private investigator that he was offered a deal in exchange for his testimony. Another key witness is a known criminal informant. They both admitted on the stand to lying to police 
• Channen had a solid alibi: It has been confirmed by several witnesses that Channen was in Claremore, OK with his girlfriend and her family at the time of the shooting in Tulsa. His girlfriend picked him up in her sister-in-law's car on Friday at 11pm and drove him to Claremore, about 40 minutes away. The shooting happened three hours AFTER she picked him up, at 2 am Saturday morning, and she didn't bring Channen back to Tulsa until Sunday at noon. Channen did not have a vehicle of his own and was relying on his girlfriend’s family to bring him back and forth to Claremore. It is IMPOSSIBLE that he was the shooter.
• The police failed to recover missing evidence. There is a Dollar General directly across the street from the scene of the shooting. It is believed that the video camera on that store caught the events of that night. None of that video footage was added to Channen's defense. We now know (because of the confession mentioned above) that the murder weapon was disposed of near the scene of the fight. The police failed to retrieve that or even look for any other physical evidence that could solve this crime. 
• The detective on the case never looked at any other suspects once he had his sights on Channen. He never even tried to look into Channen's alibi and there was ZERO EVIDENCE connecting Channen to this crime. All this detective had was the weak testimonies by two known liars and felons, whose stories changed several times throughout the investigation and trial.

The victim, Dominique Jasper, was a father, a son and died too young. His death was tragic and left his family in mourning and the time they have lost and the pain suffered because of this crime can’t be returned. However, incarcerating an INNOCENT man for the past 12+ years is not justice for this family!  

Channen has a family and friends who have already lost the last 12 years with him. Please help us to not lose another precious moment of Channen's life to a system that too often locks up the wrong people! Please offer your support to ask the courts for an evidentiary hearing to review the REAL EVIDENCE.  Please help us to #unchainchannen!