For some 16-year-olds, life is just beginning: first loves, driver’s licenses, and sweet sixteens. 

For 16-year-old Omar Hooks, life came to a screeching halt. He was charged, tried, and convicted of first-degree murder. He has not seen freedom since. 

~SEE INNOCENCE CLAIMS BELOW~

But is Omar innocent? On April 17, 2010, the day Thomas Green was murdered, Omar was incapacitated by a cocktail of drugs. It was nearing the anniversary of his father’s death, and multiple witnesses say Omar was high off numerous substances. Those same witnesses place Omar less than five feet away from Thomas Green just minutes before the murder, but no one ever saw him pull a trigger. No one can say they saw Omar shoot Thomas. Further, no one ever found the gun. Ballistic tests found no blowback residue on Omar’s clothing, a common discovery when shots are fired within five feet. Detectives only found one spent bullet casing, yet bystanders heard three to four shots. 

When officers arrested Omar two hours after the shooting, they caught him coming out of a house two doors away from the crime scene. Officers testified that they had already interviewed the residents, but Omar was “fake asleep.” After holding Omar at the police station for a few hours, one officer claimed he heard Omar “praying for forgiveness.” He claimed Omar, a muslim, did not pray in Arabic, but spoke just clear enough for the officer to hear him. Omar allegedly asked for forgiveness three times to conveniently align with how many times he shot Thomas Green.

At trial, Omar’s lawyer attempted to argue two irreconcilable defenses: diminished capacity and full innocence. The prosecution brought forth witness after witness, many of whom gave different timelines and conflicted with one another. Police officers said evidence was tampered with; eyewitnesses say the police showed up late; one witness even fled the scene. Despite the inconsistencies, the all-white jury found Omar guilty of first degree murder and sentenced him to life without parole. 

Omar would later successfully appeal his sentence for a chance at parole. However, all other appeals have been rejected. He sits still in Coal Township State Prison, waiting for a team that believes in him, will fight for him, and understands the injustice of his incarceration. 

DISCLAIMER: ALL donations are taken by change.org and used to promote this petition. Please visit our FUNDRAZR page at the link below in order to make a donation towards bringing Omar home.

FUNDRAZR: https://fnd.us/41xan5?ref=sh_8B4xPe

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CLAIMS TO INNOCENCE:

Witness recanting : Years after the trial, one of the Commonwealth’s key witnesses recanted his statement, saying that he was coerced by the Chester Police Department to blame the crime on Omar. They stated they also had this witness’ DNA at the scene and would not hesitate to pin the crime on him instead of Omar.

New witness : In 2012, a new witness to the incident came forward saying that he knew the person who actually committed the crime. To this day he maintains that Omar is “innocent 100%.” Additionally, this witness was supposedly interviewed by Omar’s legal team, but they did not file a new evidence claim with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Inaccurate and conflicting testimony : One of the Commonwealth’s key witnesses (who the prosecution team claimed they “could not have convicted Omar without”) was offered an extensive plea deal for homicide crimes he was facing, almost a year and a half after the incident. His testimony — pivotal for the prosecution — was filled with inconsistencies: incorrect timing, incorrect sequence of events, changing his story significantly after being asked to testify, and more. Additionally, there is a very vague timeline of events provided by witnesses. Many of these testimonies conflict one another and place the same people at various places at supposedly the same time.

Ballistics evidence : There were several eyewitnesses as to what Omar Hooks was wearing the night of the incident: a hoodie with a design and a bucket hat. These same articles of clothing were tested for gunpowder particle residue with all tests coming back negative. Additionally, there was no gunpowder residue found on the deceased, which means that the shooter was at least 3-5 feet away during the incident. This conflicts testimonies where Omar and the group were supposedly on a porch within very close proximity to one another. Furthermore, the medical examiner said that based on ballistic trajectory, there may be more than one shooter or more than one gun involved; however, this information was never looked into further by Omar’s defense team. Live and spent shells from the gun used in the incident were found, but crime scene forensics claimed that these shells could not be tested for fingerprints (which would have immediately excluded Omar as the shooter) due to their size. 

Tampered crime scene : Chester officials testified that the crime scene was tampered with. Evidence was touched and moved without any documentation of what exactly was touched and moved. Despite this, Chester officials continued to collect and examine evidence as usual.

Religious faith : An officer claimed he heard Omar pray for forgiveness three times. Even if Omar was not praying in Arabic, which he often does, forgiveness is a common prayer within the Muslim faith. His prayers do not stipulate a confession in any way.

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Please help us get Omar home by spreading this petition and sharing it. If you want to reach out to our team you can email freeomarhooks@gmail.com. 

The petition was created by Georgetown University’s Making an Exonoree and the University of California at Santa Cruz