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Wrongfully Convicted Black Man Who Spent 20 Years In Pelican Bay Prison: Kamala Is An Opportunist

Wrongfully Convicted Black Man Who Spent 20 Years In Pelican Bay Prison: Kamala Is An Opportunist

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Wrongfully convicted Black man who spent 20 years in Pelican Bay Prison: Vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris is an opportunist.Photo: Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during the third day of the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 19, 2020, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

One of the main reasons many are not happy about Joe Biden selecting Kamala Harris as his vice president, is her pro-cop record when she was district attorney of Alameda County, San Francisco, and then as attorney general.

“Her track record consists of terrorizing Black communities through the prison industrial complex and she has consistently shown herself to be an enemy to the masses of Black people,” Afropunk reported.

While she was California’s top cop, Harris refused to advocate for the legalization of marijuana. Black people are arrested for marijuana infractions at the highest rate. She also did not support body cameras for the police. Harris defended the three strikes law, under which Black people are incarcerated at a rate 12 times higher than whites.

Caramad Conley said Harris and her policies ruined his life. 

Conley, now 50, was wrongfully convicted in a 1989 double murder. He spent nearly 20 years in prison including a stint at the notorious Pelican Bay after then-D.A. Harris sent his case back to trial. He says she’s an “opportunist.” Ultimately he was cleared of murder charges.

“I would hope she’s learned from those mistakes. That’s all I can ask from her. Because you did ruin a life, you know. A few lives. A lot of lives,” Conley told the Daily Mail.

Conley was arrested and charged with murdering Roshawn Johnson and Charles Hughes in a driveby shooting. In 2003 the Innocence Project contacted him in jail and wanted to take his case. The Innocence Project discovered that an eyewitness had lied.

In December 2010, his case was vacated and dismissed without prejudice, meaning he could be retried.

During her final month as San Francisco district attorney, Harris sent Conley’s case back to court and he was returned to jail to await his new trial.

“Had Kamala not played those games, I would have walked out of the prison I was in straight home,” Conley said.

Harris’ successor released Conley from prison.

Conley said he feels Harris was looking out for her own best interests –her tough-on-crime record.

“I think they’re all opportunists,” he said. “I think she’s an opportunist at the highest degree just like the rest of them.”

In 2012, Conley sued San Francisco for a wrongful conviction and was awarded $3.5 million. 

Conley isn’t the only convicted person who says Harris did him wrong. Harris has been accused of blocking evidence that may have set innocent people free.

She’s been accused of ignoring exculpatory or otherwise exonerating evidence against a number of suspects, BizPac Review reported.

In 1983, Kevin Cooper was arrested and accused of killing Douglas and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year old daughter Jessica and her 11-year-old friend, Christopher Hughes during a home invasion. Cooper was convicted and sentenced to death in the Chino Hills massacre.

For 15 years, his lawyers requested advanced DNA testing, which they say could exonerate Cooper. Harris opposed the test. When asked about the case by New York Times writer Nick Kristof, Harris backtracked and said she felt “awful about this.”

Other people who were convicted say Harris’ office kept evidence from helping them. Jamal Trulove is a former reality star and aspiring hip-hop performer who was convicted of killing Seu Kuka, 28, when Harris was the district attorney of San Francisco. Trulove’s conviction was handed down based on the testimony of just one person, whom Harris praised as a “brave eyewitness.” Trulove was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.

Harris did not disclose that the witness had been paid $60,000 by her office and was provided new housing under terms of a witness protection program. An appeals court later overturned the guilty verdict.

Earlier this year, Trulove was awarded $13 million in a settlement with the city following allegations of witness manipulation, fabrication of evidence, and police misconduct, BizPac Review reported.