Friends?

According to one prosecution witness interviewed post-trial, detectives told him they didn't have any evidence to convict David of this crime. They said that despite the absence of evidence, they were convinced that David must be guilty. They asked him if he'd "help them out" and change his testimony to fit their scenario of the crime; that he'd be responsible for getting a "dangerous man" off of the streets. The man, a long-time friend of David's, obliged. One betrayal among many leading to a tainted trial and a wrongful conviction.

Invalid Confession of Joe Wilkes

In court under oath, Joe Wilkes stated that he was saying "what they told me to say" as he pointed at the prosecutors. He has recanted his confession. Joe testified at David's post-conviction hearing to these facts and told how the police coerced him into implicating David and how they denied him an attorney. The court ruled that was not enough to warrant giving David Thorne a new trial. One would have to wonder, what is enough?

Experience

 

 

No matter how devoted an advocate we are. No matter how loving a family member. No matter what we go through while someone we care about is behind bars. None of us has any idea or could ever fully comprehend what a wrongfully incarcerated inmate goes through. There are no words that can make us fully understand. It's an experience that can only be understood through the experience itself.

Thank You

It's easy sometimes to get swept up in the despair of recognizing how many people are disinterested in David's plight. However, the people that DO get involved, the advocates, the experts and the supporters, are so extraordinary and work so hard it more than makes up for those who don't. Thank you to those who matter.

Truth Fear No Questions

David volunteered to take a polygraph test immediately upon appearing for questioning. The detectives refused him one, saying only they can authorize polygraph tests and they weren't giving him one. David has never refused to answer any question asked of him by me, the media, the attorney or anyone. He is innocent. Free David Thorne

Friends

 

When you see who still stands behind you after a wrongful conviction, you will see who is your true friend. To them you're not "some guy who used to be my friend". You're simply, "my friend". The others were never really your friends anyway.

So Many Visitors

The police estimate that Yvonne Layne was murdered at 10:00 pm. They give no reason for giving this time and it is not related to the coroner's findings. Three men admit in statements that they individually visited Yvonne at or near the time of her death on March 31st, 1999, the first being seen in the victim's driveway with her at 7:30 p.m. They all deny involvement in her death. Either one of them is lying and they actually committed the murder, or including the murderer, 4 different people stopped by the victim's house at approximately the same time, none bumping into the others.

Justice-Not-Politics

Stop Living A Lie

 

Stop living a lie. Tell what you know. Tell the truth. Free David Thorne.

The Justice System

 

The Justice System? Epic Fail.

Imagine

 

 

Imagine living your life here. Or worse yet, in a double cell shared with a stranger. Now imagine living here for something you didn't do. David Thorne is innocent. Free David Thorne.

The Truth

It's time for the truth to be told. You will never have peace until you do.

The Shoe

 

This shoe is enormous. It's a size 13. That's the size shoe Joe Wilkes wore. It wasn't found to be a part of evidence at the crime scene, but rather is being held up by a store clerk at a local sporting goods store. Since no footwear was... recovered in the investigation and bloody footprints were found at the scene, detectives took this photo to enter as evidence. Remarkably, the defense did not object to this. They also failed to mention or probably even notice that the bloody footprints were a size 10, which makes it impossible for Joe Wilkes to have made them.

SOLD

According to Brady v Maryland, all exculpatory evidence must be turned over to the defense by the prosecution. If the prosecution withholds evidence and they convict the defendent, he can appeal the verdict based on the Brady violation. The problem with that scenario is, you're appealing your conviction to the Judge that presided over your trial and believed you were guilty in the first place.

Perjury

 

How do people who agree to perjure themselves to "take a guilty man off the streets" live with their decision? If the man was truly guilty, don't you think the authorities would have enough information to indict and convict thim WITHOUT you perjuring yourself to "help" them? Think about it.

GO TO JAIL

 

No matter how devoted an advocate we are. No matter how loving a family member. No matter what we go through while someone we care about is behind bars. None of us has any idea or could ever fully comprehend what a wrongfully incarcerated inmate goes through. There are no words that can make us fully understand. It's an experience that can only be understood through the experience itself.

Evidence Ignored

 

Anyone who has watched CSI, even one episode, knows that the victim's body is the most valuable piece of evidence left behind at the crime scene. This victim's hands and feet were not bagged in any photo until she's at autopsy. Evidence originating on her hands and feet could have been lost or contaminated. Detectives turned the victim over onto her back sometime during their time at the scene, partially propping her against a chest of drawers. This action potentially contamindated the evidence on her body and on the chest of drawers.

Free David Thorne

www.wcodt.org   Free David Thorne

Wrongly Convicted

Fingerprint

There was a knife found five blocks from the victim's house the day afer the crime. It had a thumbprint on the bottom of the blade. The print did not match David Thorne or Joseph Wilkes. Despite the fact that it matched a set of knives f...rom the victim's kitchen and this size knife was missing from the set, analysts determined it could have come from "some other set of knives" so wasn't useful as evidence. Hmmm......Wonder where this case went wrong?

Justice for All

Yvonne Layne was brutally murdered 14 years ago as of March 31, 2013.  Two men are currently serving the remainder of their lives behind bars for a crime they did not commit.  One of the men, Joseph Wilkes, was badgered into confessing to the crime and implicating his friend, David Thorne.  Joe signed a confession and David Thorne was convicted on the strength of Joe Wilkes' testimony alone.  Joe has since recanted.
What people don't seem to realize is that people are often implicated, charged and convicted of crimes they did not commit, many times based on a coerced confession.  On top of this injustice is the fact that while innocent people are serving the true killer's time, that person is walking around free, possibly committing more crimes and probably taking more lives. 
While there is a grave injustice being dealt to the two men behind bars, there is also a victim who has not received justice.  Her family is living their lives believing the lies told them by the justice system. No one received justice in this case.  Not the accused and not the victim.  No one. 
Justice for David.  Justice for Yvonne.  Justice for Joe.

Truth and Love

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi