"Spiz" Gillispie

I made a guesstimate in my last post about the number of innocent people in prison, and I said it was small. Many people in prison are innocent of the specific crime for which they were convicted and so they complain about the miscarriage of justice that has put them where they are. But it's also true that many people are guilty of SOMEthing if not the crime for which they serve time. To adopt a lifestyle that places a person in the wrong place with the wrong people is a dangerous choice, and many prisoners will admit to that if not to the crime that cost them their freedom. However, were no one ever wrongfully incarcerated, there would be no Innocence Project.

The Visiting Room where I spend time with my son used to display art work done by inmates, and occasionally I would admire one or another painting or collage. I eventually asked about purchasing one. It's what I would call a multi-media piece that was named "America Plastic Wasteland" and it was signed by "Spiz Gillispie."

This man is currently serving sixteen to fifty years for three rapes that happened in August of 1988 and of which he has been found guilty at two trials. A third hearing of his case was recently rejected. According to the Dayton Daily News, "His first trial ended with convictions in February 1991, but he won a new trial after untested crime scene hairs were found at the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory. He was convicted again after a second trial, also in 1991.

No physical evidence tied Gillispie to the crimes. Much of the case hinged on testimony from the victims, who picked Gillispie out of a photo lineup nearly two years after the crimes.

Montgomery County prosecutors and officials with the Miami Twp. police department, which investigated the crimes, are adamant Gillispie is guilty. They point to the convictions in both trials, as well as the identifications from the victims.

For the past five years, the Ohio Innocence Project, a legal clinic at the University of Cincinnati law school that has freed other inmates, has researched Gillispie's case. Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, now an attorney in private practice, is also working for Gillispie's release from prison, but is charging no fee. Petro has said repeatedly that he believes Gillispie is innocent.

According to Petro and Godsey, Gillispie does not match the descriptions originally given by the victims, who picked him from a flawed photo lineup two years after the attacks."

I have no way of knowing what is the truth in this case, but I know my prayers are with this man and with the woman I saw sitting with him in the Visiting Room. My prayers are also with the women who were victimized, whoever hurt them, because no one is questioning their suffering. It's a sad situation all around, as many are that result in incarceration.