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Justice delayed is justice denied.
Justice for Thomas James is long overdue. The National Registry of Exonerations has documented 2,468 wrongful convictions over the past 30 years. Approximately 1,000 of those were for murder.
I think the murder conviction of Thomas Raynard James is one of those.
In 1990 Francis McKinnon was murdered inside his apartment in Coconut Grove. Two armed subjects shot McKinnon during a robbery. The subjects fled and got away.
Metro-Dade homicide detectives quickly came up with the name of Thomas James as one of the suspects. Witnesses said James lived in the area and his mother was named Mary. Detectives found a mugshot of James and put together a photo line-up. James was identified by two of the witnesses. He was arrested, convicted and sent to prison where he remains to this day.
I spent many years in that Homicide Bureau. I was working there in 1990 but was not involved in this investigation and had no knowledge of it. That changed this August when I read a magazine article by veteran investigative journalist Tristram Khorten. After what I consider an excellent example of extensive research, he concluded the Thomas James in prison, who was from Brownsville, was innocent. He makes a compelling case that the Thomas James the police were looking for was from South Miami who had a mother named Mary. I concur with his conclusion. We arrested the wrong guy!
I believe the witness was mistaken. It happens all the time. It’s happened to me. In 1985 we were investigating a homicide that involved widespread police corruption. It became known as the River Cops case. Our key witness identified the photographs of multiple officers and we obtained arrest warrants based on his testimony.
We went to one officer’s home, arrested him and took him away in handcuffs. After speaking to him at length, we concluded we had made a terrible mistake. Turns out he was totally innocent. After apologizing, we took him back home and had the warrant quashed the following day. So I fully understand how this kind of mistake can happen.
After reading the article I made some phone calls to the Dade County State Attorney’s Office to attempt to track down the prosecutor and get their opinion. It was at that point that I started to become concerned. Several people I spoke to had no idea what I was talking about. You would think if there was a possibility that you sent an innocent man to prison for 30 years it would be the talk of the office. It wasn’t.
They were provided this information back in March of this year. Here we are in November and Thomas James still is sitting in prison waiting for justice. This is not a complex case. It is a shooting, inside an apartment with a finite number of witnesses.
Thomas James should have been on a bus home months ago.
One would think that a presumably innocent man spending 30 years in prison would motivate anyone to move on this with all deliberate speed. That has not remotely been the case. They have not shown the sense of urgency this case deserves. Kathy Rundle is quoted as explaining one of the reasons for delay was because the file was in the archives. Then send someone to the archives. They have one of the largest prosecutor’s offices in the nation. The problem isn’t a lack of resources. The problem is a lack of will.
I have enjoyed an excellent relationship with the people from the State Attorney’s Office for decades so I take no pleasure in writing this. But I am angry that a man sits in prison waiting for justice. I am angry that there are not more people demanding action. I am angry that the people that are responsible for fixing this are too timid to make a decision.
It is high time more people weigh in on this and demand action. To sit back and do nothing is unacceptable.
