By Kristina Hahsler
Over the course of the last four years, Dallas County has done a great job of reviewing past convictions and taking appropriate action to right past mistakes made by our judicial system. Even so, Dallas can do better. There are still several cases under review and many deserve to be treated in a more expedited manner. A troubling example of the injustice of the system’s delay is the case of Benjamin Spencer. Mr. Spencer, who despite being adjudicated as actually innocent on March 28, 2008, remains in prison. The trial judge, the Honorable Rick Magnis, conducted the evidentiary hearing related to Mr. Spencer’s writ of habeas corpus and found that it was appropriate to grant relief based on Mr. Spencer’s actual innocence after entering his 42-page findings of fact. After almost 24 years in prison Benjamin Spencer deserves his freedom.
The foreman of the jury that convicted Mr. Spencer believes in his innocence now that he has been shown the evidence that was not provided at trial. He was so troubled by what he learned about Mr. Spencer’s case that he publicly affirmed at a rally we held last year that he and the other jurors drew the wrong conclusion based on the evidence that was presented to them. He publicly apologized to Mr. Spencer for the many years he has had to spend in prison as a result of the failure of our system. There is no physical evidence in Mr. Spencer’s case. The most material evidence used to convict him was the testimony of a neighbor who said she saw him exit the victim’s car in an alley in the dead of night. According to two visual experts, one of whom worked for the prosecution, testified at the evidentiary hearing in 2007 there is no way this witness or anyone else could identify even a close relative in the darkness at the distance involved. I have personally been to the site at the same time of night and stood where this “witness” stood and I could see virtually nothing beyond shadows. At a lesser distance, in the same spot with the running lights of an SUV pointing at me, my colleague could not recognize me. Mr. Spencer has an alibi that I have met with and who still professes to this day his innocence.
When Mr. Spencer was arrested, his wife was seven months pregnant. The state took him from his family and denied him the chance to be a good father. He never got the chance to throw a ball with his son in the yard, to teach him to ride a bike, take him to a football game or to see him graduate from high school. The state not only punished Mr. Spencer they also punished his wife and son who had to get by without him. Mr. Spencer and his family have paid for a crime he had nothing to do with. It breaks my heart to think about what was taken from him and his family and I have to catch my breath when I let the magnitude of that wash over me. What is most unnerving to me is that Mr. Spencer is still not free even three years after Judge Magnis found him to be innocent. Dallas Can Do Better, a nonprofit devoted to righting social injustices here in Dallas, is sponsoring a rally on March 26, the 24 year anniversary of Mr. Spencer’s arrest for a crime he did not commit, at 9 a.m. on the steps of the Frank Crowley Courts building to educate the community on this case of injustice. If Mr. Spencer’s story troubles you as it does me, please join us on the courthouse steps so that we can show the State that Dallas believes we can do better. More information can be found online at dallascandobetter.org.
Kristina Hahsler is a member of the North Dallas Texas Democratic Women. www.nddw.org/
