Tyra Patterson, still protesting her innocence, to be freed after 23 years

[TomSea]

Tyra Patterson, still protesting her innocence, to be freed after 23 years
Ed Pilkington

Tyra Patterson, an African American woman who has spent more than two decades in Ohio prisons for a murder in which she insists she played no part, will walk free by Christmas after a parole board ordered her release.

News of Patterson’s freedom came 23 years, one month and four days into her life sentence for the murder of 15-year-old Michelle Lai in September 1994. The prisoner was 19 at the time of the killing, 20 when she was sentenced and will be 42 when she leaves the Northeast Pre-Release Center in Cleveland.

Patterson’s fight for justice, and her consistent claim of innocence, was highlighted by the Guardian last year in a series of articles, The Injustice System. The investigation pointed to irregularities at her trial, including the fact that a crucial tape of a 911 call she made shortly after the shooting pleading for first responder help was never played to the jury.

Jurors also came forward to state that had they heard the 911 recording they would have found Patterson not guilty....

Read more at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/25/tyra-patterson-to-be-freed-after-23-years-in-prison-and-claims-of-innocence