By Sergio | Shadow and Act

Justice for Tyra

The writer and director of the feature film “Alaskaland,” Chinonye Chukwu, has recently directed, edited and photographed this PSA with Alfre Woodward and Colman Domingo among many other prominent people, to bring attention to the tragic case of injustice involving Tyra Patterson.

She is currently serving her 22nd year of a life sentence in an Ohio prison, where she has been since she was 19 years old, for her involvement in the murder of a 15 year old young white girl during a botched robbery. However, she was not near the scene of the murder, and did not kill the young girl; in fact, another person was arrested and convicted of the crime. Efforts have been ongoing for years to prove that any evidence against Patterson was false, including a coerced confession.

Though there have been attempts to free her, it now has come down to the governor of Ohio to make the final decision as to whether or not she is innocent of the crimes she was imprisoned for. Unfortunately that governor happens to be John Kasich, who is currently running to be the 2016 GOP Presidential nominee, and the last thing he wants is to be seen as being “soft on crime” and too lenient towards criminals.

But there still is a movement and legal work being done to free Ms. Patterson, including this PSA, and a Change.org petition to the Ohio Parole Board that is currently being circulated on social media, demanding that the board consider the evidence proving that she is innocent and release her.

Furthermore, the London Guardian newspaper published an extremely very well detailed 4-part interactive report about the Patterson case which is required reading for anyone even remotely interest in justice. Also visit the “Justice for Tyra” website, which also includes the petition (here).