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No Murderer Was He.
By Uncle Monty.
US Photos By Alex Albion.
Part 1 of 3.
***
After being falsely accused and convicted of murdering
a 17 year old girl, AJ sat for 11 long years inside the
West Virginia New Correctional Institute at Mt. Olive,
and other penal outlets, for the murder he did not
commit as a result of persecutorial
and police misconduct against him.
***
I first met AJ (shown above) at the winter emergency
homeless shelter at Washington's Franklin School off
K. St., N.W. when he had been recently released from
penal custody and then thrown out to cope on the
bitter cold winter streets of America's capital.
bitter cold winter streets of America's capital.
...
Age 49, and divorced with three kidz of his own,
AJ had been into petty crime since before he was 14.
He ran away from home at Ohio and landed inside
a state training school (much like the old Approved
Schools in the UK) for five years as a runaway and
tearaway who skipped school whenever he could.
His dad had been a prize figher and street thug dur-
ing the reign of the notorious Mayor Frank Rizzo
at Philadelphia during the 1970's. AJ's mother died
ing the reign of the notorious Mayor Frank Rizzo
at Philadelphia during the 1970's. AJ's mother died
when he was about 12 and he hated his stepmother
so badly he wanted "kill her," he told me
forthrightly. He didn't, of course!
forthrightly. He didn't, of course!
...
Inside The Franklin School Emergency Winter Shelter
At Washington, D.C. for the Homeless & Penniless!
At Washington, D.C. for the Homeless & Penniless!
...
AJ soon befriended me because "I love the English,"
he told me, and it wasn't long before he became my
"bodyguard and protector," if you will, inside the
emergency shelter at where violence and robbery
were common day to day elements in being homeless
at America's national capital. When I was threatened
to give away my food to some homeless tyrant, AJ
was right there telling the guy he'd kick his ass if
he dared to take my food. The thug soon backed
down for AJ wasn't the kind of man you'd mess
with and if you did you did it at your own peril.
...
Like AJ, Another Good Guy Was Mike Taylor
Like AJ, Another Good Guy Was Mike Taylor
at Washington's Catholic McKeena House.
...
In the meantime, AJ would from time to time reveal
more of his life story to me and especially his false
conviction for murder of the girl he'd been illicitly
dating for about six months.
...
Suddenly, he found himself being charged and de-
tained not for underage sex but with second degree
murder even though he was miles away at the time
the girl was found dead in a garbage dump just
on the outskirts of the city limits.
tained not for underage sex but with second degree
murder even though he was miles away at the time
the girl was found dead in a garbage dump just
on the outskirts of the city limits.
...
After pleading not guilty and with a jury at a five
day trial, he was found guilty and so off to the
day trial, he was found guilty and so off to the
penitentitary he was sent without any chance of
him getting out for at least 30 years! He said he
was lucky not to be sentenced to the electric
chair and placed on death row at that time.
was lucky not to be sentenced to the electric
chair and placed on death row at that time.
...
Uncle Monty With Homeless Friends At St. Columbia
Episcopal Center, Washington, D.C. In 2oo5.
...
Then, AJ told me, he got a surprise visit some 11 year
later from the same prosecutor's office indicating that
they would no object to a court request to bail him
since the person who did commit the murder now
admitted he was the real culprit and thus he was
about to set AJ free by his admission of guilt.
So it indeed turned out that "No Murderer
Was He," at last for poor and victimized AJ.
...
Thrust from out of jail, he then headed to the
relatively nearby D.C. has then a homeless person
thinking he could get more help there than at West
Virginia, which he eagerly wanted to put behind him.
Like me, he landed up at the Franklin School
Emergency Winter Shelter for the Homeless on
the same day at downtown Washington, D.C.
the same day at downtown Washington, D.C.
...
The Spring of 2oo5 at Washington, D.C. -
with all its bright and lovely splendour of the
annual pink cherry bloosom - couldn't hide
the reality of the stark homelessness that me
and AJ found ourselves in along with
thousands of others thickly scattered
all over the American capital.
...
all over the American capital.
...
Typical Homeless Scene at Spring 2oo5 At D.C.
...
AJ had dabled in selling the local street paper -
Street Sense - just blocks from the White House,
but was soon disappointed with little or not
revenue coming to him from selling what was a
rather amateurish paper that was housed and
edited at the local Episcopal Church's Christ
Epiphany. Hopefully, Street Sense has
substantially improved since I last saw it!
...
At that time I'd never heard of The Big Issue or
the dreadful UK characters of Peewee
the dreadful UK characters of Peewee
Peter Bird and Pigface Anthony John Bird.
They wouldn't last a minute inside America!
AJ once ruefully said that those helping the
homeless were there for the money they
got from government programs to help the
homeless. He must have been thinking of the
cold sods like the Bird Brothers, who threw me
out of my Big Issue pitch for allegedly "bring-
ing the Big Issue into disrepute." The more that
I can now do that the better, I say. But for now,
I can now do that the better, I say. But for now,
I'll have more next time to tell you all about AJ.
...
Part 2: More on Washington's Homeless AJ.
Part 3: Looking Back 6-Years Later on
My Homelessness Inside America.
....
...
Part 2: More on Washington's Homeless AJ.
Part 3: Looking Back 6-Years Later on
My Homelessness Inside America.
....
Uncle Monty Worshipping at a
Washington Episcopal Parish.
...
Subway Washington D.C. In 2oo5.
...
I will have more of AJ's life story in part two, and
in part three, some observations of the homeless
reality I found inside America.
reality I found inside America.
...
So for now, Uncle Monty.
+Vigil of Oscar Romero, 2011.
...
:: Disclaimer ::
While I believe what AJ recited to me over
the course of several weeks, I have no way
of independently confirming the details of his
horrendous story. The last time I saw AJ
was now well over 6 years ago and at that
time he was still waiting for some substantial
monetary damages and compensation, so he
told me, for false imprisonment, etc. He
assumed he would receive about $350,000-
in compensation less the amount taken by
his lawyers for legal representation and
costly court fees. At no time did he tell me
his full name and so AJ is the name I have
come to remember him by. I hope he got
his compensation and is now free from
being homeless ever again or stuck inside
some Yankee prison cell for some crime
he didn't commit. UM.
his full name and so AJ is the name I have
come to remember him by. I hope he got
his compensation and is now free from
being homeless ever again or stuck inside
some Yankee prison cell for some crime
he didn't commit. UM.
.
Feedback & Comments
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GADDAFI & BLAIR.
By Uncle Monty. Down With Gaddafi, Blair & Bush.
http://thebiggerissueorg.blogspot.com/2011/03/gaddafi-blair.html
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GADDAFI & BLAIR.
By Uncle Monty. Down With Gaddafi, Blair & Bush.
http://thebiggerissueorg.blogspot.com/2011/03/gaddafi-blair.html
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