Help Wayne and Karl transition to freedom!

We have some truly amazing news to share regarding Wayne and Karl’s case. Since our last update, and after a lengthy and extremely frustrating legal back and forth for over a year now, Wayne and Karl have reached an agreement with the prosecution for their release from prison after spending 23+ years, over half their lives, behind bars for a crime they didn’t commit. Wayne and Karl will be entering what is known as an Alford plea. An Alford plea is a type of plea deal that allows them to maintain their assertion of innocence while acknowledging that there is enough evidence that a jury could find them guilty. We anticipate their immediate release based on time served as soon as the trial court rules on this joint motion on March 28th.

Words can’t express our gratitude for those who shared their story, and those who chipped in no matter the amount for the awareness campaign we ran over a year ago with Judges for Justice on their behalf. We are so grateful for the outstanding work of their legal counsel, Jennifer Bergeron from the Ohio Innocence Project and the courageous investigative reporting by Brian Dugger of WTOL 11 in Toledo whose work brought Wayne and Karl's story into the public’s awareness in the first place as well as the City Paper and other members of the media who shared their story. We spoke with Wayne some time ago and he expressed that he was certain the efforts to spread their story had a significant impact on their opportunity for release. While we are filled with joy for Wayne and Karl, that joy is sobered by the fact that countless other men and women are facing similar circumstances without the means and prospects for justice and relief from the living nightmare of being wrongfully imprisoned. It should not be this hard.

We are now focussing on helping Wayne and Karl successfully transition to freedom. We are raising money for them to help them get on their feet. Housing, food, phones, transportation, etc, are all critical for stability while they work to find jobs. Imagine starting your life over from scratch after 23 years. We truly appreciate any amount and every share.

If you are interested to learn more about their story visit www.freewayneandkarl.com

– The families of Wayne Braddy and Karl Willis