By Shonari Warren GJ7202

I believe that the general public is completely unaware of how and why Pennsylvania has rightfully earned the identification as the fourth corrupted State in America. It can crediblely be argued and proven, that Pennsylvania consistently renders judicial decisions which are akin to a sovereign nation who has no duty to abide by or respect any Federal or Supreme Court’s precedences. If an thorough investigation of Pennsylvania’s trial and appellate practices were to occur, one would discover that Pennsylvania’s high conviction rates in conjunction with the extremely high rate of appellate confirmation of sentences, is essentially a claim that Pennsylvania maintains an almost perfect criminal justice system. The same investigation would also discover that Pennsylvania has a terrible record when it comes to properly funding the Public Defender’s Offices. And that the P.D.’s are infamous of possessing unmanageable case loads. Evidence confirms that a great lawyer becomes an average or below average lawyer when he/she is overwhelmed. So now consider the subpar lawyer, he/she becomes an living and breathing hazard to the freedom of all that they encounter. There is no accurate way to count all of the innocent victims who pleaded guilty because the realize that going to trial with an bad or overworked attorney could result in many years of incarceration. The record reflects that Pennsylvania 25+ prisons feast on the poorest citizens in society.

Now this is the part that I’m sure that the general public have no clue about. That it is common practice for Pennsylvania’s innocent, wrongfully convicted, illegally sentence, citizens to never receive an meaningful, impartial or fair appellate review. Any Pennsylvania lawyer worth their grain of salt, will confirm that Pennsylvania practically committed a crime when it defanged the State Habeas Corpus, and replaced it with the PCRA which is thoroughly documented on the record as being an unnavigable maze of contradictions. And the President Clinton implemented Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) is nothing less than a precision guided tactical weapon. The (AEDPA) has converted the Habeas Corpus into the equivalent of an direct arm of the Prison Industrial Complex. Justice and the access to freedom have been replaced with procedural default, time bar, actual innocence doctrine, and many other laser like mechanisms focused on preventing relief. The (AEDPA) act has made receiving Habeas relief a damn near impossible feat, and when you add Pennsylvania’s extremist interpretation of the (AEDPA), it's like finding the needle in the hay sack. And when you consider that District Judges are afforded lifetime appointments, and full immunity, you soon come to realize that there are countless District Judges who just simply refuses to grant relief (especially to pro se litigants) in regard of the facts, evidence, and Federal & Supreme Court precedences which mandates relief is warranted. The lifetime appointment and immunity make District Court Judges untouchable, there are no real consequences for bad, terrible, or horrific decisions. Case in point, there was recently an 80 something year old Pennsylvania District Judge (active) who’s suffering from dementia, and got lost in the woods near his house. Inspite of this fact he technically can still rule on people cases.

The investigation will also discover that the Third Circuit routinely denies relief to Habeas petitioner’s who were practically railroaded by the District Court, so much for the alleged built in safety net. It’s a recited illusion to make the public think that there are real and meaningful check and balances. When the reality is that you can present the collective of Pennsylvania Courts with facts and evidence, accompanied with State, Federal, and Supreme Court precedences, which mandates that you are entitled to some form of relief, but still remain in prison. It is not an anomaly that a person can proceed through the entire appellate process without ever receiving a fair and meaningful review, in fact an investigation would discover that it is routine practice. And after you have been speed balled through the Federal Court, your last chance is the U.S. Supreme Court, who have accepted two (2) pro se (self represented) briefs in the last 50 years, good luck with that one. Both the PCRA and the (AEDPA) are set up so that it is damn near impossible to submit a second petition to either, with some stroke of luck or sheer brilliance a second petition maybe allowed to be reviewed. But the standards of relief have shrunk from an eye of an needle, to the eye of an gnat. This is what a incarcerated person faces if their lucky enough to afford an attorney, if you are pro se (self represented) the likelihood of success is multiplied by 3-5.

Last case in point, there was the recent release of an Pennsylvania wrongfully convicted prisoner who served (24) years for a murder which occurred while he was in a Pennsylvania courtroom. All of the people involved in a court procedure Judge’s, D.A.’s, Lawyer’s, etc… could not stop this innocent man from serving (24) years in prison. You have every reason to be shock and appalled, so how would you feel if you discovered that situations like the one described are common and routine practices? I’m in no way claiming or suggesting that ever prisoner in Pennsylvania is innocent, wrongfully convicted, or was screwed over by the system. But with the exorbitant amount of citizens which Pennsylvania incarcerates, 5-10% innocent or wrongfully convicted would account for thousands of human beings. Us on the inside, need you on the outside to expose the viciousness and diabolical nature of Pennsylvania’s prison industrial complex. Which I personally believe that Pennsylvania collective of Courts have made a willful and knowing choice to become an integral part of Pennsylvania’s 1# industry, the prison industrial complex. Which is the number one supplier of jobs to Pennsylvania’s rural counties. Without your help from the outside in exposing nothing less than a crime against humanity, there will be countless of us who die in prison innocent, and many more who will lose countless years in prison, without ever receiving a fair trial, or a meaningful appellate review, which is ALLEGEDLY what makes this country great.