Conviction overturned: Texas inmate Jerry Hartfield still waiting after 30+ years for new trial

Off death row but still waiting for a new trial 33 years later. Kafka would be so proud.

Washington Post: Inmate whose conviction was overturned in 1980: ‘I’ve been waiting ever since’ for retrial (Jan 3 2013)

UK Daily Mail: Texas inmate remains behind bars more than 30 years after his murder conviction was overturned (Nov 29 2012)

• Jerry Hartfield, now 56, was 21 when convicted for murdering a woman found beaten with a pickaxe
• In 1983 his conviction was overturned with a court of appeals ordering a retrial that has yet to take action
• Hartfield claims his constitutional right to a speedy trial have been violated

Freak Out Nation: Man with IQ of 51, imprisoned for 30 years, never been convicted of a crime, still languishes in Texas prison system (Dec 5 2012)

Global Toronto: Inmate whose conviction was overturned in 1980: 'I've been waiting ever since' for retrial (Jan 4 2013)

 

Don't be so quick to believe that he really has an IQ of only 51. My boyfriend spent 28 years imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. He was advised by another inmate to get the lowest score possible on the IQ test because he could not be legally executed (at that time) if his IQ was below 60. He managed to get a score of 59*. I think a lot of inmates are purposely "failing" the IQ test.

(*He had to try really hard to get that low of a score. Trust me, this man is much more intellegent than someone with a 59 IQ!)

 

He couldn't read but has since learned to. He'd probably score much higher today.

IQ tests are largely a reflection of societal expectations.

 

I agree. I expected to get a much higher score than the one I got.

as for this fellow's overturned verdict, it appears to have been by a technicality of a minor sort and not materially affecting the evidence that convicted him. there doesn't seem to have been a whole lot of interest in ANYONE's part at the time to let him back loose. So it's not like it was some innocent person stuck in jail.

It is an odd bookkeeping screwup though.

 

Maybe so, but you still have to ask why there wasn't a retrial back in the 80's. This will probably be enough to turn him loose.

 

"overturned" steal means "overturned", and he's been held for 30+ years without a valid conviction. Some heads need to roll for this.