Sign the petition to exonerate Vernon T. Bateman now!
As the July 14 press conference proceeded, one could feel the outrage, sadness, and bewilderment steadily filling the Indianapolis Liberation Center.
The press conference, organized by the Coalition to Free Vernon T. Bateman, was titled “Art and the Power of the People: Vernon T. Bateman’s 27-Year Long Struggle for Exoneration Almost Over.” The event took place one week before the grand opening of “Art for Exoneration: The Vernon T. Bateman Experience,” a two-week long series of events between July 21 and August 2 at Gallery Forty-Two.
As speakers revealed the harrowing details of the numerous injustices that put Vernon T. Bateman behind bars at the age of 18 in 1998 and that still prevent him from living as a human being, the room filled with reporters, family members, friends, and supporters also grew increasingly impressed at the resilience, perseverance, and hope that emerged with each word Bateman spoke and each question he answered.
“This is the summer we exonerate Vernon,” Coalition volunteer Dr. Derek Ford said after he went through the case in detail.
You can access a PDF of the press kit, which includes an overview of the injustice the speakers articulated. Further, here is timeline of events with links to documentation backing up each injustice.
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Press Kit
Exoneration through Art: Vernon T. Bateman’s 27-Year Long Struggle for Freedom Almost Over
Vernon T. Bateman has been struggling for exoneration since 1998 after he was falsely convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Despite the alleged victim recanting three times, the only eyewitness recanting two times, no evidence tying him to the crime, and more, he spent 26 years in prison and is not yet free. His lawyers, family, friends, and community are changing that.
On Monday, July 14 at 12:00 pm, the Coalition to Free Vernon T. Bateman will hold a press conference where lawyers from the Innocence Project, Mr. Bateman’s mother, Coalition volunteers, and Mr. Bateman will, for the first time, reveal the details behind Mr. Bateman’s ongoing struggle for exoneration. Hosted at the Indianapolis Liberation Center (1800 N. Meridian St., Suite 305), the press conference takes place one week before the Grand Opening of “Art for Exoneration: The Vernon T. Bateman Experience,” a two-week event at Gallery Forty Two sponsored by the Herbert Simon Family Foundation, Innocence Project, the Exoneration Project, and others.
At 18-years-old, Vernon T. Bateman was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of criminal deviant conduct and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The trial was riddled with miscarriages of justice. A Nurse testified a sexual assault kit was performed and DNA evidence was collected, although that evidence was never entered at trial. Det. Mary Banks confirmed the kit was performed and that it was transferred to her custody.
Bateman’s co-defendant, Sa’ron Foley, did not testify. Det. Banks delivered his testimony, depriving Bateman of the right of cross-examination. The alleged victim, Angela Truitt, admitted lying three times: in a 2003 letter to Prosecutor Bernard Carter, a 2003 recorded statement to Bateman’s lawyer, and a 2004 deposition. She pleaded for his release. In a 2008 appeal, while she was in a psychiatric ward, Ms. Truitt claimed she only recanted because Bateman’s sister paid her a single sum of $100. In 2007, Truitt’s brother Chris Veal wrote that his sister was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. “
In early 2017, Bateman filed motions for DNA Collection and a Subpoena Duce Tecum to force the state to produce the DNA results of the Sexual Assault/Rape Kit collected. On June 20 of that year, the state denied the first motion because “Attorney Tavitas’ recollection of the trial testimony was that the perpetrators used a condom. Due to that reason, no DNA testing was performed.” On Aug. 18 that same year, the state denied the second motion claiming, “neither the Gary Police Department nor the Indiana State Police can locate any evidence that a rape kit was taken in the investigation of this case.”
In other words, the state’s denial rested not on the actual trial transcripts–which clearly indicate DNA testing was performed–but rather on the prosecuting attorney’s “recollection of the trial testimony.” The trial transcripts further prove that a sexual assault kit (or rape kit) was taken by Dr. Winston
Bateman is not yet exonerated and continues living under severe and costly parole stipulations that violate the Indiana Supreme Court’s Ruling in Bleeke v. Lemmon (2014). Despite this, he continues to produce socially-conscious works of art and children’s literature against bullying, gun violence, and other ills that have reached the world (his book, Hoperah Winfree, is part of the English-language curriculum in Tokyo elementary schools).