INNOCENCE FRAUD MAN: DELBERT TIBBS (JUNE 19, 1939 TO NOVEMBER 23, 2013)

           

After learning about the Anthony Porter Case, We, the comrades of Unit 1012, NEVER and DO NOT support any wrongful conviction, we want the guilty to be punished. However, we know that the ACLU Demons, uses the word, ‘innocent convicted’ not because they fear convicting the innocent, but they just oppose convicting the guilty.

            On this date, October 30, 2014, Alstory Simon was freed from Prison after spending nearly 15 years behind bar after being framed by the Innocence Project. We encourage the public to never believe in those Anti-Death Penalty Activists (Pro Murderers and murder victims haters) send by Satan anymore, as they enjoy LYING AND LYING SO MUCH! 

On November 23, 2013, Delbert Tibbs died after battling with cancer. He was one of those Innocence Fraud exonerees who was exonerated due to being lucky and not that he was not guilty.

Cancer is an awful disease but November 23, 2013 was a good disease for that evil man. He will not be able to live this earth spouting out his lies anymore. Since he was not convicted of his crime (by execution or LWOP), cancer was his punishment.

 

Viewminder's Man of the Year 2011 ~ Delbert Tibbs

Delbert Tibbs (June 19, 1939 – November 23, 2013) was an American man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and rape in 1974 and sentenced to death. Later exonerated, Tibbs became a writer and anti-death penalty activist.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delbert_Tibbs

Early life and trial

Tibbs was born June 19, 1939, in Shelby, Mississippi; moving to Chicago, Illinois at age 12. He attended the Chicago Theological Seminary from 1970 to 1972. In 1974, he was hitchhiking in Florida when he was wrongfully implicated in a crime for which he would receive the death penalty.

That year, a 27-year-old male and a 17-year-old female were violently attacked near Fort Myers, Florida. The man was murdered and the young woman raped. She reported that they had been picked up while hitchhiking by a black man who shot her boyfriend dead and then beat and raped her, leaving her unconscious by the side of the road.

Tibbs was about 220 miles north of the crime scene when he was stopped by police and questioned about the crime. The police took his picture, but as he did not fit the victim's description of the perpetrator, did not arrest him. The photograph however, was sent to Fort Myers and the victim identified him as the attacker. A judge then issued a warrant for Tibbs' arrest. He was picked up in Mississippi two weeks later and sent to Florida.

Though Tibbs had an alibi, he was indicted for the crimes. During the trial, the prosecution supplemented the victim's identification with testimony from a jailhouse informant who claimed Tibbs had confessed to the crime. The all-white jury convicted Tibbs of murder and rape and he was sentenced to death.

After the trial, the informant recanted his testimony, saying he had fabricated his account hoping for leniency in his own rape case. The Florida Supreme Court remanded the case and reversed the decision on the grounds that there was "considerable doubt that Delbert Tibbs is the man who committed the crimes" and ordered a retrial. Tibbs was released in January 1977. In 1982, the Lee County State Attorney dismissed all charges, ending the chance of a retrial.

Legacy

In November 1976 Pete Seeger wrote and recorded the anti-death penalty song "Delbert Tibbs".

Tibbs is one of six people whose stories were dramatized in the acclaimed play The Exonerated. The play, written by Eric Jensen and Jessica Blank, details how each individual was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, in addition to their exoneration after varying years of imprisonment. The Exonerated was made into a film, which first aired on the CourtTV cable television station on January 27, 2005. Tibbs is portrayed by Delroy Lindo and at the end the film fades from the actor to Tibbs himself who talks about his experience and his hopes.

On February 14, 2011 Tibbs, along with fellow exonerees and anti-death penalty activists, spoke with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn about repealing the death penalty in their state. A month later, on March 14, 2011, the death penalty was repealed in Illinois.

Tibbs is the author of "Selected Poems and Other Words/Works", Edited by O'Modele Jeanette Rouselle, Copyright 2007, Printed by The Manifestation-Glow Press New York City October 2007. His poetry also appears in the chapbook anthology "Beccaria", edited by poet Aja Beech released on April 22, 2011.

Delbert Tibbs who was only released because his death sentence was overturned because:

10. Delbert Tibbs--Tibbs v. State, 337 So.2d 788 (Fla. 1976) (Tibbs I); State v. Tibbs, 370 So.2d 386 (Fla.App. 1979) (Tibbs II); Tibbs v. State, 397 So.2d 1120, 1123 (Fla. 1981) (Tibbs III); Tibbs v. Florida, 457 U.S. 31 (1982) (Tibbs IV). Tibbs was convicted of raping a woman and murdering her boyfriend. The chief witness was the surviving rape victim who identified Tibbs as her boyfriend’s murderer. 

Tibbs' conviction was reversed by a 4-3 vote of the Florida Supreme Court. The majority applied an anachronistic review standard that "carefully scrutinized" the testimony of the prosecutrix since she was the sole witness in the rape case "so as to avoid an unmerited conviction." Tibbs I at 790. The conviction was not even reversed because the Florida court found the evidence legally insufficient, but merely because the Florida court found the “weight” of the evidence was insubstantial. The court found the prosecutor's testimony to be doubtful when compared with the lack of evidence (other than her eyewitness testimony) that Tibbs was in the area where the rape-murder occurred. Id. at 791. 

Subsequently, in a later opinion, the Florida Supreme Court repudiated this "somewhat more subjective" rule that permitted an appellate court to reverse a conviction because of the weight of the evidence, rather than its sufficiency. In hindsight, the Florida Supreme Court candidly conceded that it should not have reversed Tibbs' conviction since the evidence was legally sufficient. Tibbs III at 1126. The old review standard applied to Tibbs’ original case was a throwback to the long discarded rule that a rape conviction required corroboration of the rape victim's testimony–an unenlightened rule which inherently distrusted the testimony of the rape victim. Id. at 1129 fn. 3 (Sundberg, C.J. dis. & conc.); see e.g. People v. Rincon-Pineda, 14 Cal.3d 864 (Cal. 1975). The reversal of Tibbs’ conviction was a windfall for Tibbs, not a finding of innocence. 

Subsequently, a debate in the Florida courts as to whether or not Tibbs could be retried under the Double Jeopardy Clause made its way to the United States Supreme Court. Justice O'Connor's opinion explained that the rape victim gave a detailed description of her assailant and his truck. Tibbs was stopped because he matched her description of the murderer. The victim had already viewed photos of several single suspects on three or four occasions and had not identified them. She examined several books of photos without identifying any suspects. However, when she saw Tibbs' photo, she did identify Tibbs as the rapist-murderer. She again identified Tibbs in a lineup and positively identified him at trial. Tibbs IV at 33 & fn. 2. At trial, the victim admitted drug use and that she used drugs "shortly" before the crimes occurred. She was confused as to the time of day that she first met Tibbs. Although not admitted as evidence, polygraphs showed however that the victim was truthful. Tibbs denied being in the area during the time of the offense and his testimony was partially corroborated. However, the prosecution introduced a card with Tibbs' signature which contradicted his testimony as to his location. Tibbs disputed that he had signed the card. Id. at 34-35. 

O’Connor’s opinion also noted the evidence that the Florida Supreme Court had originally believed weakened the prosecution’s case. However, since the evidence of guilt was not legally insufficient, the Double Jeopardy Clause did not bar Tibbs’ retrial. Id. at 35. 

Ultimately, due to the current status of the surviving victim--a lifelong drug addict--the original prosecutor concluded the evidence was too tainted for retrial. In Spite of Innocence, at 59. Nonetheless, the evidence recounted in the United States Supreme Court decision hardly supports a claim that Tibbs is actually innocent.

The state prosecutor who chose not to retry Tibbs recently explained to the Florida Commission on Capital Crimes that Tibbs “was never an innocent man wrongfully accused. He was a lucky human being. He was guilty, he was lucky and now he is free.”