The Next Troy Davis: Is Jimmy Dennis Innocent on Death Row?

Sometimes, people get condemned to death in America despite there being no physical evidence connecting them to a crime. Jimmy Dennis appears to fit that categorization. To make matters worse, he had no prior criminal history, didn’t fit the physical description of the suspect, and the main witness against him later admitted to lying (the police offered the witness a deal in which drug charges would be dropped if he participated).

Dennis was largely condemned based on the results of a police lineup, though most of the witnesses at the scene did not identify him as the killer. The two who did only saw him for a matter of seconds, and one of them later indicated that she was not sure that she pointed out the right person. How did this happen, and what can be done?

The Rush to Judgment

In 1991, a 17-year-old girl, Chedell Williams, was robbed and gunned down in broad daylight in Philadelphia by three males. The public was outraged and demanded action. Meanwhile, one of Jimmy Dennis’ friends (allegedly jokingly) suggested to Jimmy that police were considering him to be a suspect. At the time, Jimmy was pulling 9 hour days rehearsing with his gospel boy band Sensation. Without hesitation, Jimmy, his father, and his brother rushed to the police station where they were informed that Jimmy was not a suspect. However, it seems that, because he came by, investigators decided to add him to the list for future reference.

As the investigation pressed on with no leads, the police zeroed in on 5’4″ Jimmy Dennis as the suspect, despite all eyewitnesses listing the suspect as around 5’10″. Jimmy’s height is significantly below the average for males. If he were the suspect, it would make sense that all of the eyewitnesses would have described the shooter as “very short” for a male. None of them did. In fact, most of the eyewitnesses did not identify Jimmy in the police lineup, but those individuals were not called to trial. It appears that no effort was made to catch all three perpetrators.

How Did This Happen, and What Can Be Done?

Jimmy Dennis was too poor to afford his own high-powered attorney and was only able to meet with his court-appointed defender once prior to the trial. His lawyer refused to pursue evidence that would prove him innocent, seeming overconfident that his client would be acquitted. Also, he was identified from a police lineup as the shooter by strangers who only saw the suspect for a matter of seconds. The majority of witnesses did not select Dennis from the lineup. A friend of Jimmy’s claimed to see him with a gun on the night of the shooting, but later admitted to lying, as police offered to drop drug charges against him if he would serve as a witness. Jimmy Dennis also had an alibi, but it was stricken from the record because the receipt used to prove it was written in military time, which seemed to befuddle the court.

Given the lack of physical evidence, the fact that Jimmy Dennis had an alibi, and the recanted testimony of the main witness against him, he deserves a new trial. However, there’s no guarantee that he will get one. The Pennsylvania court system did grant him a stay of execution recently, but it’s unclear as to what is happening next in his case. Supporters have created a website in honor of his cause and an online petition devoted to his freedom. Both of these links contain lots of documentation of the facts of the case.

Follow the links yourself and investigate the evidence. If you feel Jimmy Dennis may be innocent on Death Row, please hit the “share” button and let people know before it’s too late.

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