Guilty until proven innocent
by Beverley Kreul, posted March 13, 2009
After almost decades of imprisonment, two men walk free. The world has changed in the past twenty years. Hotel keys are now cards. The gas station has automated voices that tell you how to pump your gas. Leadership has changed hands from Democrat to Republican and back again. We have entered a time of national threat, war, and now an impending recession. It would be difficult to comprehend the changes in the world if we had not experienced these changes as gradually as they happened.
For inmates in the U.S. prison system, being released back into the world after ten or twenty years, sometimes even longer, of being locked up is a challenge. But what if you were thrown back into the world after being in prison for a crime you did not commit? Would the change seem even more dramatic?
Dennis Fritz and Josh Kezer spoke March 3 at 7 p.m. about their experiences of being imprisoned for crimes they did not commit and later being found innocent and released. The seminar was sponsored by the Students for Progressive Action and the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
In 1982, Fritz was raising his daughter Elizabeth, 6, and teaching in Ada, Okla. Four years earlier, his wife had been murdered outside of their home and he began raising his daughter on his own. Over time he became friends with Ronnie Keith Williamson, who shared Fritz’s passion of playing guitar. Williamson was an alcoholic and suffered from bi-polarism. He had also been acquitted of two rape charges.
Fritz’s association with Williamson made him a suspect in the murder of Debbie Sue Carter, a waitress at a local nightclub. Later on, the superintendant of the Ada school district asked Fritz for his resignation due to the accusations.
“I couldn’t even comprehend it in my mind,” Fritz said. “I could feel the heat being turned up and the intensity of the flame.”
Five years passed by and Fritz heard nothing form the police. He assumed he had been eliminated from the suspect list. In 1987, Fritz was arrested in Kansas City, surrounded by approximately 25 SWAT Team officers pointing their automatic weapons at him.
“The only thing I could think to say was ‘ There must be another Dennis Fritz’.” Fritz was then extradited back to Oklahoma and spent two months in jail until the time of his trial. He could never afford a lawyer, but was provided with a bankruptcy lawyer right before his case was tried.
Although, the evidence against Fritz was circumstantial, he was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Williamson was handed a death sentence. For the next twelve years, Fritz spent his time in the law library searching for ways to prove his innocence. Once technology was improved, both Fritz and Williamson were run through a DNA database and found not guilty of murder. In fact, the man guilty had testified against Williamson.
Elizabeth met her father for the first time since his incarceration in 1999. She was 24-years-old. Since their reunion, Fritz has published “Journey Towards Justice.” The book gives a detailed description of everything that has happened to him since his arrest. John Grisham, ex-politician and retired attorney turned author, also used Fritz’s story as the inspiration for his novel “The Innocent Man.”
Fritz now resides in Kansas City and travels around the nation to speak about his experiences. Williamson was released from prison on the same day as Fritz. Williamson had been in solitary confinement for almost 12 years with the guards taunting him over the intercom system pretending to be the voices of the victim and of God. Upon his release, Williamson was developing sever schizophrenia and died of alcoholism a few years ago.
A similar situation occurred to Josh Kezer, a local Columbia man. At the time of the March 3 seminar, Kezer had been a free man for fourteen days. He went to jail at the age of 18 for second-degree murder, despite the fact the he had an alibi, and there was no witness, weapon, motive or DNA evidence.
Kenny Hulsof, former Missouri Republican candidate for governor, was Kezer’s prosecutor and has not commented on the case with any media. Kezer was declared innocent the day after his 34th birthday. He had spent almost half of his life in prison.
Neither, Fritz nor Kezer spoke of any sort of compensation from the state or private organizations. Both claimed they are living life to the fullest now and letting their lawyers take care of the boring work.
“Sometimes it takes a man to lose it all, to hit the bottom of the pit before you know what you really need,” said Kezer.
Kezer had discovered what was known as “jailhouse religion.” Through this newfound faith, he did not integrate into the culture of prison and led many other prisoners to a Christian faith. His motivating attitude while incarcerated led Sheriff Rick Walter to ask him what he was going to do with the rest of his life.
“I plan on living up to some people’s expectations and disappointing others,” Kezer said. “And that’s alright with me.”
