Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Ford was convicted of first-degree murder in 1984 but was exonerated in March 2014.
Ford would have still been on death row if not for a confidential informant who told police in 2013 that someone else confessed to him about the murder that Ford was accused of committing.
Ford would have still been on death row if not for a confidential informant who told police in 2013 that someone else confessed to him about the murder that Ford was accused of committing.
Lawyer and friend William Most told ABC News Ford was diagnosed with
stage 3 lung cancer several months after being released from the
Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Most said that it quickly
progressed to stage 4 and spread to his bones.
"He was a really inspirational person and ... I'd even heard that he inspired people that had no connection to him," Most said.
Ford was featured on ABC News’ ”Nightline” in April and agreed to meet
with the prosecutor who put him behind bars, who wrote an open apology
letter after Ford was exonerated. But Ford said at the time that he was
unable to forgive him.
When he left prison in 2014, Most said Ford, then 64, only had $20 to
his name. He had been living in a home provided by Resurrection after
Exoneration, a group dedicated to helping prison exonerees.
Ford was involved in three lawsuits at the time of his death, two
federal suits for which Most was representing him and one state suit.
The federal suits were for compensation for his wrongful imprisonment
and inadequate health treatment, and the state suit was a separate
compensation suit.
Though he never married, the suit will continue and his children could
stand to benefit from any rewards from the court, Most said.
Ford had several children, many of whom live in California, and more
than 10 grandchildren at the time of his death. Most said Ford was able
to visit California since being released from prison and one of his sons
came to Louisiana to see him before he died.
Though they were located in the same prison and overlapped by several
decades, Ford was not a member of the Angola Three, a group of three
prisoners who were put in solitary confinement ranging from 29 to 43
years.
Ford spent 29 years, three months and five days in solitary confinement
in the prison, Most said in a news release confirming Ford's death
ABC News
0 comments:
Post a Comment