Attica inmate wins his freedom

[bella]

Albany-- After 11 years, Albany man's conviction overturned over questions about confession being coerced
By ANDREW TILGHMAN, Staff writer
First published: Saturday, May 10, 2003
For more than 11 years, Michael Beverly lived among the nearly 2,200 inmates behind the walls of Attica state prison, working five days a week in the metal shop, lifting weights and studying for his GED.
Then the 33-year-old father from Albany got a turn of luck that is rare for state prisoners: His conviction was overturned amid questions about whether his confession was coerced.
"I'm ready to go home and start my life," Beverly said shortly before his release on Friday. He planned to pick up his 12-year-old daughter and go out for dinner.
A jury convicted Beverly in 1992 in the robbery and shooting of an alleged drug dealer in Albany's South End in May 1991. Bruce Burden was paralyzed from the waist down. Three other co-defendants were acquitted at the trial, but Beverly, the only one to make a statement to police, was found guilty and sentenced to 16 to 50 years in prison.
At his trial, Beverly's attorney, the late Joseph Donnelly of Albany, failed to question Albany Police Detective Kenneth Kennedy about Beverly's claim that he was "physically and verbally intimidated" into making a confession, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court ruled in November. Attorney Kathryn Kase handled Beverly's appeal, which was upheld last week by the state Court of Appeals.
Beverly accepted a deal on Thursday to plead guilty to a burglary and receive a sentence of time served.
"To re-create a case 12 years later is a difficult proposition," County Judge Thomas Breslin said. "The court is mindful that Mr. Beverly has already spent almost 12 years in prison."
Beverly's new lawyer, Michael Mansion, advised Beverly not to discuss the 1991 shooting, but his father, 66-year-old Walter Dabney, said his son was innocent. "He wasn't there," said the retired longshoreman.
Breslin set bail for Beverly at $25,000 in November, but Beverly did not want to leave prison until his case was resolved. "I didn't want to, you know, if things went bad and I had to come back, it would have had a real effect on me. I just decided to let it go. I knew one day it was going to happen, I was going to walk out," he said.
He said he was nervous about his release and would try to find a job as soon as possible.

[deb]

Awesome News!! Too bad he had to accept a plea and still have it on his record though.....

Deb