A Story of Redemption: Dewey Bozella – 2011 Espy Arthur Ashe Award Winner

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I was moved when I saw the story of Dewey Bozella watching the 2011 ESPY Awards. A story of courage, integrity, redemption, and ultimately of triumph. A story about a man wrongly convicted of murder in 1983 who endured 26 years in prison until the case was over-turned in 2009. Dewey Bozella, in the face of great injustice, never wavered and never compromised his integrity.

There are many facets here that show the amazing personal strength of integrity and character, but one in particular that blew me away. Dewey Bozella was given multiple opportunities for parole, if he would only admit to his crime. “He’d rather die in prison than say those words and go free. Each time, his application for parole was turned down.” He would not lie to gain freedom, and faced the possibility of life in prison. He chose to maintain his integrity, even at the cost of his own free life. A remarkable story.

See the Video Presentation from the ESPY’s here

An excerpt from the story on ESPN.com

“But Dewey didn’t have the chance to tell the jury. The system doesn’t work that way. Dewey waited silently for the verdict. Words cannot describe what it felt like when the jury once again called him guilty.

The sentence was 20 years to life.

Dewey Rader Bozella had learned one thing by the time he returned to prison. He could find himself in a terrible situation, or he could simply find himself.

He punched all of his bitterness into the heavy bag and taught himself to smile. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Mercy College. Then a master’s from New York Theological Seminary. He became a model prisoner. He met an inmate who had murdered his older brother. But Dewey forgave him. He proposed to a woman named Trena whom he met while she was visiting another inmate. Not only did Trena say yes to the proposal months after they’d met; her father said yes.

They were married. Prison guards wrote letters recommending that Dewey be released on parole. Four times parole hearings came up.

His application should’ve sailed through with a rubber stamp. There was one problem. A simple step in the procedure called for Dewey to appreciate the nature and seriousness of the crime. In his case, that meant admitting that he’d stuffed 5 feet of cloth down the throat of a 92-year-old woman. Dewey’s decision was final. He’d rather die in prison than say those words and go free. Each time, his application for parole was turned down.

One rejection burned so badly that he felt he needed to be placed in solitary confinement. That way, the bitterness boiling inside him would not touch anyone around him. There is no way to request solitary confinement. But Dewey knew how to get there. He howled until he was thrown into the hole.

He wrote the Innocence Project every week for years. The organization uses DNA evidence to exonerate those wrongfully convicted. The Innocence Project finally accepted his case. Then had to drop it because all the physical evidence had been destroyed. Dewey seemed out of options, but his perseverance paid off. The legal firm of WilmerHale was alerted and jumped in to help pro bono. The lawyers tracked down the arresting officer, who had since retired. After 22 years on the job, the officer took home only one file: the case of Dewey Rader Bozella. Something just didn’t smell right about it.

The lawyers quickly found that evidence had been withheld during the trials. They put in nearly a million dollars’ worth of work and found evidence that proved Dewey had nothing to do with the murder and that another suspect had confessed to the crime.

In 2009, 26 years after first being sent to Sing Sing, the chains were taken off Dewey in a courtroom and he was set free. He was 50 years old.”

Read the full story here @ espn.com, http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6740501