My Friend Efren: A Video Redux

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GOVERNOR JENNIFER GRANHOLM HERE.

Let me tell you about my friend Efren Paredes, Jr.

A Rogue’s Gallery Plus One

One night in early March 1989 in St. Joseph, Michigan, the grocery store manager at Vineland Foods was murdered and the store robbed. Five suspects quickly emerged in the police investigation. Four of the suspects were named in a phone tip received by the police. The phone tip, it turned out later, was made by the father of a fifth suspect. The suspects were composed of a 15-year-old Latino honor roll student – Efren – and the others a rogue’s gallery of thugs affiliated with the grocery store. Facing charges that could easily lead to life sentences, who do you think the thugs fingered – with constantly changing and conflicting stories – as the trigger man, or boy? Your American pedigree is confirmed if you guessed the 15-year-old Latino honor roll student.

The prosecutor did not hesitate to prosecute Efren to the fullest extent of the law with all the trimmings of American-style justice: A whirlwind trial, flavored with sensational coverage in the local media; totally circumstantial evidence, a chunk of it supplied by the plea-bargained thugs; a tainted jury foreman; an unbalanced legal system in a community known – then and now – to be tainted with racial overtones, and…well, fellow American, you can probably fill in other aspects of the story. I encourage you to read the jaw-dropping details of the case here. Ann Rule could not have written a more twisted true-crime tale than this.

Twenty Years Later

It’s been twenty years. Efren sits in prison, where he grew up. He self-educated himself in prison and has a commanding intellect. He has led an exemplary life in prison and is well- respected, to the point that even prison officials support his release (a very rare stance for prison officials). He is supported by respected wrongful-conviction experts and by many others across the country. Effectively, Efren has never been in trouble – before his trial or after his trial.

During the last 20 years, two of the murder participants were released from prison in 2005. One served only 6 months in a juvenile correctional facility. The other suspect was not charged at all. Finally, two of these criminals later committed other unrelated crimes.

At a parole hearing in December 2008, the former prosecutor of the case admitted to be without a good explanation for Efren's motivation for committing the murder, guessing it was a “thrill kill.” Law enforcement officials decorated this weak theory with words from some rap lyrics purportedly found in Efren's school locker. The circumstantial evidence is even thinner now than it was 20 years ago.

The Keys of Justice

Michigan continues to be a state that convicts juveniles – a vast majority of them minorities – and locks them up and throws away the key. There is no hope for rehabilitation, no hope for redemption. And, if you did not commit the crime, almost no hope for justice.

The Michigan State Legislature is currently considering House Bills 4518 and 4594-4596, which would end the practice of throwing way the keys on juvenile offenders. Opponents of these bills are currently painting a false and mis-leading – not to mention, desperate – campaign claiming these bills will give violent criminals an easy get-out-of-jail card. Don't believe it. The bills give juveniles convicted of crimes eligibility for a parole hearing after serving more than 15 years. Eligibility for a parole hearing is far from a free pass. I encourage you to read the bill summaries here and to contact your State Rep and State Senator in supporting these bills.

Finally, the keys of Justice are also held by Governor Jennifer Granholm. She has the power to commute sentences and to grant pardons. I've personally gotten to know Efren and I know, like some many people inside and outside of the prison system, that he is no threat to society -- never was and never has been. Please join me in contacting Governor Granholm by phone, email, or letter, in respectfully asking for justice for my friend, Efren.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

[Text abridged from my posting from May 29, 2009.]

My Friend Efren

Jason Argonaut has always claimed that my Facebook friends are somehow not real.

My Internet imagination run amok.

My pretend world pixilated.

That was far from true last year when a group of us greeted the Wheels of Justice Tour that rolled through Lansing and East Lansing.  Arriving on the bus were my four newest FB friends, Ceylon, Leah, Dan and Bill.  We met at New Aladdin’s Restaurant in the Frandor Shopping Center.  At the dinner table were approximately 25 people, many of whom were invited via FB.  Realizing this, I counted the number of my FB books sitting with me at the time:  Eighteen.  Eighteen live, breathing, laughing, eating FB friends.  If Jason could have seen me then.

It is special moments like the one at New Aladdin’s when my mind drifts – as it did that day – to one FB friend who is never present.  He is never at any gathering.  No Thanksgiving Day dinner at my house. No Christmas celebrations.  No time or place, day or night, is my friend ever physically present.  But he is real – very real – and ever-present.  

Let me tell you about my friend Efren Paredes, Jr.

A Rogue’s Gallery Plus One

One night in early March 1989 in St. Joseph, Michigan, the grocery store manager at Vineland Foods was murdered and the store robbed.  Five suspects quickly emerged in the police investigation.  Four of the suspects were named in a phone tip received by the police.  The phone tip, it turned out later, was made by the father of a fifth suspect.  The suspects were composed of a 15-year-old Latino honor roll student – Efren – and the others a rogue’s gallery of thugs affiliated with the grocery store.  Facing charges that could easily lead to life sentences, who do you think the thugs fingered – with constantly changing and conflicting stories – as the trigger man, or boy?  Your American pedigree is confirmed if you guessed the 15-year-old Latino honor roll student.

The prosecutor did not hesitate to prosecute Efren to the fullest extent of the law with all the trimmings of American-style justice:  A whirlwind trial, flavored with sensational coverage in the local media; totally circumstantial evidence, a chunk of it supplied by the plea-bargained thugs; a tainted jury foreman; an unbalanced legal system in a community known – then and now – to be tainted with racial overtones, and…well, fellow American, you can probably fill in other aspects of the story.  I encourage you to read the jaw-dropping details of the case here.  Ann Rule could not have written a more twisted true-crime tale than this.

Twenty Years Later

It’s been twenty years. Efren sits in prison, where he grew up. He self-educated himself in prison and has a commanding intellect.  He has led an exemplary life in prison and is well- respected, to the point that even prison officials support his release (a very rare stance for prison officials).  He is supported by respected wrongful-conviction experts and by many others across the country. Effectively, Efren has never been in trouble – before his trial or after his trial.  

During the last 20 years, two of the murder participants were released from prison in 2005.  One served only 6 months in a juvenile correctional facility.  The other suspect was not charged at all. Finally, two of these criminals later committed other unrelated crimes.

At a parole hearing in December 2008, the former prosecutor of the case admitted to be without a good explanation for Efren's motivation for committing the murder, guessing it was a “thrill kill.”  Law enforcement officials decorated this weak theory with words from some rap lyrics purportedly found in Efren's school locker.  The circumstantial evidence is even thinner now than it was 20 years ago.

The Keys of Justice

Michigan continues to be a state that convicts juveniles – a vast majority of them minorities – and locks them up and throws away the key.  There is no hope for rehabilitation, no hope for redemption. And, if you did not commit the crime, almost no hope for justice.

The Michigan State Legislature is currently considering House Bills 4518 and 4594-4596, which would end the practice of throwing way the keys on juvenile offenders.  Opponents of these bills are currently painting a false and mis-leading – not to mention, desperate – campaign claiming these bills will give violent criminals an easy get-out-of-jail card.  Don't believe it.  The bills give juveniles convicted of crimes eligibility for a parole hearing after serving more than 15 years.  Eligibility for a parole hearing is far from a free pass.  I encourage you to read the bill summaries here and to contact your State Rep and State Senator in supporting these bills.       

Finally, the keys of Justice are also held by Governor Jennifer Granholm.  She has the power to commute sentences and to grant pardons.  I've personally gotten to know Efren and I know, like some many people inside and outside of the prison system, that he is no threat to society -- never was and never has been.  Please join me in contacting Governor Granholm by phone, email, or letter, in respectfully asking for justice for my friend, Efren.   

-- Rico Thomas Rico

This is the first in a new series. A Friday Facebook Friends profile will be posted on my blog every Friday. 

Blogging for Justice: Ending Juvenile Life Sentences Without Parole

“We don’t need more legislation, we need to grow a soul,” the 94-year-old Detroit activist Grace Lee Boggs told us at the Michigan Policy Summit on May 16.

Well, in the case of ending juvenile life sentences without parole here in Michigan, we need both.

Michigan is one of the leading states that locks up juvenile offenders and throws away the key.  The United States of America is one of the few nations that locks up its youth in such a manner.  All civilized nations globally have ended the practice.

The Michigan Legislature is currently grappling with the issue.  The House of Representatives is considering legislation that will end juvenile life sentences without parole. A second round of hearings was held yesterday as the House Judiciary Committee took public testimony on pending House Bills 4518 and 4594-4596.

The House, during the last legislative session which ended in December, passed similar legislation with strong support.  The measures died pending before the State Senate.  So the process has started all over again.

As this week’s House Judiciary committee approached, the press grabbed onto the issue and gave some politically posturing local prosecutors a stage to inject scare tactics into the debate.  These local politicians certainly don’t want to be seen as “soft on crime” so justice-be-damned.

A number of opponents to the bills painted a picture that the legislation, if passed, would open the doors and let large numbers of violent killers loose on the public.  This is a convenient picture to paint as the cash-strapped state government is preparing to downscale the prison-industry complex and is set to release a number of prisoners for budgetary reasons.

The legislation does no such thing.  Passage of the bills would make parole available – many years down the road – to juveniles who are convicted of serious crimes.  Instead of just throwing away the key on the youth, these people will be given the chance to rehabilitate and prove themselves worthy of being released.  They would have to make a good argument – starting with a track record of good behavior in prison – before the parole board.  The legislation would give this opportunity to a limited number of prisoners currently serving no-parole life sentences that Michigan meted out to individuals as juveniles.  No one gets a free get-out-of-jail card.

I hold up the example of Efren Paredes, Jr., who has been incarcerated since he was 15 years old for a crime he did not commit.  He has grown up in prison and is now 36 years of age.  He is well-educated and very well respected both inside and outside the Michigan prison system.  Paredes, to start, deserves a medal for turning out to be a decent man having grown up in prison surroundings.  But more than that, he deserves Justice.  He was the first Michigan juvenile given a life sentence with no chance of parole.  Not only was his conviction wrong, but so was his sentence.

Paredes’s wrongful conviction should not detract from the larger point. Any under-aged youth convicted of a serious crime should not be denied the chance of rehabilitation. 

I encourage all of my readers to contact their state legislators to support the passage of these bills.  And I encourage everyone to contact Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to request the commutation of Efren Paredes, Jr.'s sentence.

Let’s not leave our sentencing guidelines for youth offenders a soul-less endeavor.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Peace Education Center Advocates for Efren Paredes, Jr.

at Lansing's Cristo Rey Festival May 22-23, 2009 

Mark Your Calendar: Next Online Discussion with Efren is May 26th, 6:30 p.m. EST

The next online discussion with the wrongfully-convicted Efren Paredes, Jr. will be Tuesday, May 26, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.  Participating bloggers who sign up on the Facebook event page will get the call-in number and you can pose your questions directly to Efren.  The program will be live online at www.mogulus.com/ricothomasrico. Viewers can use the chat function to ask questions during the program.

The Michigan House Judiciary Committee changed the hearing date from Wednesday (May 27th) to Tuesday, May 26th.  The hearing will focus on a set of pending legislation that would, essentially, end the use of juvenile life sentences without parole in Michigan.  The committee moved up the hearing by one day. We will stick to the schedule and have the online discussion with Efren Tuesday starting at 6:30 p.m. and bloggers are asked to post they commentary on Wednesday, May 27th, as originally planned.  

Please pass the word to any bloggers you know.  Check back here from additional information and details. 

P.S.  Mogulus is transitioning to Livestream.com.  So my online video channel can now also be viewed at www.livestream.com/ricothomasrico.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Community Members Announce Support for Wrongfully Convicted Efren Paredes, Jr.

Various members of the community -- from various parts of Michigan -- addressed the December 3, 2008, press conference regarding the wrongful conviction of Efren Paredes, Jr. They stood before the press and the gathered crowd at the NorthStar Center in Lansing and expressed and explained their support for Paredes. Cameras and recording devices were not allowed at the commutation hearing on Thursday, Dec. 4th, but the testimonials shown in the video below give you the flavor of sentiments expressed by community members who support the commutation and release of Paredes.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Community Members Express Support for Paredes's Commutation

Wrongful Convictions Expert Explains Paredes Case

The nationally respected wrongful convictions expert Paul Ciolino held a press conference on Wednesday, December 3, 2008, to explain the case of Efren Paredes, Jr. Ciolino's press conference was a lead-in to the commutation hearing for Paredes on Thursday, December 4th. Below is the opening portion of Ciolino's presentation. I will continue to report on this case as it proceeds through the process, including an upcoming report on my observations of the dramatic, intense nine-hour hearing on Thursday.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Wrongful Convictions Expert, Paul Ciolino
on the Efren Paredes, Jr. Case