Free Mark Howard
- Dream Real Theatre Company NFP
- Dec 25, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 29, 2020
Mark Howard has been incarcerated since 1998 and has served over 18+ years in a correctional center for a Cook County jail brawl in division 9. Fights are known to break out in the Cook County Jail and division 9 is one place that is known for dangerous fights. There are videos now on YouTube that show how fights happen within division 9 and other divisions as well coming from some of the local news stations and media outlets about Cook County Jail fights. Mark Howard was wrongfully sentenced to a lot of time because of an Act in the State of Illinois that states you can be charged with another's crime when either before or during the offense, you solicit, aid, abet, agree or attempt to aid, such other person in the planning or commission of the offense" while intending to promote or facilitate the crime. This act is flawed and Mr. Howard did not do what this act is suggesting. He actually was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and that is being in a county jail with other black and brown men who are afraid of a flawed racist system to tell the truth because of fear.
Systemic Racism definitely played a part in Mr. Howard's sentencing and lies by those who where threaten by an officer of the court and offered plea deals. When you read the transcripts you can see all the discrepancies and lies and changing of stories. Mr. Howard has requested that DNA should be done on a food tray to prove his innocence and that he did not attempt or hit the victim with said tray. The victim was stabbed by another inmate and that is how the victim died according to the coroner from a stab wound in the back. The judge at the time and the system continues to not allow this DNA motion to happen and be paid for by the state to prove that the victim was not hit with a tray after being stabbed. No blood was was found on Mr. Howards clothes and he was not by the victim when the victim was stabbed. Mr. Howard has clearly stated I was not near the victim during the stabbing he didn't know he was stabbed and officers came immediately and pulled him and few more inmates away and stripped and search them for contraband. At the time Mr. Howard had wrongful representation as well that wasn't a help to him. Mr. Howard who has to seek a independent lab to get DNA done after 22 years is worried that the court still might not allow it without good representation. Basically he can't go into this alone he needs a Lawyer which he can't afford at this time a Go fund me has been setup to get help in paying for the Lawyer. This lawyer will be able to help with the DNA motion and the post conviction. Please click the links below to donate and sign the petition.
In 2014 the inmate that stabbed the victim did an interview with NPR WBEZ and this what he said, "I didn't look at it ... like I took somebody's life that really mattered," "I looked at it like he was a criminal, just like me. I was defending myself. So that's what it was at first," you can listen and read his story by clicking on this link " NPR: An Inmate Who Killed Another Rethinks His Own Past | KUNC
Below is a video of a fight in division 9 of the Cook County Jail that posted on YouTube in 2018 by CBS Chicago and there are others.
Mr. Howard needs your support and help. Join us in the fight for Mr. Howard by signing the petition. Contact the Governor of Illinois JB Pritzer, Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx and Prison Review Board to review his case and to release Mr. Howard. Click the link below and sign the petition and donate to the Go Fund Me to help Mr. Howard obtain a Lawyer that will fight for his freedom and for the motion to be heard and examine.
Your support is needed and greatly appreciated.
Sponsored by Dream Real Theatre Company NFP
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