|
Letter by Ake Sintring |
||||
|
[EDITOR'S NOTE: A day or so after I posted a story about Anthony Fletcher's release from prison, I received an impassioned e-mail from a man in Sweden named Ake Sintring. When he heard about Fletcher's release, he was not only very moved by the news, he was also reminded of his anger over Anthony's case. In great detail, Sintring wrote about a correspondence with Fletcher and the various details about the case that he believes proves that Fletcher received a raw deal. In the e-mail, Sintring asked me to publish his comments for the readers of PhillyBoxingHistory.com. So, below is his full message, with very minimal editing.]
Hi John, I just read your story about Anthony Fletcher. In the August 2000 issue of The Ring, I read about his case. I immediately wrote to him. He wrote me back. We had a very vivid correspondence up to some years back. I really tried to get media interested, media in the US and in Sweden. I even visited him at Greene's Correctional Institute. Nobody, N O B O D Y, showed any interest in his case. Not even the boxing community. Up to some days ago, I never heard of PhillyBoxingHistory.com, unfortunately. There is one exception, ONE! Ivan Goldman. He wrote a book, SICK JUSTICE, about the way justice is supposedly done in the US. It is a nightmare to read about the system! In that book he writes about Fletcher's case. Unfortunately, Anthony got the idea that Ivan could have done much more and that he wrote about him in order to earn money for himself. I informed Anthony that I thought Goldman was the best thing that happened to him since 1993. As a result Anthony stopped writing to us. I have five full binders with letters from Anthony, all of them handwritten I am overwhelmed that he is free. You wrote that there "...seemed to be considerable doubt surrounding both the exact nature of the shooting and the quality of his legal defense". Please inform your readers about these basic facts: 1. Everybody who has for instance read the result of the autopsy knows that Christopher was killed in a fight about a weapon. Two shots fired, one hit Christopher's right leg. The bullet went "steeply downwards"! Such a bullet trajectory cannot be the result of shooting from a distance!! 2. The doctor who did the autopsy was not present at the trial! The jury was misinformed. They even were "informed" that one of the shots was in the back of Christopher "when he fled"!! 3. The completely not interested, and thereby incompetent, lawyer did not press this issue. He actually said nothing. He did not ask for the trousers of Christopher, so they were never shown. In case you found traces of dust from the shooting, Anthony's version is right! If not, the (bought) witness was right, shooting from 15 yards distance. 4. Christopher died after 12 hours´ bleeding. They did not treat him. Christopher's family are Jehovah Witnesses, they do not allow blood transfusion. The jury was told that Christopher died right away, more or less. The lawyer did not say a word about this! 5. The one and only witness at the trial, although there were more people at the scene, was taken to the police the day before the trial. They apparently bought her witness. She should have been to trial herself some days later. The accusations against her were dropped. "Considerable doubt"?? If you read the documents you know what happened! That Anthony Fletcher had to spend a quarter of a century in an isolated cell is a scandal. In the US it is not, apparently. In any other country it would have been. Now Anthony has been persuaded to do some plea bargaining to get free at last. Plea bargaining is a special thing for the US. This way the police and the system can show "result effectiveness". Anthony has all his life, up to now, said "no, thanks" to all suggestions about doing plea bargaining. Apparently he now has decided to do it, in order to get some years in freedom, together with his daughters. I understand him. Please, John, can you print this? It is the inside story from a foreigner, who is more and more informed about, and frustrated about, how "justice" is done in the US. Anthony Fletcher got his life stolen. Yours, |
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
