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Tribute to the exempary life of Maurice Carter
from the P.a.t.r.i.c.k Crusade
Maurice Carter
Maurice
Carter: Convict had sentence commuted
BY KELLEY L. CARTER, FREE
PRESS STAFF WRITER, November 4, 2004
GARY, Ind. -- An Indiana native
whose life sentence in a Michigan prison was commuted for medical
reasons was remembered by friends and family at his funeral Wednesday
as a man able to forgive and love, and some vowed to keep fighting
to prove his innocence.
Maurice Carter, who died Oct.
25 at age 60, was convicted of shooting and wounding an off-duty
Benton Harbor police officer in 1973. Gov. Jennifer Granholm
commuted his sentence in July because Carter suffered from hepatitis
and needed a liver transplant. He died of complications from
the disease and a damaged liver.
Mourners gathered Wednesday
at Genesis Center in Gary, Ind., for the funeral, and Carter
was buried at Fair Oaks Cemetery in Griffith, Ind., according
to the Post-Tribune of Merrillville.
Grand Rapids attorney Carole
Bos said she hopes to reopen the investigation into the shooting
with evidence that points to a new suspect.
"I made a promise to Maurice
that even when he isn't here, we are all going to work to clear
his name," Bos said.
Keith Findley, an attorney
with the Wisconsin Innocence Project who handled Carter's final
appeal for a new trial, said Carter "will be a guiding inspiration
for us as we fight for the unfairly convicted."
The Benton Harbor police officer,
Thomas Schadler, was shot six times. He recovered and died two
years ago of cancer. His family opposed Carter's release.
Copyright © 2004 Detroit
Free Press Inc.
- Ex-inmate dies of liver
disease, but fight goes on
- Supporters will continue
their efforts to clear his name in shooting of police officer.
By James Prichard , Associated
Press, Friday, October 29, 2004
Maurice Carter
spent 28 years behind bars for shooting and wounding Thomas Schadler,
an off-duty Benton Harbor police officer.
GRAND RAPIDS - Maurice Carter's
death from the liver disease that gained him an early but brief
release from prison will not end his supporters' efforts to clear
his name, they said.
Carter, 60, spent 28 years
behind bars for shooting and wounding a police officer before
Gov. Jennifer Granholm commuted his life sentence because of
his illness.
He died Sunday at Spectrum
Health-Butterworth Campus of complications from hepatitis C and
liver damage, friend Doug Tjapkes said.
"He was in the hospital
every two weeks, but he had some wonderful experiences as well,"
Tjapkes said.
Carter's death came three months
to the day after that he was released from prison. The Gary,
Ind., native spent the last several months of his sentence as
a patient at the Duane L. Waters Hospital inside the Jackson
prison complex.
He had hoped to receive a life-saving
liver transplant and remained optimistic until the very end,
but a staph infection acquired during his incarceration prevented
him from being evaluated for the operation, Tjapkes said.
Tjapkes led the effort to free
Carter and said he will continue to try and clear his friend's
name.
A jury convicted Carter in
1976 of shooting and wounding Thomas Schadler, an off-duty Benton
Harbor police officer.
Schadler was shot several times
as he and his wife, Ruth, were shopping at a Benton Harbor store
on Dec. 20, 1973. Though injured, the officer returned fire at
his assailant outside the store.
The motive for the shooting
never was established, but the Schadlers identified Carter as
the gunman. Thomas Schadler died in March 2002.
Carter claimed he was innocent,
but his efforts to get a new trial were denied. As his health
declined in recent years, Tjapkes and others started a grass-roots
movement to get him freed from prison.
Ruth Schadler wrote a letter
to the Michigan Parole Board requesting that Carter be kept in
prison. But this year, the board recommended that Granholm commute
his sentence for medical reasons, which she did in June.
Carter received the support
of several individuals and organizations, including the University
of Wisconsin Law School's Wisconsin Innocence Project and Northwestern
University's Center on Wrongful Convictions.
Rob Warden, executive director
of the Northwestern center, is convinced of Carter's innocence,
saying "he had absolutely nothing to do with" the shooting.
Warden called his death "a
gross, gross tragedy. The state of Michigan should be ashamed,
and the county of Berrien should be ashamed of what they did
to Maurice Carter. He's gone, most of his supporters would agree,
to a better place."
Berrien County Prosecutor James
Cherry said Warden "is entitled to his opinion and his perspective."
"We don't get any satisfaction
out of the fact that Maurice Carter died, but the fact remains
that Maurice Carter was convicted and he failed in appeal after
appeal after appeal," Cherry said
After reviewing the case this
year, Cherry recommended that Carter's prison sentence be commuted
because of his state of health and the length of time he already
had served.
"In considering the sentence
commutation, the governor was not revisiting the merits of the
case and determining Mr. Carter's innocence or guilt. Her role
was strictly to evaluate the request for a sentence commutation
and in the end, she honored his request," said Liz Boyd,
Granholm's press secretary.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. 