Subscribe Via RSSMAIP Is Saddened To Report That Larry Fowlkes Has Died In Prison
It is with great sadness that MAIP announces the death of Larry Fowlkes in his prison cell on Saturday, May 10, 2008. Mr. Fowlkes died, apparently of natural causes, after waiting four long years for Governor Warner, then Governor Kaine, to act on his clemency petition, filed on his behalf on May 18, 2004, by lawyers recruited by the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (“MAIP”).
In 1995, Mr. Fowlkes was convicted of murder, attempted murder, and robbery, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison. No physical evidence or eyewitness connected Mr. Fowlkes to the crime. Moreover, thirteen witnesses – including a minister and police officer – placed him at church, many miles from the crime scene, during the attacks.
Mr. Fowlkes was convicted based on the testimony of a snitch, Sheila Barbour Stokes. Ms. Stokes claimed that she overheard Mr. Fowlkes planning the crime and later helped him clean blood out of his car. Ms. Stokes is a career criminal with so many felony offenses on her record involving deception and fraud that she has been barred from Lunenberg County, Virginia except for court appearances. The government dropped a felony uttering charge against Ms. Stokes shortly after she testified at Mr. Fowlkes' first trial.
Testimony from witnesses like Ms. Stokes – criminals who only testify in exchange for favorable treatment – is notoriously unreliable. Despite that red flag, police and prosecutors continued pursuing Mr. Fowlkes, and Mr. Fowlkes' trial lawyer failed to discover evidence that could have led to his acquittal. Subsequent evidence – including forensic reports, business records, and her own recantation – has discredited Ms. Stokes’s testimony. Unfortunately, no jury or court has ever considered that evidence because of mistakes made by his trial counsel and because of restrictive post-trial remedies in Virginia. Clemency was the only option left for Mr. Fowlkes, whose health steadily and seriously deteriorated from the time he entered prison.
Lawyers recruited by MAIP filed a clemency petition on May 18, 2004, based upon innocence and, alternatively, on humanitarian grounds, citing Mr. Fowlkes' poor health. Governor Warner’s staff met with the attorneys on two occasions to discuss the petition, but Warner failed to act before leaving office. Since Governor Kaine’s election, lawyers tried repeatedly to schedule a meeting with his staff, to no avail. Mr. Fowlkes had many supporters, including the foreman of the jury that convicted him, who urged wrote a letter to Governor Kaine in which he stated that he would not have voted to convict Mr. Fowlkes if he had known what he knows today. He urged the Governor to grant Mr. Fowlkes' clemency petition. To read this letter, click here. A group of former prosecutors also wrote to Governor Kaine in support of the petition. To read this letter, click here.To read an Executive Summary of the clemency petition filed on behalf of Mr. Fowlkes, click here. For a sample letter that you can send to Governor Kaine on behalf of Mr. Fowlkes, click here.
Prior to his arrest, Mr. Fowlkes had worked on the grounds of the United Methodist Assembly Center in Crewe, Virginia, where he helped care for a magnificent rose garden. It had been his dream since his arrest to return to that garden, where he would have been welcomed back into the community by his former employer and by his large and loving family. Mr. Fowlkes never gave up that dream. He used to tell his lawyers that giving up shows a lack of faith, and that he would never lose his faith. In the end, it wasn’t the courts, or the governors, or the Innocence Project that freed Larry Fowlkes. It was his faith, his God, who finally called him home.
Mr. Fowlkes was 52 years old. He is survived by a large and affectionate family, including his wife, Annie, his mother, his grandfather, six children, and twenty grand-children.
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June 1st, 2008 at 2:21 pm
June 1, 2008
Thank you for all you do in the Innocence Project.
At 52 years old, pray tell what is "natural causes" in the death of Larry Fowlkes?peace,
jbkim
June 8th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Thank you, JB Kim, for your note. You ask a good question. Larry was found dead in his cell, and his family elected not to request an autopsy. So I are uncertain of the exact cause of death. However, Larry had been very ill for quite some time with diabetes and its complications, including vascular damage, as well as hypertension. His extremely poor health was one of the grounds on which we had requested clemency, knowing that he could not survive the long prison sentence that had been imposed. Larry’s story is truly tragic.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
This is another sad story ,How our system can ignore the health and saftey of our people my prayers will go out to him and god will bless him in a place where he’s safe.I’m so sorry for the loss his family had to go through.My son went to a prision at the age of 16 and was sentenced to 30 yrs for a murder he never committed and coehused into a confession and rights violated he still sits in a va prision rotting away w/bugs and mice in his sell poor food and health care his teeth in pain rotting away while I try to save him. It will take god to open that door because our system will never care hes a number to them I will never stop trying.If theres hope of someone helping my son after 10 yrs please contact me.
kimberly
June 11th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Kimberly,
Where was your son convicted? If it was in Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia, we would be happy to look at his case. You can get the process started by clicking on the "Request Help" link on our web page and printing out our screening questionnaire. Have your son fill it out and return it to us along with his appellate briefs, if he has them.
If your son was convicted in a different state, you can find an innocence project that covers that state by clicking on the "Contact" link of our webs ite and then the link for "IP Network."
Best of luck to you and your family.
June 30th, 2008 at 2:01 am
My heart goes out to each and everyone who knew him and to all his loved ones. This is a tragedy. May God Bless all of you, family and friends. I think something like this is no different than our loved ones going off to war and fighting for our country, these innocent people are fighting for there life. These people who are in prison usally have no life insurance or health insurance, the family pays a high price for this wrong that’s been done also. I am speaking from experience. My husband was wrongly accused as well. He is serving time in a federal prison for a knowingly and willingly allowing drugs to be distributed in a business. Count 8 He pled not guilty, but was told if he did not change his plea to guilty they would charge his Dad, who owns the business and is sick (75 years old) that’s why my husband was running the business for his Dad. They had no evidence but my husband had to choose between his own innocence or protecting his Dad. My life has also been torn upside down. This is so wrong.
I have just printed out your questionaire to send to my husband. I also sent you an e-mail with a letter I wrote to President Bush, and quite a few others. because he was denied for the reduction in sentence per the new law which deducts 2 yrs. from your time. The Judge says he does not qualify because he had no contact or interaction with drugs or drug dealers, just allowed it to happen. So he does not qualify. (If the drug people were not doing what they were doing, my husband wouldn’t be in prison. This makes no sense either.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I’m so sorry Mr. Fowlkes wasn’t able to benefit from political leaders who have the courage to use their power for the Good. We ALL have so little time and waste SO much of it bickering with non-sense, instead of eliminating excuses to following the Good (straining gnats while we swallow camels). God forgive us all for the death of Mr. Fowlkes - the circumstances of his passing made me weep. But that’s not the end of his story…I’m glad he’s in a better place, relieved of his body’s burden.
Much peace to his family