Major Tillery: Still Fighting for Justice!
October 22—Major Tillery’s challenge to his 1985 conviction for a 1976 murder and assault was submitted for decision to a Pennsylvania Superior Court appeals panel on October 31. Tillery’s case is about actual innocence. It highlights Philadelphia’s infamous culture of police and prosecutorial misconduct. The only so-called evidence against him was from lying jailhouse informants who were threatened with false murder prosecutions, and plea and bail deals on pending cases. A favorite inducement for jailhouse informants in the early 1980s was “sex for lies.” Homicide detectives brought the informants and their girlfriends to police headquarters for private time in interview rooms for sex.
This is Major Tillery’s 34th year in prison on a sentence of life without parole. Over twenty of those years were spent in solitary confinement in some of the harshest federal and state “control units.”
This past year the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) acknowledged that Major Tillery has hepatitis C, which has progressed to cirrhosis of the liver. The DOC nonetheless refused to provide treatment, ignoring the federal court ruling in Abu-Jamal v. Wetzel that the DOC’s Hep-C protocols violate the constitutional requirement to provide prisoners adequate medical care. With the help of the Abolitionist Law Center, Major Tillery is now receiving the anti-viral treatment.
Tillery has been doubly punished in prison for his activism in support of fellow prisoners. His 1990 lawsuit, Tillery v. Owens resulted in federal court orders to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections to provide medical and mental health treatment and end double-celling. He challenged the extreme conditions of solitary confinement in the New Jersey State prison in Trenton, Tillery v. Hayman (2007). His advocacy for Mumia Abu-Jamal in February 2015 helped save Mumia’s life. Major Tillery filed grievances for himself and other prisoners suffering from painful and debilitating skin rashes. For these acts of solitary with other prisoners, just months after he re-entered general population from a decade in solitary confinement, Tillery was set up with false prison misconduct charges and given four months back in “the hole.” Major Tillery filed a federal retaliation lawsuit against the DOC. Recently, Major succeeded in getting a program for elderly prisoners established at SCI Frackville.
For his appeals and continuing investigation, Major Tillery now has the pro bono representation of Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Stephen Patrizio:
“I took on Major Tillery’s defense, which exposes prosecutorial misconduct in convicting him of a nine-year old murder based solely on the testimony of jailhouse informants. This testimony was recanted in the informants’ sworn statements that detail the coercion and favors by homicide detectives and prosecutors to manufacture false trial testimony.
“Now the DA’s office wants to uphold the unconstitutional application of ‘timeliness’ restrictions applied to post-conviction petitions to dismiss Major Tillery’s petition, arguing he is too late in uncovering that the DA’s office knowingly put a lying witness on the stand.”
Major Tillery’s appeal is to win his “day in court” on his petition based on his innocence and misconduct by the police and prosecution. At the same time, the investigation continues to further uncover the evidence of this misconduct.
Although Major Tillery has pro bono legal representation there are still substantial costs to appeal and to conduct additional investigation. Please help with a donation.
How you can help
Financial Support—Major Tillery needs funds for a lawyer in his appeal to overturn his conviction.
Go to PayPal
Go to JPay.com;
code: Major Tillery AM9786 PADOC
Or send a check/money order to: Major Tillery or Kamilah Iddeen, U.S. Post Office,
2347 N. 7th St.,
P.O. Box 13205
Harrisburg, PA 17110-6501
Have a fund-raising event!
Thanks to Dr. Suzanne Ross, International Spokesperson for the International Concerned Family and Friends for Mumia Abu-Jamal for $1000 gifted during her 80th Birthday celebration.
Tell Philadelphia District Attorney:
Free Major Tillery! He is an innocent man, framed by police and prosecution.
Call: 215-686-8711 or, Email: DA_Central@phila.gov
Write to:
Major Tillery AM 9786
SCI Frackville, 1111 Altamont Blvd.
Frackville, PA 17931
For More Information, To read the new appeal, Go To: JusticeForMajorTillery
Kamilah Iddeen (717) 379-9009, Kamilah29@yahoo.com
Rachel Wolkenstein (917) 689-4009, RachelWolkenstein@gmail.com