Dear Supporters and Friends,
It has been a long struggle. Because of you, I have a new beginning in life. I owe that to so many of you. Without your support and help, I might never have been released from prison. When I was informed over the years that so many of you had visited our web site, it gave me hope. That hope helped keep me going.
I am 72 years old. When I first came to prison, I was 27. While 44 years is a long time, I have to tell you that I never felt alone or abandoned. I owe that to a loving family and a wonderful group of friends. There are so many of you that contributed a lot of time and effort. There are also those who donated to my defense fund to help with a lot of legal expenses. Lastly, my friends who helped put the book together and helped out with those expenses made a huge difference.
“Willful Blindness” explains what happened in my case. It also honestly deals with my mistakes. While I did not take part in the attack on George Wilhelm and had no reason to do so, I exercised poor judgement by taking Clarence Miller home afterwards. My failure to do the right thing that night has plagued my conscience for many years.
My mistakes do not provide good cause for what the police and prosecutors did in my case. While I have come clean and confessed my errors, they have not reciprocated. They have not explained how all the records came up missing or their misguided interpretation of the dying declaration.
While I do not know if we will ever receive the answers and explanations both we and the public are entitled to, I have to get on with what is left of my life. While I plan to find employment, I also plan to be involved. I plan to volunteer for some political campaigns this year. After not being allowed to vote for 44 years, this will be a way to make up for lost time.
More importantly, it will give me a chance to make a difference.
I sincerely hope that many of you will remain involved. It is critically important to keep the people working in the criminal justice system honest. It is essential that those who hold power be held to account. I do not want what happened to me to happen to anyone else. In all likelihood, it will. If we keep vigilant, perhaps it will not happen as often.
Again, I thank you for myself and on behalf of my family. Without your help, I might not have been released from prison. I will always be grateful to so many people for so many kindnesses and so much generosity. It means more than I can put into words.
With thanks to all,
Charles “Zeke” Goldblum