GREGORY BRIGHT: SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR A MURDER HE DID NOT COMMIT
35" X 50" _ Acrylic, Latex and
Spraypaint on Canvas
Greg spent twenty-seven-and-a-half years in the Louisiana State Prison System for a crime he did not commit. Greg was convicted
in 1975 of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. At the time Greg was twenty years old.
Greg’s
conviction was based solely on the testimony of a single supposed eyewitness. The jury never heard from the Coroner, who would
have testified that the time of death did not coincide with the time that the witness claimed that she saw the murder. Nor did
the jury know that the eyewitness was a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from auditory and visual hallucinations, who was medicating
her mental illness with heroin, who gave the police information in exchange for cash, and was testifying under a false name to conceal
her own problems with the law.
In 2002, Greg was granted a hearing at which The Innocence Project of New Orleans demonstrated
not only the problems with the single eyewitness, but also that the State had concealed a police report describing alternate suspects.
Greg’s conviction was overturned and he was granted a new trial. On June 24th, 2003, after twenty-seven-and-a-half years, Greg
was released after the Orleans Parish District Attorney dropped all charges. He left prison with nothing but a ten dollar check
from the State of Louisiana, and a garbage bag full of legal paperwork.
Greg is now rebuilding his life. He and three other
exonerates have created a series of monologues detailing their experiences called, “Voices of Innocence.” So far, “Voices of Innocence”
has been performed at Harvard University, Tulane University and at the University of Illinois College of Law.
Convicted: 1975
Exonerated: 2003