CALVIN WILLIS: SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR A RAPE HE DID NOT COMMIT
35" X 50" _ Acrylic and Latex on Canvas
Calvin served 22 years in Angola State Prison in Louisiana for a crime he did not commit. Calvin was convicted in February
1982 of the rape of a young girl and sentenced to life in prison without any possibility of parole.
From the time he was arrested
Calvin denied having anything to do with the crime. Calvin’s wife testified that they had spent the whole night together and
that she was with him at the time of the crime. The clothes he was wearing that night did not match those described by the victim
or her two sisters who saw the perpetrator as he was leaving.
The girls knew Calvin from the neighborhood and testified that
another man, who they did not know, wearing clothes similar to their description, had visited their home that night. The jury
did not believe any of Calvin’s alibis.
In 1998, The Innocence Project accepted Calvin’s case. Through their investigations
they found long-missing physical evidence that was intentionally hidden in the clerk’s office in the District Parish Court.
DNA testing of this evidence excluded Calvin from being a contributor to any of the evidence samples.
On September 18th, 2003,
Calvin was released from Angola and was greeted by his family. Calvin had spent twenty-two years in prison for a crime he did
not commit.
Convicted: 1982
Exonerated: 2003