July 14th, 2024.
The Chairman Board of Advisory*
Center for Justice Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR)
CJMR Secretariat
2nd Floor Building, OPP NNPC Petrol Station,
Iyana Bolija Iso Pako –
Iwo Road / Ojoo Express Way, Ibadan
Dear Sir,
3 LIFE SENTENCES + 76 YEARS IN PRISON: PLEA FOR YOUR COMPASSIONATE INTERVENTION TO BE MY VOICE
My name is Adedoja Olaniyi Bah. I am a Nigerian from Ilesha, Osun State. Currently, I am serving three life sentences plus 76 years imprisonment in the Dooly State Prison in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, for a crime I did not commit.
Witnessing the impactful work of your organization, the Centre for Justice, Mercy, and Reconciliation, in Nigeria, I strongly believe that I can find justice through your organization if you are willing to hear my plea.
I hereby seek the intervention of your organization to save my life from the depths of dungeon where my destiny has been unjustly cast through injustice.
I reside in Tokyo, Japan, I am married to a Japanese woman Anike, a beautician blessed with two handsome boys. I studied computer at Yabatech, I have Diploma in Computer Technology at Obafemi Awolowo University and I come from a responsible family background in Nigeria, with no criminal record with the police in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world.
My Story in brief: On April 20th, 2017, I traveled from Tokyo to New York. After spending some time in New York with a Japanese friend, I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to purchase cars through a friend who had invited me to buy auction cars for sale in Nigeria. I had known this friend for about 12 years since our time in Tokyo.
I successfully bought 5 cars from an auction sale through my friend and I also bought a Ford Explorer from a dealership somewhere at Gwinnet County in Georgia, I was in the process of shipping the vehicles to Nigeria when trouble struck.
On July 25th, 2017, around 9:20 p.m., I was driving the Ford Explorer i had purchased when a police cruiser pulled me over right outside Kruger parking lot for a routine traffic check. I provided the police with my international driver’s license, and they stepped away to dialogue.
Upon their return, they searched the car but found nothing suspicious. They then asked me to follow them to the police station, Douglas County Sheriff Department, for further questioning about the vehicle.
I humbly complied and drove myself to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, even though there was no warrant nor any charges preferred against me, except for questioning about
my vehicle acquisitions.
Upon arrival at the Sheriff’s Station, I was questioned about how I bought the cars and made payments. I provided the dealership contact address and provided evidence of payment received from my family bank account in Tokyo and also evidence of payment from my Bank of America account to the dealership bank account.
After no fault was found with the car purchase, the police shifted their line of questioning and informed me that a crime had occurred at the apartment complex where I lived. They mentioned that the closest surveillance footage around the area showed me close to the crime scene. The officer asked me to share any information or individuals I may have seen, as it could assist in their investigation.
I expressed to the officer that I had been brought in for questioning regarding vehicles, and now the interrogation had shifted to a crime near my apartment complex. I explained that I had recently moved to the complex less than a month ago and was not familiar with the residents or faces. Despite my
attempts to clarify this, the officer continued to press me for information. Eventually, I requested to leave. However, the officer threatened to charge me with rape and other sexual offenses if I did not help them in the investigation, Subsequently, I was arrested and detained without any probable cause that I committed a rape crime.
While en route to the police station that night, I contacted my friend Olutoye Atunnise to inform him of what was going on and where I was going, It took a week before my friend appeared at the station, and that was the first and the last time he ever visited, After 6 months in police detention, I hired an attorney to represent me. In one of my attorney client visitations, as I was emphasizing my good character, telling the attorney that this was my first time in Atlanta Georgia and I just moved into that complex. I requested that he reach out to my friend Toye. However, upon checking his records, the attorney shook his head in disappointment. Then he informed me that “unfortunately, Toye, whom you considered your friend, has agreed to testify for the State against you, so there is no way I can contact him.” He then asked me, “Do you have anyone else who can vouch for your character?” I replied with a no, as Toye was the only person I knew in Atlanta, Georgia.
The truth is, Toye had thousands of my money and my SUVs are in his possession, which he could have sold to secure legal services for me, but he chose not to show up. I was unaware that Toye had become a witness for the state, and I couldn’t understand why he had done so at the time.
I arrived in New York on April 20th, 2017, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in early May 2017. Toye’s wife picked me up at the Atlanta Airport. I stayed at Toye’s house for over a month. After some time, Toye informed me that his mother would be visiting the U.S. and I needed to vacate the spare room. He suggested finding a hotel, but I expressed concerns about the cost. Eventually, he helped me find a more affordable rental apartment, which I moved into around mid-June.
The arrest took place on July 25th 2017. I can confidently say that I would never stoop so low as to commit such a despicable act. As the DNA evidence found in the victim vagina proves that it was not me that committed the crime.
To my surprise, during the trial in November 2019, my friend Olutoye Atunise appeared in court to testify against my character, stating and emphasizing that he could not trust me. This revelation left me dumbfounded as the one who invited me to Georgia to come and do business denied me.
Please note: The scientific evidence exonerated me, the video evidence exonerated me and my phone GPS proves I was not even at the scene.
This case was about he say/she say and the only strategy the prosecution could have used was to destroy my character and credibility, of which Toye was used as the agent of destruction.
Throughout the trial, crucial evidence such as the video that showed the perpetrator was not produced (though all the witnesses including the victim and a police officers testified to the man shown in the video), I had the video that showed me at the same time of the crime and i was never the man victim and her family reportedly described to the Police as shown by 911 record and during the victim interrogation at the Sheriff’s Department immediately after the crime, Additionally, my DNA results from Defense Expert were not admitted, and my phone’s GPS data, which could have placed me at different location at the time of the incident, was not presented by Defense attorney. These are evidence that could prove the mistake of identification.
I would like to emphasize that this is a clear case of mistaken of identification by the Police and betrayal by a friend who abandoned me and pressured my mother in Nigeria and my wife in Japan for money to secure legal assistance for me. I am left questioning what I have done to deserve this treatment. Let Nigerians inquire about Olatoye Atunnise’s actions.
In my legal battle, I was able to secure services of private attorney until my trial stage, after i was found guilty based on testimony, upon appeal I had to rely on a government lawyer for my defense. It became evident that the government lawyer was not fully committed to my case. I firmly believe that with a competent private lawyer, I can win this case at the Appeals Court. Unfortunately, my government-appointed lawyer has ceased communication with me due to her personal Judgeship ambition of becoming a Superior Court Judge at the same County I was prosecuted and convicted and for the past several months she has remained incommunicado and also refused to present exonerated evidences before the Georgia Court of Appeals even though the evidences were duly preserved at the trial for the Appeals Court review.
Several Non-Governmental Organization declined to take on my case due to my non-American citizenship as that did not meet up with the requirements criteria and even though the Innocence Project of Georgia acknowledged the merit and exonerated evidences like DNA in my case, their sole excuse was because I have an attorney and they don’t represent people who have an attorney, I have tried several ways to get my attorney recuse herself for conflict of interest, I have written the Superior Court analyzing the conflict of interest but was denied by the court and i sent official letter to the attorney office and official e-mail address which were not acknowledged nor replied.
I am reaching out to the Nigerian community through your organization, the Center for Justice, Mercy, and Reconciliation, I am pleading with Nigerians to seek assistance in seeking a credible private lawyer to present my case before the appeal court.
I possess compelling evidence to prove my innocence, including DNA results and phone GPS, with records of my activities at the time of the crime. I will provide all this in my next email to you, Sir.
Based on the evidence I have mentioned above, you may be wondering how I was convicted.
My answer was based on the Georgia law that is used mostly in sexual cases as instructed by the prosecutor and judge.
O.C.G.A 24-14-8 = Testimony of a single witness is generally sufficient to be a fact.
This particular law is 99% used in sexual cases where there is no physical evidence available.
The downside to this law in my case was that there were many physical evidences available.
Based on another Georgia law, testimony alone is never sufficient and can never override physical evidence in a case.
It is because of that; the State did everything in connivance with the Judge to object and override every physical evidence available in my case during the trial which actually prevented the jury from hearing that those evidence actually existed.
Those are the physical evidence that proves my innocence and that I am using to fight for my innocence today. I strongly believe I can get justice at the appeal with a good private lawyer.
The judge’s instruction to the jury was, “If you trust the girl and believe that she was raped then find him guilty.”
So, based on that instruction alone, I would be found guilty. Who wouldn’t believe a young girl? Who wouldn’t believe the medical result?
But in this case, the victim described the identity of the perpetrator of the crime, which was the man in the unreleased video by the Police. When the Defense wanted to conduct in-court identification, the prosecution objected to it, she said because the victim wouldn’t recognize me, the judge sustains the objection.
So, there was no direct identification between me and the victim. My DNA does not match the DNA found in the vagina of the victim. The physical evidence does not pin me at the same scene with the victim. The scene of the crime was not in my apartment. How can I commit such despicable crime in a strange land? It was Douglas County Sheriff’s Department Detectives who accused and framed me for this crime. My defense was not whether the crime occurred or not. My defense was that it was not me that committed the crime, and all physical evidence and scientific evidence backed it up. The defense and the prosecution both agreed that this case is based on identification, and the court did everything to prevent every evidence that identifies the perpetrator of this crime, including the scientific evidence and the video from the jury.
Finally, I appeal to all members of the organization, the Centre for Justice Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR), as well as the Nigerian Embassy in Georgia, the Nigerian Government and President of Nigeria, under the capable leadership of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to kindly rescue me in my current situation. I have no more money to hire a private attorney.
I shall be very glad to answer any further questions from you.
Sincerely
Adedoja Olaniyi Bah
A serving inmate in Atlanta Georgia.