Book details

  • Genre:true crime
  • Sub-genre:Murder / General
  • Language:English
  • Pages:552
  • Hardcover ISBN:9781969633003

State of Georgia versus Clevon Jamel Jenkins

The Tragically Sad and True Account of How Ambitious Prosecutors, Inept Lawyers, and Incompetent Judges Sent a Black Teenager to Prison for Life Without Any Possibility of Parole for a Heinous Murder He Did Not Commit

By Robert Michael Kelly, Esq.

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Overview

"State of Georgia versus Clevon Jamel Jenkins" is a meticulously researched and gripping true crime account of a Black teenager from Brooklyn who was wrongfully convicted of robbery and malice murder in rural southeast Georgia in 1995. Following an error-filled two-day trial, the jury deliberated less than forty-five minutes before sentencing Jenkins to life in prison without any possibility of parole. For over seven years, former NYC prosecutor Robert Michael Kelly fought tirelessly to overturn this conviction -- all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite clear evidence of injustice, Jenkins remains incarcerated in Georgia after more than three decades in jail. This scholarly and compelling book exposes a truly shocking and egregious miscarriage of justice that the courts of Georgia still need to correct.
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Description

This gripping true crime story is both a classic American whodunit and a devastating indictment of the American criminal justice system. In 1993, five Black teenagers were arrested for the robbery and malice murder of a white grocer in rural southeast Georgia. One of those arrested was 17-year-old Clevon Jamel Jenkins, a budding rap artist from Brooklyn who had just recently moved south to escape the violence of Bedford-Stuyvesant and live with his grandmother. From the very beginning, Jenkins insisted he was innocent. He begged his court-appointed lawyers to let him testify in his own defense and tell the jury what happened, but they told him that the trial was "going well" and there was no reason for him to testify. After a deeply flawed two-day trial, Jenkins was quickly convicted by the jury and sentenced to life in prison without any possibility of parole. A year later, former New York City prosecutor Robert Michael Kelly reviewed the trial transcript and immediately concluded that Jenkins had been denied a fair trial. Over the next seven years, he filed multiple legal challenges in both state and federal courts -- including the U.S. Supreme Court -- fighting to overturn Jenkins' conviction. Despite his best efforts, every appeal was denied. In this riveting and meticulously researched book, Kelly presents the full story for the first time -- the investigation, the trial, the numerous legal battles, and the troubling questions that still remain. He lays out the evidence in detail, explains the legal principles involved, exposes the procedural failures, and invites you to weigh the evidence and decide for yourself. Is Jenkins guilty? Did he receive a fair trial? Should he remain in prison for the remainder of his life for a crime he probably did not commit?
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About The Author

Robert Michael Kelly is a summa cum laude graduate of both NYU School of Law and the NYU Stern Graduate School of Business. At NYU Law, he served as Note and Comment Editor of the NYU Law Review, was named a John Norton Pomeroy Scholar, and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. At Stern, he was selected for Beta Gamma Sigma, the national business honor society. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science and philosophy from Fordham University, where he was News Editor and Editor-in-Chief of "The Fordham Ram," a member of the Dean's List, and a recipient of both the New York State Regents Scholarship and the New York City Mayor's Committee on Scholastic Achievement Scholarship. After graduating from law school, Kelly completed the U.S. Army Intelligence School at Fort Holabird, Maryland, with honors, and served as an interrogator in the U.S. Army Reserve for five years, attaining the rank of Specialist Fifth Class before receiving an honorable discharge in 1973. Kelly began his legal career in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in 1970, where he spent five years prosecuting more than twenty homicide and homicide-related cases. He then spent over three decades as a senior trial lawyer at a prominent New York City and international law firm, focusing on complex civil litigation and filing more than a dozen petitions with the U.S. Supreme Court. In his debut book, "State of Georgia versus Clevon Jamel Jenkins," Kelly delivers a scathing indictment of the American criminal justice system -- not as a prosecutor, but as a pro bono advocate for a wrongfully convicted Black teenager. This riveting and meticulously researched work presents a comprehensive and scholarly analysis of an error-filled and badly-decided case that has haunted the author for two decades. Now retired from legal practice, Kelly lives in central North Carolina with his wife, Margaret. He enjoys writing, studying, travelling, playing violin and piano, taking exercise classes at his local senior center, and following the marvelous adventures of his seven beloved grandchildren.
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