Marlow Wright Benefit Concert

The Jermaine Marlow Wright Beneifit Concert and Freedom Party will celebrate the freedom of Jermaine Marlow Wright who walked out of Delaware's Gander Hill Prison on September 12, 2016, after serving 25 years of hard time - most of it on Delaware's death row - for a crime he did not commit.

This fundraiser is intended to help Marlow get back on his feet after his extended incarceration.    For example, one of Marlow's aspirations is to purchase a house in from the Delaware Housing Authoirity and fully renovate it.  This fundraiser can help make that dream come true. 

The event will be held  on Saturday, December 10, 2016, at 7:00 PM at the WaR3House 3 in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.  There will be live music, including Kuf Knotz, Shawn Nolan and the Megs, Will Paynter and Jay Popky of Sonoma Sound, Out of Order, and more!

Tasty snacks and beverages will be provided and it is also a BYOB event.

Tickets to this event are $20, and may be purchased right here, or through the WaR3house!  If you cannot attend but you would like to donate, you may do so here.  

There is limited availability. All proceeds will go to Marlow.

Marlow's Story:

Marlow's case was marked by injustice. In 1991 Wilmington Police were attempting to solve a murder and robbery at the HiWay Inn in Wilmington Delaware.  With no leads, the police passed twenty dollar bills around the neighborhood which produced an anonymous note with Marlow's name on it.  Police arrested Marlow under false pretenses, purportedly to question him in connection with an unrelated crime, and then interrogated him for him for more than 13 hours while he was chained to a table in a small room.  This interrogation resulted in a false confession in which Marlow got many of the most important details of the crime wrong. There was no physical evidence, no DNA or fingerprints, connecting Marlow to the crime, and the only eyewitnesses did not identify him. Nevertheless, he was charged with murder, and the State of Delaware sought the death penalty.  The prosecution cheated at trial by failing to disclose evidence that tended to show that Marlow was innocent at trial.  At all times, 

Despite his protestations of innocence and the lack of any evidence to support his false confession, Marlow was convicted and sentenced to die by lethal injection.

He spent 22 years on death row. During that time, he was permitted to leave his cell for 45 minutes just three times a week. While on death row, Marlow survived two death warrants and shook hands with and said goodbye to 16 of his fellow inmates as they went to the death chamber.

In late 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court, citing the State's failure to disclose exculpatory evidence, granted Marlow a new trial, and in August of 2016 that court declared Delaware's death penalty unconstitutional. The State, which weeks earlier was seeking to execute Marlow, offered him a plea deal where he would be sentenced to the time he had already served. Declaring his innocence, Marlow took the plea, and walked out of jail a free man.

Presently he is living with his family and working to rebuild his life.  He has his drivers license, is looking to get back to work, and hopes to purchase and restore a home in Delaware.  He is available for public speaking engagements and can address human rights groups, law students,  prison groups and others.