At age 73, Rodney Lincoln became a free man after serving 36 years and 9 days in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was taken away from his family, especially, his four children, missing almost 4 decades of moments as a father and grandfather. Now, though free, justice for Mr. Lincoln falls short -- He will receive zero compensation for the years taken from him. Rodney Lincoln was wrongfully convicted of the April 27, 1982 murder of JoAnn Tate and an attack on her two young daughters. After Lincoln’s first trial resulted in a hung jury, he was convicted in a second trial after the City of St. Louis presented evidence of then seven-year-old MD's identification and a hair found at the crime scene, which the prosecutor said “matched” Lincoln’s. DNA testing of the hair later proved it was not Lincoln’s. Further, MD, the only eyewitness in the case, recanted her identification of Mr. Lincoln and advocated for Mr. Lincoln’s exoneration and release. Additional documents previously withheld by the State later revealed that her identification of Lincoln was manipulated by the state. <img src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/30400196_15282345870_r.jpeg" alt="30400196_15282345870_r.jpeg" width="100%" media_type="3" /> After an evidentiary hearing on March 17-18, 2016 in Cole County (Mo.), Circuit Judge Daniel Green denied Lincoln’s petition for habeas relief on June 16, 2016, four months after the hearing. Lincoln's legal team at the Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) then filed a motion for the transfer of Lincoln’s case to the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri in December 2016, after the Missouri Court of Appeals (Western District) denied a motion to rehear or transfer the case. “Because the Missouri Supreme Court has not recognized a freestanding claim of actual innocence in cases where the death penalty has not been imposed, we are not at liberty to expand Missouri habeas jurisprudence to permit consideration of the claim in this case,” Appellate Judge Cynthia L. Martin wrote in the court’s ruling. <img class="not-resizable" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/30400196_1528298221.6043_funddescription.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> “I can’t imagine a judicial system where innocence is not a ground for relief from a conviction,” said Sean O’Brien, founder of the Midwest Innocence Project and professor at the University of Missouri (Kansas City) School of Law. “We’re still trying to wrap our heads around that.” On December 5, 2016, MD, wrote <a href="http://themip.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/M.D.-Letter-Requesting-Clemency-for-Rodney-Lincoln-redacted.pdf">this letter</a>  asking Governor Nixon for Mr. Lincoln’s release. Governor Nixon did not grant this request, but on June 1, 2018, outgoing Governor Eric Greitens reviewed that same application and made the decision to commute Lincoln’s sentence to “time served,” releasing him after nearly four decades in prison. “Mr. Lincoln walks out of prison a free and innocent man, whether the courts recognize it or not,” said MIP Executive Director, Tricia Bushnell. <img class="not-resizable" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/30400196_1528298237.3045_funddescription.png" alt="" width="100%" /> In an interview shortly after his release, when asked if he has any words for his supporters, Mr. Lincoln said “God bless each and every one of you - and thank you so much - for giving me the strength to go on. I’ll never forget.” (<a href="http://themip.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/2016.06.08-lincoln-poem-Im-Here.pdf">Read this poem by Mr. Lincoln</a>.) Now, he needs our help building a life and making up for lost time. Please donate now and share this fundraiser to help Mr. Lincoln rebuild his life. The proceeds of this GoFundMe will go directly to Mr. Lincoln. <a href="http://www.gofundme.com/RodneyLincolnFinallyFree">www.gofundme.com/RodneyLincolnFinallyFree</a>

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Rodney Lincoln Free After 36 Years

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platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

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NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

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US + Non-charity COs Only

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fund country is US and user language is English

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Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

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Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

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3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

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fallback mode accounts

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p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

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UKCharities

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US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

International Only

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braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

Support Comments Allowlist

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

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Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

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Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

checkout headers audience

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openai

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New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

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Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

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Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

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Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

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challenge-fundraisers

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CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

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PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Rodney Lincoln Free After 36 Years

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