Man in jail for 23 yrs awaiting trial for an unknown offence

Accused of being a rapist and murderer, Walter Ogrod was left in prison for 23 years to continue suffering for the offence he knows little or nothing about.

It would be recalled that Walter Ogrod was arraigned before the court about 23 years ago for allegedly raping and killing a 4-year-old Barbara Jean but a new visit to the case showed that Walter Ogrod is innocent of the charges pressed against him.

He was placed on the death row since then in Pennsylvania, United States, for more than 23 years, for the incident that happened to his 4-year-old neighbour in July 1988.

He has since then, been held at State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Skippack, but even though he confessed to his sins in 1992, his judges alleged officers for coercing him to falsely accept the charges pressed against him. The eyewitnesses that were five in number, who claimed to have seen the man that dropped Barbara’s body on the street did not look like Ogrod.

The deceased mother, Sharon Fahy, said in a statement: “There is no question in my mind that Mr Ogrod is innocent and that he should be released from prison immediately.

“My daughter is never coming home but I wanted justice for her, not simply a closed case with an innocent person in jail,” Fahy wrote. “Two families have already been destroyed. Keeping Mr Ogrod in prison does nothing to accomplish my goal of bringing the person that killed my Barbara Jean to justice.”

While overturning the initial judgement, the judge explained, “We not only stole 28 years of your life,” assistant district attorney Carrie Wood told Ogrod, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “We threatened to execute you based on falsehoods.”

One of his lawyers, James Rollins claimed that his first stop once released would be a relative’s backyard barbecue.

“He was very pleased and relieved to be out of prison,” Rollins said. “He is very tired.”