Man wrongly accused of killing comes out fighting after 26 years

DEWEY BOZELLA landed a hard right cross on his opponent’s jaw at the final bell, and the 52-year-old boxer raised his arms in victory.

After 26 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit, Bozella triumphantly realised a dream deferred in his first and only professional fight.

Bozella won his pro-boxing debut last Saturday night, beating Larry Hopkins by unanimous decision in the latest stunning chapter of a remarkable life.

“I used to lay in my cell and dream about this happening,” Bozella said. “It was all worth it. It was my dream come true.”

Bozella has never lived without tragedy. His father beat his pregnant mother to death when he was 9 and two of his brothers were murdered on the Brooklyn streets. In 1983, he was wrongfully convicted of killing 92-year-old Emma Crapser.

He was convicted of the murder, largely on the testimony of two criminals, who reportedly changed their story so often that it should have raised serious doubts.

There was no physical evidence linking Bozella to the crime. The only significant fingerprint found at the scene of the crime was that of Donald Wise, who was convicted of committing a very similar murder of an elderly woman in the same neighbourhood in 1978, the year after the Crapser killing.

Wise’s girlfriend told police that Wise had killed Crapser. Nevertheless, Bozella was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 20 years-to-life in 1983.

In 1990, he won a re-trial. He was offered a deal by the prosecution that he could go free on the basis of time already served, if he would admit to the crime, but he refused. He was convicted again.

While in jail he became a model prisoner, largely through the disciplinary influence of becoming a proficient boxer. He gained a bachelor’s degree and also a Master’s from a New York theological seminary. At two parole hearings, he was offered his freedom on condition that he expressed remorse for the crime, but he refused to admit that he had committed the murder.

After five years of pleading, Bozella persuaded The Innocence Project — a public policy organisation dedicated to exonerating wrongfully-convicted people through DNA testing — to take up his case in 2007. Its lawyers were shocked at the injustice, but they were unable to pursue the case, as the evidence had been destroyed, so the project referred the case to a New York law firm, where a couple of young lawyers took up the challenge in what was their first case. The two lawyers were unable to make headway until they spoke to the retired police lieutenant Arthur Regula, who gave them a copy of the case file that he had kept himself. It was the only old file that he took with him when he retired. “There were certain things in the case that made me have doubts,” he said.

Another person had actually confessed to the crime, but this information was withheld from the defence. On the basis of this evidence, Bozella’s conviction was overturned and he walked out of court a free man on October 28, 2009.

He had difficulty securing a job, but was employed counselling former convicts and teaching boxing. The sports network ESPN became interested in his story and gave him its Arthur Ashe Courage Award last July. Previous recipients included Muhammad Ali and Nelson Mandela.

Bozella went into training to get a professional licence and had his first and only professional fight last Saturday. “This is it,” he said afterwards. “It’s a young man’s game.”

He won a unanimous decision on points. At the final bell, he was still punching furiously in a bid to win within the distance. “I didn’t trust the judges,” he explained afterwards.

On hearing of Bozella’s story, US President Barack Obama telephoned him a couple of days before the fight to wish him luck. “I would love to meet him some day,” Bozella said.

With an election year coming up, nobody should be surprised to see Bozella photographed with the president before long.

This story has all the making of an inspirational Hollywood movie with a happy ending.