16 Years
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The
Fight of Bennie Heard's Life
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For Heard, like so many other could-have-been, and should-have-been great fighters, the easy money and beautiful women that come with being a young, hotshot boxer proved a much greater challenge than the flying leather and blood inside the ring. Today he sits in a jail cell at Lee Arrendale Prison in Alto, Georgia, watching what could have been a spectacular career fade away for the unintentional shooting of a close friend in December 1985. Instead of receiving a stern, but not life-erasing amount of time for the accident, Heard was inexplicably convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison after a one-day trial and 13 total minutes of jury deliberation. He has now served more than sixteen years in defiance of the wishes of the victim’s own family who say they have forgiven him and have signed a petition to have him released. “I don’t understand how the State can do this because that’s what we pray for, that the family of the victim can forgive us and help us out. If I’m getting all this help, I don’t understand why I’m still in,” he said.
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People
in Georgia once thought the name Bennie Heard was going to be synonymous with
boxing champion. Instead it has come to symbolize squandered potential and
broken dreams.|
Photo by Don Ferguson |
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Torres Set for Pro Debut!
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| 41-year-old cruiserweight Joey Torres makes his pro debut on April 27 at the Pond in Anaheim. A former 2-time national amateur champion, Torres spent the last 24 years behind bars for shooting his manager Jose Ramirez to death in 1979. After a plea bargain, Torres served three years at the Youth Authority in Chino, CA. "After I did the three years, they sent me back to court and sentenced me to 25-to-life without a trial, without anything," said Torres. While in prison Torres spent hours a day studying law and found a legal procedure called a 'Writ of Error Coram Nobis,' which won him his freedom. Torres said the judge told him, 'I vacate your sentence and I’m ashamed to wear this robe. You should have never gone to prison.' Ironically, Torres was then arrested on the spot and re-charged for the 1979 murder. He is currently out on $1 million bail and has a hearing scheduled for March 4. "My goal in life, after 23 years and eight months in prison, is to help kids," said Torres. "I’ve seen lots of them, 18, 19 years old, coming in, doing 40 and 50 years-to-life, and there's no reason on God's earth that kids have to do that. If my story could reach people and make a difference, I’m just doing it because I want the world to know my story. I don’t want the 24 years to be in vain." |
| 2/27/2002 |
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