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He spent 19 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. His freedom became official on Tuesday.
At the criminal courts building in downtown Los Angeles last week, a prosecutor met a convicted murderer in a crowded hallway.
She hugged him and then shook his daughter's hand.
It was one of many surprising scenes that unfolded Tuesday when a 41-year-old man named Jovama Coleman was formally acquitted of the 2003 murder of a South Los Angeles teen.
Courtrooms are rarely happy places, but a sense of joy permeated the proceedings. District representative. Atty. Lara Bazan and the other prosecutors greeted Coleman and his attorney, Ellen Eggers, like old friends and treated his family like honored guests, with one of the prosecutor's supervisors asking his relatives in the spectator lounge: “Can you guys see okay?”
The audience erupted in applause when a smiling Superior Court Judge William Ryan declared Coleman “virtually innocent” of the murder. As Coleman left court, he stopped to hug a petite woman in jeans who was neither a relative nor an attorney.
“It's official,” Jessica Jacobs-Derschel said, her eyes wet with tears.
The Topanga Canyon hippie mother partnered with Coleman in the fight for his freedom
The only partnership in Los Angeles between Coleman and Dershel, a hippie mother from Topanga Canyon, led to his acquittal and the release of a second man.
It starts in the early days of the COVID pandemic when Dirschel, like many of us, was avoiding boredom with Netflix. She ended up watching a series about wrongful convictions and feeling a deep connection with Eggers, a former public defender featured on the show with a track record of getting innocent men out of prison.
“I want to help,” Derchel told Eggers in a cold call.
The veteran lawyer didn't know what to do with Dershel. Eggers worked on cases for free at her dining room table and people did not call her to offer help. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She had a pile of letters from prisoners asking for help.
One of those was from Coleman, who was convicted in 2007 of killing 16-year-old Jose “Chino” Robles in the rough Westmont neighborhood, sometimes called “Death Alley.” After additional harassment from Coleman's brother, Eggers asked her eager new volunteer to take a look at the evidence.
Warning, the rest of the story may restore your faith in humanity.
“It's like a fairy tale,” Dershel's husband, John, told me. He said the qualification was “almost” necessary, because he “should never have been told” in the first place.
Even with criminal justice reforms, acquittals are rare
Efforts in recent years to address mass incarceration in California have led to several new pathways for inmates to get out early, such as re-sentencing for youthful offenders and those convicted of murder.
However, acquittals remain rare. George Gascón, arguably the country's most progressive prosecutor, has helped free 10 wrongly convicted people since his 2020 election.
Now in a tough race for re-election, Gascón stood shoulder to shoulder with Coleman at a news conference Wednesday touting the acquittal. He said it was part of his office's efforts to “correct the wrongs of the past.”
Read more here: True crime has teased Netflix. She then helped free two men from prison.
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Snow covers the Phillips Station meadow as the California Department of Water Resources conducted its third snow media survey of the 2024 season.
(Sarah Nieves/California Department of Water Resources)
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First column
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(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
He was released after two years of closed psychiatric care: a battle few families can fight. After two years in a closed mental institution, John Maurer moved to the board and a nursing home, a step forward that could not have happened without the relentless support of his politically connected sister.
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For your weekend
Quentin Tarantino's new Pam's Coffy features specially blended coffee, vintage touches and a tribute to actress Pam Grier next to the Vista Theater.
(Stephanie Prego / Los Angeles Times)
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Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Harriet Ryan, investigative journalist
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