Attorney Tom Norrid and the Samaritan Project ask the world to hear the story of Steve “Moody” Wright, a man who has spent more than two decades behind bars for a murder he maintains he did not commit.

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On June 14, 2000, Hector Santos was shot and killed. The Government later charged Moody with using a firearm to shoot and kill Santos.

 

At trial, the Government told the jury that Gerald Johnson would testify about what he had seen.

Johnson testified that he personally witnessed Moody shoot and kill Santos.

 

The Government relied upon Johnson’s testimony in its closing argument, and the jury returned a guilty verdict. Moody received a life sentence. But now, 23 years later, Johnson has recanted his testimony. And there is something even more significant. A jail record may show that Johnson could not have witnessed the murder at all. A newly discovered Johnson County Adult Detention Center (JCADC) record indicates that Johnson was incarcerated on June 14, 2000—the very day Hector Santos was killed.

 

Due to the, Johnson could not have been at the scene to witness the murder as he testified.

That raises a fundamental question:

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How can a man be imprisoned for life based on testimony from someone who, according to the jail’s own records, could not have been there? This isn’t simply about a courtroom record.

 

It’s about two families whose lives were changed forever. Hector Santos lost his life, and his family and friends still deserve to know who truly killed him. Steve “Moody” Wright lost something too—23 years of his life, his freedom, and the opportunity to be present with the people who love him.

 

And every day that Moody remains incarcerated, the consequences continue. Justice for Hector Santos and justice for Steve Wright are not competing causes. Both men—and both families—deserve the truth.

Steve Wright needs someone to listen,  to look at the evidence,  ask whether justice was truly done.

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Attorney Tom Norrid and the Samaritan Project are fighting to make sure that newly discovered evidence is heard.

Because a life sentence should never rest on testimony that the evidence shows could not have been true.