| RIPTIDE | ▼ MIAMI-DADE FREE AT LAST F EX-NEW TIMES JOURNALIST’S STORY HELPS RECTIFY WRONGFUL CONVICTION IN 1990 MURDER. BY ALEX DELUCA or the past 31 years, Thomas Raynard James has steadfastly insisted that police put the wrong man behind bars. But it took a 2021 GQ investigation by New Times alum Tristram Korten to spur the Mi- ami-Dade State Attorney’s Office to take a fresh look at James’ case. On April 27, more than a year after Korten alerted the State Attorney’s Of- fice that its own case files could exoner- ate James, prosecutors asked the court to vacate James’ life sentence and free the 55-year-old Miami native. “I’m so very pleased,” Korten said through tears when New Times reached him by phone. “It was as amazing as abominable to realize that our system could just jump the rails like that completely — I mean, just pick up a random guy and run him through the system and sentence him for life.” How does a man wind up in prison for 31 years for a crime he did not commit? As Korten revealed in “The Tragic Case of the Wrong Thomas James,” it was a case of mistaken identity that dated all the way back to the January 1990 murder of Francis McK- innon in Coconut Grove. After two men stormed into an apartment and fatally shot McKinnon in the process of stealing roughly $300, a witness at the scene told Metro-Dade police (now Miami-Dade GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS ▼ FLORIDA WEDDING BAKED F 44 HOW TO LEGALLY HAVE YOUR CANNABIS WEDDING CAKE IN FLORIDA, AND EAT IT TOO. BY JOSHUA CEBALLOS or a certain kind of pothead, a cannabis- laced wedding reception sounds like a fun time. But the guests at Danya Svoboda’s wedding who unknowingly ate food that contained THC and called fire-rescue because they felt “stoned” and “weird,” might report otherwise. Svoboda and her caterer, Jocelyn Grant, were arrested on April 21 in the Central Florida town of Sanford and charged with misde- meanor culpable negligence, a felony charge of delivering marijuana, and a felony violation of Florida’s Anti-Tampering Act, which prohib- its tampering with food and consumer prod- ucts without a person’s knowledge. So New Times reached out to attorney Dustin Robin- son, AKA “Mr. Cannabis Law” of South Florida, Tristram Korten (left) and Thomas Raynard James reviewing tens of thousands of pages of documents, re-interviewing old and new witnesses, and testing samples for possible DNA matches in the case. Noting that the case went through appeals, post-conviction reviews, and reviews by a private investigator and the Innocence Project of Florida Inc., Fernandez Rundle said, “None were successful in finding Mr. Thomas Raynard James innocent until we got involved.” Investigators’ most likely suspect Photo courtesy of Tristram Korten police) that a man named “Thomas James” was involved. Investigators believed they found their killer when Thomas Raynard James was brought in on an unrelated gun charge. Thomas “Tommy” James and Thomas Raynard James are Black men who are around the same age and were living in Mi- ami-Dade County at the time. But as Korten uncovered through decades-old records and scores of interviews, Tommy James was a friend of one of the other murder suspects, whereas Thomas James had no connection to the case, nor any history of violent crime. Despite Thomas James’ insistence that he was innocent, the 23-year-old was tried, con- victed, and sentenced to life in prison on the basis of flimsy eyewitness testimony, despite an utter absence of physical evidence. During his investigation, Korten interviewed Tommy James, who acknowledged that he knew the people who’d planned the robbery and said his near- namesake was innocent. for his legal opinion on whether it’s actually possible for a stoner bride to throw the canna- bis-spiked wedding of her dreams. “Everything about [Danya Svoboda’s wed- ding] was black-and-white, very clearly illegal ac- tivity,” Robinson explains as a given. “But there is a gray area when throwing a private event. You’d just have to jump through a lot of different hoops.” Though weed remains federally illegal, in Florida, where medical marijuana was legalized via a 2016 constitutional amendment, eligible patients suffering from certain specified condi- tions can be prescribed a medical marijuana card by a doctor or licensed medical marijuana treat- ment center, and then purchase cannabis from a medical marijuana treatment center registered with the Florida Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use. With the help of a tenacious (and sober) event planner, Robinson theorizes, an individual could host an event that is clearly closed off to the pub- lic and ensure that each guest has obtained their own medical marijuana card. In order to prepare the meal, each guest would have to bring their Photo courtesy of Florida Department of Corrections “Let the other Thomas James know I feel for him,” Tommy James told Korten. “I’m sorry this happened.” The decision to vacate James’ sentence came after the chief eyewitness to the 1990 murder, Dorothy Walton, told investigators in a sworn statement earlier this month that she erred when she identified Thomas Raynard James as the man who fired the fatal shots more than 32 years ago. At a news conference at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office, James, who has been incarcerated at Okeechobee Correctional Institution, appeared alongside supporters and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in a red prison jumpsuit, a blue medical facemask, and shackles. “Today we are undoing an injustice that was an unintentional wrong,” Fernandez Rundle told those assembled. She said the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office Justice Project, which examines wrongful convictions, spent the past year own personal serving of THC distillate obtained from a licensed dispensary and give it to a chef to cook with their individual serving or portion. “If everyone has a card and brings their own “IT’S ACTUALLY POSSIBLE TO DO A PRIVATE CONSUMPTION EVENT.” cannabis, and additional safeguards are in place, I think it’s actually possible to do a private con- sumption event,” concludes Robinson, who spe- cializes in helping canna-businesses navigate the highly regulated industry. In an abundance of caution, Robinson would recommend that each guest sign a waiver consenting to consume cannabis and waiving the hosts’ liability. Perhaps needless to say, Svoboda imple- mented precisely none of these legal safeguards at her February 19 wedding. According to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Of- fice’s incident report obtained by New Times, offi- cers stated that Svoboda hired Bryant, a holistic, plant-based chef and caterer, to prepare the food in McKinnon’s murder, the state at- torney concluded, “died without ever being held accountable.” It was an emotional day for Thomas James and for his mother, Doris Strong, who attended the press conference. So too for Korten. “There were a lot of concerns in the com- munity that [the State Attorney’s Office] was taking too long. I was worried too,” Korten says. “But you can’t argue with the results. They did the right thing.” He says people often read or hear about wrongful convictions but that to experience one in minute detail was something else entirely. “To see it on a very intimate level like that is truly terrifying. Truly terrifying,” he says. Korten notes that James, who was finally freed late last week, has two cousins who have not let the case rest and a “very sweet mother” who was patiently awaiting her son’s return home. Korten was a New Times staff writer from 1998 to 2005 and reported the story for GQ in 2020 while still living in Miami. He moved with his family to New England last year. at her wedding. But after ingesting chocolate shots, strawberries, and a “handful of lasagna,” several attendees called fire-rescue to report feel- ing fidgety, tingly, and plagued by racing thoughts and a dry mouth. Some guests were hospitalized. Police confiscated and tested a number of glasses, dishes, utensils, and food samples from the party and found traces of THC in them, as well as in blood samples from hospi- talized guests. Svoboda’s arraignment hearing is set for June 7 in Seminole County Court. Bryant has opted to plead not guilty and fight the charges against her. Robinson clarifies that his hypothetical can- nabis wedding theory is just that, a theory. While untested, he believed, if followed closely it should keep stoner brides out of legal hot water in the Sunshine State. “I’ve gotten a lot of calls from people who are interested in doing these kinds of events,” he adds. “But I’ve yet to see anyone execute it.” [email protected] MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 MAY 5-11, 2022 NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | miaminewtimes.com
