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By Fernando Bermudez

Bermudez
spent more than 18 years in prison for the shooting death of a
16-year-old boy in New York City. He was freed in 2009 after it was
proven that police and prosecutors manipulated the eyewitness evidence
against him.

Since my exoneration in 2009, I have traveled
the world sharing how I survived over 18 years in New York prisons
until I was proven “actually innocent.” I do this to help prevent the
incarceration of innocent people around the globe. My recent seven-city
lecture tour throughout Germany with my wife, Crystal, renewed that
challenge. During my years in prison, I studied different cultural
perspectives on the criminal justice system. Now that I’m free, I yearn
for the application of those studies. Lecturing internationally also
provides me with the opportunities to exchange and learn about cultural
differences in our imperfect world.

From Bochum to Tubingen, my
German university law school and police academy lectures examined
German and American laws to explore differences and improvements for
each. Unlike America, Germany has no grand jury, no death penalty and
avoids criminal charges against juveniles as adults.

Germany avoids jury trials when prosecutors file an Anklage, equivalent to American indictment. When a criminal trial, or Hauptverhandlung,
is necessary, a judge advances a defendant’s case by organizing the
evidence and questions. Moreover, unlike discovery rules to disclose
evidence in America, disclosure of a prosecution’s case in Germany to a
defense lawyer before a trial is often automatic as a precaution against
the dangers of prosecutorial misconduct. German prosecutors are also
required to lead criminal investigations before police to ensure
fairness.

I contrast these differences to demonstrate why both
legal systems are nevertheless prone to problems derived of human
error—such as mistaken eyewitness identifications. However, I believe
the German legal system better protects the innocent from prison. On the
other hand, in America even the lowest compensation statute offers
better financial assistance to the wrongfully convicted than in Germany.

Beyond my academic grind, interacting with my German hosts added
unforgettable benefits, too. Hearing students, lawyers, judges and
professors share their determination to improve criminal justice systems
worldwide inspired me. One student confided that my story encouraged
her to stay in law school because she wanted to quit. Others giggled
over an apparently demented correctional officer I knew dubbed Officer
Marshmallow.

I also shared my story over dinners of Currywurst
(a type of sausage) and seasoned geese with dark beers known as
“dunkels” while raising mugs to say, “Prost.” These were foods that
Crystal and I had never tried before. Likewise, my reserved German hosts
were introduced to my Latin American custom of hugging.

Crystal and I also found time to venture out on our own. We accidentally
crashed a rooftop party in Berlin offering complimentary wine and great
pictures of the Brandenburg Gate, and then afterwards we strolled
alongside the Rhine and Danube rivers in Wiesbaden and Passau after
peaking at the Baltic Sea in Greifswald. These experiences would have
been unimaginable to me during my many years of wrongful imprisonment.

Ultimately, our lecture tour concluded with a visit to the Strasbourg
Cathedral in Strasbourg, France, where inside I thanked God for the
opportunity, and asked preparation for my nine-city lecture tour
throughout Japan in October 2013 where I will spread more seeds for
justice.
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Apple_Seeds_for_Justice.php