Help to Free Pete Viceroy

We have all heard the stories of innocent men going to prison for crimes they did not commit. The following is a true story of a man wrongfully convicted and abused by Ohio’s criminal justice system. His name is Peter Viceroy, and he is still serving time in one of the greatest miscarriages of justice ever played out in an Ohio courtroom. Please take the time to hear his story and help us bring justice for Pete.

Peter Viceroy Inmate #A-303314

Info from Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections

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Pete Viceroy is one of many who are suffering in "Ohio’s Prison Industrial Complex." He was prosecuted for the alleged felonious assault of his wife in March of 1995. He and his wife of 22 years were going through a bitter divorce in which she threatened to take everything he had. The incident she claims occurred in their home, where they operated a small advertising and pistol smithing business. His wife alleges that he pointed a gun at her and said something to the effect of, "You’ll be sorry." But Pete adamantly denies ever committing such a threatening act. His wife, a licensed Federal Firearms Dealer and an accomplished combat pistol shooter in her own right, would have been surrounded by a room full of firearms, including pistols, long guns, and knives. And yet, there were no shots fired. No physical injuries sustained. Although she claimed to have suffered years of abuse, there are no records to support such claims. And according to friends, Pete never physical harmed his wife. It was a simple case of his word against hers. At 45-years-old, with no prior arrests, he was sentenced to 3-18 years in prison. Indeed, he has lost everything....custody of his child, his business, and his freedom.

But this is only the beginning of a long trail of injustice. Pete was originally offered a verbal plea bargain agreement that would have limited his time to two years if he admitted guilt, but he chose to fight this ridiculously false charge. The details of his trial would shock anyone who studies law and justice as well as the general public. His original lawyer stepped down after Pete became aware that he was the law partner in the same firm with his wife’s attorney. Pete’s second attorney was hardly capable of defending him. Added to this travesty, Pete claims the ventilation shafts in the courthouse allow lawyers and judges alike to hear the deliberations of the jury. The jury came back with a guilty verdict. Whatever happened to being "innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?" Having been sentenced under the old laws, he received a three-year mandatory sentence for the gun specification and then an additional three to fifteen years for the felonious assault.

The long trail of injustice doesn’t end there. When Pete’s mother passed away, he was involved in a long court battle to have her properly buried. Then he was denied parole after his ex-wife testified to the Adult Parole Board that he had abused her for many years of the marriage. As of July 1996 with the "truth in sentencing" implementation, convicts no longer serve minimum sentences (they must serve at least 85%). However, these guidelines are being applied ex post facto to old law inmates like Pete. The Adult Parole Authority continues to deny him of any chance of early release. His next parole hearing is in February of 2010! This first-time offender will likely serve eighteen years in prison at a cost to taxpayers of over a million dollars! Currently, Attorney Norman Sirak has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of these "old law" inmates who are being judged by "new law" standards.

Pete is being denied a privileged means of communication with any elected official, which means he cannot even request a pardon from the Governor. He has been denied access to his legal documents for several months, and prison officials have repeatedly placed him in segregation, retaliation against him for every effort he makes to bring his story to the public. There he suffers, quietly muted by prison officials, while the Ohio taxpayer is duped out of millions upon millions of dollars. If this injustice is allowed to run its course, Pete will have to serve a minimum of fifteen years.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (often coined as the "Ohio Department of Retaliation and Corruption") is the biggest business in state government, and one has to ask himself, how many cases parallel that of Peter Viceroy? How much longer will we continue to pour tax dollars down this drain at the expense of our children’s education? Only we the people know the answer. As long as ignorance and apathy permeate our society, we will all remain prisoners of a democracy gone wrong. Help us free Pete. Help us reform Ohio’s criminal justice system. Help us restore our democracy.

"The shortest distance between perception and reality is unadulterated truth. Therefore, my life is an open book to all.

For in the end, it is truth and openness that makes us all free." ~~Pete Viceroy, 2002