Former Detective Wants No Jail Time for His Perjury Against a Black Man
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Detective’s Lies and Threats Cost Man Almost a Decade in Prison
(KY) – Former Louisville detective, Mark Handy, tried to get a plea deal that would only give him probation, no jail time. Mark Handy is “accused of framing several people for murders they didn’t commit.” To get the plea deal, Handy has admitted to lying under oath (perjury). He also admitted to tampering with evidence by taping over an interview and to coercing confessions.
Edwin Chandler is the man who gave a false confession after being threatened by Mark Handy. Chandlers says,
“I was interrogated by a police officer, Mark Handy,” Chandler said. “And in that interrogation, I gave a false confession, and the reason I gave that false confession, primarily, is because I was threatened by Mr. Handy that he would take my sister’s children away … that he would have her locked up.”
Chandler was released after almost a decade in prison and was awarded $8.5 million for the wrongful conviction. But Chandler isn’t the only one who suffered from Handy’s lies. According to WDRB.com,
“Handy also interrogated Jeffery Clark and Keith Hardin, who spent 22 years in prison convicted of a murder they didn’t commit. Two weeks ago, a judge dismissed the charges against them, and for the first time, they walked out of court free men.”
Systemic Racism on Display
Mark Handy has cost one man almost a decade of his life. He has cost two other men more then two decades of their lives. He has used threats to force people into admitting to actions they did not commit. Handy has lied under oath and destroyed evidence and after all of that, he is only being charged with perjury.
But it gets worse. The prosecution is supposed to fight for justice. The defense attorney is the one who is supposed to fight for the accused. When a wrong has been committed, it is the job of the prosecution to right that wrong. According to WDRB.com, “Special Prosecutor Shane Young and Handy’s attorney, Brian Butler, both argued that Handy should receive probation instead of prison time.”
The prosecution knows exactly what Mark Handy did and the amount of freedom innocent Black men lost, yet he’s fighting against Handy serving any time in jail.
Judge Rejects Plea Deal
Fortunately, Judge Olu Stevens wasn’t having any of it. He rejected the plea deal “saying the penalty for Handy would not be equal to the injustice received by Edwin Chandler.” Judge Stevens said he would sentence Handy to the maximum five years. Handy’s attorney then withdrew their guilty plea.
WDRB reported, on March 29, that a new plea deal had been agreed to. The special prosecutor, who doesn’t want this poor white man to have to spend time in jail, has agreed to Handy doing one year of jail time. It still needs to go before the judge and he has to agree to it before it can move forward. The hearing was supposed to have been set for April 20, but I have not been able to find any further information on it.