In 2002, I was convicted of a crime I did not commit and received 45 years in NCDOC. I lost my daughter, that I had full custody of, and she was placed in an adoptive home. She was only 5 when this happened. After many tears, lots of prayers and several appeals I won the fight and the state dismissed all charges and I was released. There was NO physical evidence linking me to the crime. The ONLY evidence was the victim’s description. I was named as the defendant within 12 minutes of the detective being given the report. I was arrested the next day and spent the next 10 years fighthing. There was a codefendant that was identified by the same person, who’s charges were later dropped, due to misidentification when his alibi proved them wrong. This is the same person that identified me. My case even made CASE LAW “STATE v. LEWIS, STATE of North Carolina v. Paul Brantley LEWIS. No. 386PA10”.
Since my release in 2012, I have been harassed on NUMEROUS occasions, my girlfriend and her children have all been followed and stopped on numerous occasions. A traffic ticket that I received in January was put off all year, due to a conflict of interest between myself and the judge, but I kept ending up on his docket, four different occasions. More recently I was arrested and even though they did a complete search on me, they claim they found drugs on me and charged me with that also. Multiple attorneys and other people in the county have instructed us to leave the county because of the threats the police were making against me to these other people. Such as “A few more years in prison won’t hurt him”, and “I will get you, punk”. And to no surprise, they did. However, we have every single incident documented and some recorded. They tried to blame me for multiple crimes throughout the year, all documented on my behalf. We have proof of every accusation we make against the police for their retaliation against me for being released. I filed for a pardon of innocence last September, but of course that is the lowest priority to a Governor. So I wait, for them to pay me enough money to get the hell out of here where I can live what’s left of my life. Their lies and corrupt ways have prevented me from rebuilding a life with my daughter.