Monte Tynes
Vindication for a Wrongful Convicted Kid
May 1, 2025 5:30 PM||
On a misty night in October of 2008 in Moss Point, Mississippi, a couple pulled their Mercedes into a gas station. The man driving the car gets out to go in to ask for directions to a football stadium. The couple was going to watch their grandson play football in a playoff game. His wife stays in the car and sees “3 black males in their mid-twenties” in front of the car. One has a towel over his head. She “locks eyes” with the one with the towel. He walks to the left of her car towards the gas pumps. Then she hears a struggle behind the car and sees her husband fighting off two people. He is able to get in the car and close the car. As he holds the door closed, he puts the car in gear, driving away. The one with the towel walks up and shoots into the car. The man drives away from the gas station. He tells his wife, “The got me.” The car slows to a stop, and he dies.
A few days later the Moss Point Police arrest 4 young black males, ages 17, 16, 15, and 14. The Moss Point Police charge all 4 with Capital Murder.
After 5 criminal trials and 1 civil trial, Tevin Benjamin, the 14-year-old boy, was finally able to clear his name when a CIVIL JURY found him “INNOCENT” of the crime of Capital Murder. This case dealt with:
- 2 Criminal Trials of co-Defendants
- 3 Criminal Trials for Capital Murder of Tevin Benjamin
- An Appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court where it reversed Tevin’s conviction after he spent 6 years in some of the roughest prisons in Mississippi
- A 21-year-old Tevin get’s his first birthday cake on his 21st birthday
- A 10+ year delay between filing a lawsuit and a trial
- 3 New Criminal convictions
- A change in Mississippi Law dealing with the Wrongful Conviction statute
- Developing and Testing themes
- Pushing narratives from Voir Dire to Closing
- Dealing with having the testimony 1 of the 3 Plaintiff's witnesses struck by the judge
- Dealing with a Jury Instruction that told the jury a “Not Guilty” Verdict does not mean he was innocent
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