People v. Wheeler-Whichard

*691OPINION OF THE COURT

Joseph Kevin McKay, J.

Introduction

“It is abhorrent to our sense of justice and fair play to countenance the possibility that someone innocent of a crime may be incarcerated or otherwise punished for a crime which he or she did not commit.”1 With this principle in mind, I find that defendant’s 1997 statement to the sentencing court,2 although simple in tone, now speaks volumes: “I feel sorry for Mr. Joseph [deceased’s] family but I didn’t do it, that’s all I have to say.” (Sentence transcript, May 7, 1997, at 9.) Those words sounded hollow to the sentencing court in 1997,…