The Mississippi Justice Project Presents
The Chester Johnston Story
I have lived in Mississippi most of my life always believing in the fairness of the justice system.  I can even remember debating the use of the death penalty in high school and I thought there should definitely be one because only the truly guilty would get the ultimate penalty.  How wrong I was. Since then I have found that now you have to prove your innocence in order to not be convicted instead of the other way around. 

I met my husband, Chester Johnston, in 1989.  He was incarcerated at the time for rape.  His son and my daughter were schoolmates and I started writing him.  Chester had already been in prison for 11 years and was anticipating parole that year.  He had been put off month to month, now I see why.  It was so they could build another case on him. 

Chester was not a law abiding citizen when the rape occurred in March of 1978.  He was a prime target for being convicted.  He was in a motorcycle gang called The Bandidos and was working a job here in Jackson.  The gang would do illegal things for some of the politicians like running drugs across state lines with a highway patrol escort and taking checks that had been embezzled and getting them cashed over state lines. Of course these things have never been known except by the people involved. 

The girl who was raped lived on the other side of a duplex where Chester was living with his brother and cousin.  In March of 1978 Chester was arrested at his job by the girl's boyfriend who was also a Jackson police officer.  He also was the one who transported the rape kit.  Chester's attorney like so many who have been arrested had never tried a criminal case before.  He waited over a month before filing a motion to check the rape kit.  By that time the kit was contaminated and was then destroyed.  Nothing uncommon about that here in Mississippi according to the Mississippi Supreme Court when Chester appealed.  So ultimately Chester was unable to test the kit and contradict what the State claims they found, which was that Chester could have been the attacker.

The girl was the issue.  She claimed Chester was the attacker, but at the prelimenary hearing she pointed to Chester's brother, Lamar, as the attacker who wasn't even sitting at the defendant's table.  Chester's attorney tried to point out that she had not pointed to Chester but the judge said she was under alot of stress and had made a mistake.  Later when I tried to get a copy of the prelimenary hearing, it was lost also and the attorney Chester had at the time would not talk to me. To make a long story short Chester was offered two years if he pled guilty but he told them he wasn't pleading guilty to something he didn't do so he was found guilty of rape and given a 45 year sentence. 

In June of 1989 after I met him,  a guy whom Chester knew from his biker days came forward after being arrested for arson and told about a murder that happened in 1976 and that he knew who did it.  He said Chester was the trigger man and 5 people were implicated in the crime including the guy that told the story.  Again Chester's brother was involved.  The guy who confessed never had to be cross examined by Chester's court appointed attorney whose niece was also a suspect.  The snitch was later found out to be a highway patrol informant.  He served a minimal time for the arson and was released. 

The witnesses against Chester were the niece of Chester's attorney and his ex-sister-in-law.  The niece also was the ex-wife of the guy who came forward with the info of the murder. Chester's brother was given a 2 year sentence at a county jail with special privileges on the weekends.  After he was released after 18 months he violated his parole numerous times but was never picked up.  Chester on the other hand was found guilty of capital murder and the district attorney was seeking the death penalty but the jury voted on life without parole.

Another strange thing was in this case there was also missing evidence. The guns that were found at the scene, fingerprints and photos of the crime scene came up missing shortly after Chester's attorney asked for the evidence.  It was said on appeal again that the missing evidence would have played no part in Chester's defense since there were eyewitnesses to the crime.  The niece was given immunity and also the ex-sister-in-law.  In the appeal it was noted that the highway patrol investigator always thought that Chester was the murderer yet it doesn't say why he felt that way.  An inmate who was incarcerated with Chester and had also been assigned to kill Chester and did attempt to,  had contacted the investigator and told him Chester had confessed to him.  Chester filed a lawsuit against the MDOC for not keeping him in protective custody against this inmate after he stabbed him in the shower at Parchman. 
Parchman kept trying to put these two together so the hit on Chester could be completed and when Chester tried to keep them from moving him next to this inmate he was severly beaten by the guards.  Chester won the lawsuit but continued to have problems with this inmate.  In 1997 Chester was found to have a terminal illness.  He was then moved to Central Mississippi Correctional Facility to the medical unit there.  In 1993 Chester's life without parole was overturned by the Supreme Court stating at the time of the crime he was not a habitual criminal so therefore could not be given life without parole. 

In 2001 a guard beat Chester severely causing extended problems along with his terminal problems.  In November 2002 his urinalyis came up "hot" and he was immediately put in lockdown and was going to be shipped to Parchman to lockdown there but I got my senator and a peer investigator to intervene. I know if he had been taken to Parchman I would never have seen him again. All charges on the urinalyis were eventually dropped after his attorney got a hair sample taken to prove Chester's innocence. 

I know all this sounds like something out of a book or Monday night movie but this is only touching the surface.  Chester just met parole 3/18 and was denied due to not enough time served and community opposition to name a few.  Like 25 years is not enough time?

Chester's brother is dead and also the guy who snitched.  And this is the part that makes me sad.  One visiting day Chester's aunt came to visit and out of the blue she said that Lamar, not Chester, had the scratches on his face that the girl said she caused.  We were both shocked and I asked her to please go to the parole board with this and she has never spoken about it again. 

It would have been difficult to imagine anything worse than the one-sided trial we endured but it pales in comparison to the appeals process and the lengths the courts will go to not to bring the truth out in this situation.  The reason I now beg for an Innocence Project for Mississippi is to expose the truth and free my husband before he dies in prison which is what the system wants.  Because of God he has lived through more than most people would.  Chester has lost most of his adult life because of being incarcerated.  Currently there are cases in unbelievable numbers where the convicted's guilt is highly questionable.  Chester's is just one of many.  Society doesn't believe witnesses lie and evidence is destroyed or lost.  I believe it because I have been a part of that way of justice.  Chester and I are pleading  for your help so that Chester doesn't have to give one more year of his life to a corrupt system.

Entire Text (C) Cynthia johnston, 31 march, 2003... All Rights Reserved
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This page was last updated on: June 18, 2003

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