Sunday's Crime Beat column focused on the mother of Tyree Wright, whose was shot and killed a dozen years ago, and whose alleged killer went free last month. Earline Coffee watched on TV as the man convicted in shooting walked free outside the city courthouse.
"I've been crying ever since," she told me. At left are pictures of Tyree, in a photo taken by The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum.
The case against Tyrone Jones crumbled when lawyers discovered that a police report in which a key witness had at first told detectives she didn't the shooting, only to change her mind later and identify Jones as the suspect, had never been turned over to the defense. Lawyers lost the chance to impeach her credibility.
A judge granted Jones a new trial and prosecutors decided to drop the case. They didn't properly notify Coffey of their decision, and so she turned on her TV one afternoon and saw Jones smiling as he walked free.
It appears that Tyree, 15, was shot by a bullet mean for someone else. He was a good student, a track star, stayed off the streets, hadn't gotten into trouble and wanted to move to California to be a police officer. Over the weekend, his gudiance counselor wrote me a note:
I was Tyree Wright's guidance counselor at Patterson High School. Reading your article brought back a flood of memories and emotions for me. I remember the morning that I learned of Tyree's murder; I fell to the floor unable to control my tears of grief and disbelief. I remember attending his funeral with many of his classmates and teachers, all of us overcome with sorrow, unable to grasp the fact that the life of this wonderful young man had been taken. I want to reiterate what Tyree's mother said. Tyree was absolutely not a child of the streets. He was delightful, respectful, kind, loving, ambitious and full of life. There was an innocent aura about him. I never once doubted that his future held only good things. I want everyone to know that his death was a true tragedy, and that Tyree did nothing to bring it on. My heart goes out to his mother who did a beauiful job of raising this very special young man. In my desk at Patterson I still keep a pin that I created with my students that we wore in memory of Tyree. Tyree will never be forgotten. If you speak to his mother again, please let her know how much her son was loved and that she and Tyree are both in our prayers.Kathleen Gabriel