Judge removes exonerated man from gender registry 9 years after release from prison

TULSA, Okla. — After serving 24 years in prison for a rape he said he did not commit, a Tulsa County judge ruled that William Henry Jamerson no longer needs to be on the sex offender registry.

Judge David Guten was the same judge who vacated Jamerson’s conviction earlier this year after Jamerson’s attorney, Dan Smolen, searched the Tulsa Police Department property room and found DNA evidence that had been hidden for decades.

WATCH this story from the beginning:

Man cleared of rape conviction claims Tulsa police continued harassment

The state did not object to this request. Jamerson remained silent following the verdict but told 2 News he was relieved.

“I feel better, I feel better than I’ve ever felt, I’m so happy,” he said.

Kayleen Dubbs has a lot to say. She was 16 years old and pregnant when she was raped in front of the Tulsa restaurant where she worked (Ma Belle’s) in 1991. He thinks the police forced him to frame Jamerson.

“They gave me his name, showed me his photos, groomed me,” he explained. “That’s the way they do it; it makes you feel like you’re wrong.”

He questioned the investigation for years.
“But if the prosecutor and the police are involved in this, who do I need to go to?” he asked.

He said investigators convinced him to stay away from the case. He didn’t even go to the hearing.

“I wasn’t allowed to watch the news, I couldn’t read the newspaper, isn’t it weird?” he said. He said he felt like this was said to the juror, not the victim.

Witnesses named possible suspects as restaurant employees who did not show up for work the night of the crimes, Dubbs said.

“Two guys called (to work) that night,” Dubbs said. “There was a man who raped me and there was a man who robbed the house. “They (detectives) never interviewed them.”

“Now that I’m older and I think back on all of this, I understand everything they did,” he said. “I’ll stay here until this is over and I’m not going anywhere.”
Jamerson’s lawyers say removing his name from the sex offender registry is an unnecessary bureaucratic process.

“This had to be done by the DOC (Department of Corrections) the next day because they knew all about it,” said Allen Smallwood, one of Jamerson’s attorneys. “This is just the beginning of the justice we hope we can get for him at the end of the day.”

Jamerson’s lawyers are filing a civil lawsuit. Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler is appealing his overturned conviction.

The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office sent 2 News:

Also at the hearing, Dan Smolen, another of Jamerson’s attorneys, asked the judge to unseal the Tulsa Police Department’s Internal Affairs investigation that led to the demotion of the officer in charge of the property room where Jamerson’s DNA was found, which Smolen believes was intentionally concealed.

Smolen hopes the documents will shed light on who may have ordered officers to preserve the DNA.

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