OKLAHOMA'S NEWS FOUR: ‘A mistake’: Man Moves Forward After Serving Time For Crime He Says He Did Not Commit

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – It’s an all too familiar story in Oklahoma.

Anthony Logan spent ten years in prison for a crime he says he did not commit.

In an interview this week with KFOR, the man said he bought a car at an auction more than thirty years ago.

Sitting at his kitchen table, he pointed to a copy of a car title and receipt of purchase.

“This document right here is the proof of sales from Metro Wrecking Service,” he said, as he spread out several more documents around the table.

While he said the documents point to his innocence, after an arrest for driving without a valid license, he was eventually charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and concealing stolen property.

Unfortunately for Logan, he’d been previously convicted of two other felonies.

He shook his head in disbelief.

“I thought it was some type of mistake. It had to be some kind of mistake,” he said.

Logan spent more than a year in a county jail before his case went to trial, where police and prosecutors maintained the car was stolen.

He was convicted.

“They had given me 20 years for possession of a stolen vehicle and 20 years for $5 a spare sticker that they say was stolen off another car and placed on my car,” he said.

He tried to file an appeal, saying between irrelevant evidence and other irregularities, the court should have declared a mistrial.

But the filing fell on deaf ears.

He finally walked out of prison a free man in 2003, with a trade and an outpouring of support from his friends and family that helped him turn his life around.

The help would be invaluable as he navigated the challenges around him.

“I took up electrical. So once I was released, I put the skill that I learned to use and haven’t looked back,” said Logan.

“But I can’t get [what happened] out of my mind. That’s why I keep the documents to remind me. But it affects my relationship with family, friends, my children, because I just don’t trust anyone, you know,” he continued.

Logan’s feelings are familiar for Kris Steele, Executive Director for The Education and Employment Ministry (TEEM).

“Re-entering society is very difficult for anybody who may be starting over again or rebuilding their lives [but] we try to identify and remove as many of those barriers as we can, so we can successfully help [those who have been incarcerated] move forward [and] reach their potential in life,” he added.

TEEM helps those who have been incarcerated overcome common obstacles, including inhibitive fines and fees, gain meaningful employment, housing, transportation, and more.

“We get to work with some very resilient, resourceful, determined, dedicated and talented people who really want to move beyond a mistake or troubled past, but it is often difficult without proper support,” Steele added.

According to TEEM, there are about 8,000 people who will transition back into society each year after incarceration in Oklahoma.

“When it comes to community safety, when it comes to public safety, it’s in everyone’s best interest to make sure that fellow Oklahomans have the proper support and accountability needed so that they can be contributing members of our communities.”

As for Logan, he still hopes for accountability, and is looking for ways to pursue his innocence, even after serving his sentence.

Decades later, moving forward is a day-by-day process.

“I was the type of person that would give the shirt off my back to help others. And now I won’t do it. I have the heart and desire to, but I don’t want to get caught in a situation like this again,” he said.

“One day I was driving [and] say and this lady jogging [fall] and twist her ankle. I know she was in excruciating pain and I wanted to stop, but I chose not to because I thought…’if I stop and help her, it might turn on me,'” he said.

“But it plays in the back of my mind right now. I wonder if she’s all right.”