Justice for Trenton Ashton

My name is Janet Wilson and our campaign is an effort to free my 20-year-old son, Trenton Ashton. 

My son has been sentenced to 76 years in prison for the very heinous crime of sexual molestation. These charges are not only false, but his subsequent punishment is both extreme and unjust. There was no DNA evidence or any other kind of physical evidence to support these accusations. On top of that, 1) the alleged victim’s story changed multiple times during the 2 years of testimony and trial, 2) my son was not allowed to testify on his own behalf, and 3) the jury – whose members included someone related to the “victim” and 2 individuals related to the arresting officer – was biased.

And we were powerless to do anything about it due to our financial hardships. We simply didn't have the money to retain a qualified lawyer, so Trenton was given an apathetic court-appointed lawyer. Rather than focus her legal intelligence onto the many inconsistencies of the case or investigate facts that could have exonerated my son, this court-appointed lawyer treated my son like nothing more than another file in her increasingly high stack of case files. He was only a number to her and as a result, Trenton has become yet another black face in the U.S. prison system. Another young and promising life ruined by a faulty justice system.

My son is not a bad person and he deserves justice. He’s a well-mannered, intelligent young man – an A/B student, in fact – who was a varsity basketball player and track member, and was involved in various other extracurricular activities like theater and choir. Outside of school, he was very involved with our church, contributing by playing the drums or singing in the church choir, or finding other ways to help out.

Unfortunately, we live in a city known for racial profiling, wrong-doings and extreme sentencing. They had no evidence beyond hearsay to convict my son. Yet it was enough to ruin his life. He was ridiculed severely for this. He was kicked out of school due to this at the age of seventeen.

Trenton has never been in any trouble in his life. No criminal record, nothing. He was – and is – just an outgoing kid whom everyone loves, and this has affected his life tremendously. I refuse to allow such an unjust system to send a promising young life – my child – to a world that will ruin him.

I am asking for help because Trenton does not deserve to lose his life due to the failings of others. Whether you can contribute $1 or $100 doesn’t matter. Any help is valued. We’ve spoken with an attorney, Jonathan Landers, who believes we have strong grounds for an appeal. Anything you can contribute will help us raise the $7,500 needed to retain his services (of the total $10,000 bill). Thank you and God bless.