Krishna Maharaj spent 38 years in a US prison for a crime he consistently maintained he did not commit. In 1986, he was convicted of the murders of two individuals and spent the entire period in a Florida prison. Despite a judge’s supportive opinion, this dissenting view did not lead to his release.
On August 5, Krishna Maharaj passed away in prison at the age of 85. In a 2019 interview with the BBC, he recounted his shock upon being sentenced to death: “When they sentenced me to death, I fell to the floor of the courtroom. I couldn’t believe I was being punished for a crime I knew nothing about and, obviously, had never committed.”
Krishna’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, succeeded in having the death penalty commuted to life imprisonment, and eventually, the court concluded that Krishna had no involvement in the double murder for which he was convicted.
Despite this, Krishna’s release was not granted. Stafford Smith told The Guardian that while the court acknowledged solid evidence of Krishna’s innocence, it was not sufficient for his release.
Krishna’s wife, Marita, and lawyer are now arranging for his body to be sent back to his home country.
The Miami Murders
On October 16, 1986, Jamaican-born Derek Mo Yong and his son Duane were found dead in a room at Miami’s Dupont Plaza Hotel. Both bodies bore bullet wounds. The investigation led to Krishna Maharaj being charged based on the testimony of a single witness.
Krishna Maharaj, an Indian-born British businessman who had made his fortune in the banana import business, had a business dispute with Mo Yong.
According to police, Krishna Maharaj had met Mo Yong in a hotel room. The witness testified that Krishna had fired the fatal shots in the hotel room.
The double murder was allegedly related to a financial dispute. It was claimed that Krishna had swindled Mo Yong and that Mo Yong was demanding the return of the money.
Krishna was arrested and sentenced to death for the double murder in less than a year.
In his 2019 BBC interview, Krishna stated, “I was not there. At least six people testified that I was over 30 miles away from the hotel on that day. I couldn’t believe they found me guilty.”
He repeatedly asserted his innocence.
Despite six years of attempts to prove his innocence and avoid execution, Krishna was unsuccessful. By 1993, Stafford Smith, then a human rights lawyer, decided to take on the case.
The US Justice System
Stafford Smith’s first success was to have the death sentence commuted to life imprisonment in 2002. He then focused on proving Krishna Maharaj’s innocence. The crime occurred during the height of drug smuggling in Miami in the 1980s, amidst a covert battle between Colombian criminal gangs and Cuban drug dealers.
Stafford Smith found evidence that Mo Yong was a well-known frontman for drug traffickers and that his murder was carried out by members of the Medellín Cartel. This crime was reportedly sanctioned by Pablo Escobar and executed by his associates.
Stafford Smith attempted to meet with former cartel members to gather evidence proving Krishna’s innocence. He spent years searching for a new trial route, considering all evidence pointing to other suspects and confirming that Krishna was far from the crime scene.
However, every attempt at clemency or appeal failed.
Stafford Smith told the BBC, “The reality is that the federal government was not willing to hear evidence proving an innocent person’s release.”
Popeye
In November 2017, a former DEA agent testified that individuals linked to Pablo Escobar stayed in a room at the Dupont Plaza Hotel on the day of the murder. According to the former agent, Escobar ordered Mo Yong’s killing because he was not providing the cartel with its share and had helped with money laundering.
The information came from John Jairo Velasquez, known as Popeye, who gained fame for his role in the cartel. Popeye had been released in August 2014 after serving 23 years in prison.
Popeye, one of Escobar’s key associates, testified that he wanted to clear his conscience and show Krishna’s innocence.
Despite Stafford Smith’s relentless efforts to prove Krishna’s innocence, Krishna passed away before his case could be fully resolved. Stafford Smith now regards it as one of his greatest failures, unable to fathom how Krishna remained in prison for a crime he did not commit.
