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Isaac Wright Jr. wasn’t blessed with Johnnie Cochran-bread when he was wrongfully accused, charged and convicted of being a drug kingpin.
Still, Wright found a way to level up and learn the law, eventually getting an appeal and exoneration.
But the most gangsta part came after he got out: Wright went to law school, passed the bar and came back to try and convict the crooked officers and judge who locked him up.
Put some respect on his name and hit the jump to learn more about his story, which 50 Cent will be telling in an upcoming project.
Tony Bowles writes for Medium:
Wright’s remarkable journey to gain his freedom and his legal talents are slated to be depicted in a TV series based upon his life and produced by 50 Cent.
Today, they are slated to be on display in defense of Bell, the brother of an NFL player with the Detroit Lions, who is accused of first degree murder in the stabbing death of James Kargbo.
As co-counsel, Wright’s representation of Bell will be backed by unique experiences no other attorney can lay claim to — an experience that began in the very same county and courthouse Wright will be representing Bell.
In 1991, Wright was tried in a Somerset County courtroom and convicted under New Jersey’s drug kingpin law.
Wright represented himself at trial and, while serving a Life sentence in prison, he continued to study the law and oversee his own appeal.
Over the next several years, Wright also worked as a prison paralegal and won the freedom and reduced sentences of over 20 inmates, many serving life sentences. Some of his legal arguments made new law that lawyers now argue and courts follow.
Attorney Gilbert G. Miller, then Assistant Somerset County Prosecutor appointed to oppose Wright’s appeals and other court action, said it best:
“I found Mr. Wright to be highly intelligent and…a better brief writer than most attorneys I have encountered. I was most impressed with Mr. Wright’s ability as a legal strategist. Mr. Wright developed the legal strategy and authored a defense pro se brief in an attack on the king-pin jury instruction in State v. Alexander, 136 N.J. 563 (1994). Mr. Wright’s arguments prevailed in Alexander. Mr. Wright used his success in Alexander to have his own kingpin conviction reversed.”
Wright said:
“I went to law school for one reason and one reason only,” says Wright. “To slay giants for a price. And if the giant is big enough and the cause is important enough, I’ll do it for free, especially when it involves helping those who cannot help themselves.”
Read more here via Tony Bowles of Medium.
