Free Spel, Fidel, and John
Questions? Contact us at development@PAinnocence.org.
Together, Hernan "Spel" Cortes, Fidel Santiago, and John Payne have spent more than 120 years wrongfully incarcerated.
On July 10th, Spel, Fidel, and John went before the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons for a merit review. All three clients were denied a full hearing. Despite the strength of support for their commutation applications, all were turned down at this stage in the process and will not have their cases heard.
Fidel, Spel, and John each fulfilled the usual expectations for advancing to a public hearing, including having served well over three decades in prison, maintaining good prison conduct records, engaging with their communities by mentoring other incarcerated individuals, maintaining employment, and having strong family and community support for reentry purposes. Unfortunately, it appears that their decisions to stick to their principles and maintain their innocence during this process were held against them.
What’s Next?
We continue to represent Fidel, Spel, and John, standing by their claims of innocence and committed to exhausting any potential pathway for their relief. For now, Fidel, Spel, and John remain incarcerated, sentenced to die in prison.
Spread the Word: We thank all who have heard and shared Fidel’s, Spel’s, and John’s stories in recent weeks. Please consider forwarding campaign emails, sharing our posts on social networks, and helping to spread the word about your support for Project clients. An easy place to start is to look for our campaign newsletter on the Project's LinkedIn page and share posts with your network.
We will continue to update this page in the days to come. The fight for freedom continues for hundreds of Project clients, and we hope that you will continue to share their stories and show your support. It means so much to our clients, to their families, and to our team.
See more of their stories at these direct links: Fidel Santiago, Hernan “Spel” Cortes, and John Payne. You can use this link to sign up to receive their stories, action steps you can take to help them, and updates on the clemency process directly to your inbox.