After a judge vacated his 1991 rape conviction in July of 2024, William Henry Jamerson is expected to learn whether the courts will allow him to be removed early from the sex offender registry.
This hurdle is the latest in a 30-year saga , but not the last. Jamerson served out his 24-year sentence and was released in 2015, but has fought ever since to clear his name.
“You know most people who get out of prison, leave it alone,” he said. “I ain’t that type.”
Jamerson said, at one point, he could have gotten out of prison early but couldn’t bring himself to accept the terms of parole, which included admitting guilt.
“They’re going to say you did it, you gotta get on that sex offender thing for a long time, then you have to report every other week and all that,” he said. “I can’t do that.”
Years after his conviction, DNA technology became widely used. Jamerson fought from prison to get the rape kit tested. However, the Tulsa Police Department, for decades, told Jamerson it had been destroyed.