Oprah Winfrey assisted a death row inmate convicted of the 1985 murder of a correctional officer while maintaining his innocence and trying to clear his name.
Jarvis Jay Masters had been charged with armed robbery at San Quentin State Penitentiary when he fatally stabbed Correctional Officer Sgt. Hal Burchfield four years after his conviction in June 1985.
Masters, who was 23 when Hal was killed, claimed he was a few floors above where the murder occurred and was forced by a gang member to write down the details of the officer’s death.
Prosecutors later used the notes to convict him, along with two others, of murder in 1990. He was also convicted of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to death, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Oprah Winfrey has supported the death row inmate since reading his 2009 autobiography That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row.
“I believe he is absolutely innocent of this crime,” Winfrey told The Times.
Jarvis Jay Masters is seeking to have his murder conviction overturned after prosecutors said he murdered a correctional officer in 1985. Masters has pleaded innocent and said gang members at the correctional center framed him for the crime
Sergeant Hal Burchfield was fatally stabbed in the chest by metal ripped from a bed frame to make a spear
Oprah Winfrey has supported Masters’ innocence and recently read his 2009 autobiography at her famous book club. The book explains how innocently Masters sits on death row
Masters is booked at San Quentin State Prison, where Hal was also stabbed
According to The Times, Masters is currently awaiting a federal judge to rule on his conviction and sentencing appeal after filing it in federal court in November 2020.
Winfrey has been helping Masters build a team of lawyers and decided to read his autobiography at her famous book club last month.
Her interest in the case has helped Master’s recent appeal for freedom gain momentum.
“I just feel like any sane person reading the facts of this case would at least want to have the case reopened so you at least know what most you did to get justice done.”
Winfrey once spoke to Masters while he was in the San Francisco Bay Jail. She was amazed at how he held himself together and maintained a sense of humor.
“I was fascinated by how normal he is and how cohesive and present he was because I think that would be a struggle for most people. Holding on to yourself in the midst of it. I know I wouldn’t be able to do that.’
Masters is currently behind bars awaiting a federal judge to rule on his conviction and appeal after filing it in federal court in November 2020
Winfrey has been helping Masters build a team of lawyers and decided to read his autobiography at her famous book club last month
The inmate who prosecutors said stabbed Hal with metal ripped from a bedstead used to make a spear-like weapon has previously appealed to the California Supreme Court, but it was denied.
He is optimistic that this time will be different.
“I feel like I’m in good hands now,” Masters told The Times. “Now my case can pick up some momentum, get some traction.
“I was a bandit, I was a crook, I stole, I robbed people. I’ve done a lot of things, but not this.’
As Masters awaits his last chance at freedom, he practices his Buddhist faith to keep him calm in the face of uncertainty.
Hal’s children are indifferent to Master’s appeal decades after their father’s death.
Majorie Buchfield, Hal’s daughter, said her father’s murder at age 14 set her down a path of addiction and homelessness before following in her father’s footsteps as a correctional officer, according to The Times.
She believes Masters killed her fatherhood.
“You can ask forgiveness,” Majorie said. “You can become a Buddhist. I do not care [if] you were the pope You committed the crime, you must pay for it.’
Meanwhile, Jeremiah Burchfield, who was two years old at the time of the murder, believes Masters is innocent.
“Sometimes it helps the judge just to look at the support of the victim’s family,” Jeremiah said.
JD Burchfield did not comment on Masters’ appeal, but did remember his father as a “hashish and violent” man. JD was 12 when his father died but said Hal hit him and his siblings.
“I don’t know if I’m ashamed of it or not, but I’ve never been so relieved in my life,” JD said of his father’s death. “I was scared for most of my childhood, and that was the night I wasn’t scared.”
As Masters awaits his last chance at freedom, he practices his Buddhist faith to keep him calm in the face of uncertainty. Pictured: Master when he was younger
At the time of the original trial for Hal’s death, inmates testified against Masters, saying he played a role in the officer’s death.
The death row inmate claimed that the gang’s leader, Rufus Willis, who ordered him to copy the notes about Hal’s death, was pressured by a Marin County investigator into conspiring evidence against him.
Masters said he only followed Willis’s instructions because he feared retribution.
In 1986, before Masters was convicted of murder, inmate Harlod Richardson confessed to preparing the gun that killed Hal, according to The Times. Richardson’s confession was never mentioned at trial.
Decades later in 2001, inmate Charles Drume later signed an affidavit that he had made the gun that killed Hal.
Masters believed during the 1980s trial that the jury would not believe the testimony against him and would find him innocent.
Despite his optimism, Masters was sentenced to death, with Marin County Superior Court Judge Beverly Savitt later adding that there may have been other violent crimes of which Master was never found guilty.
The defense attorney tried to ask Savitt to consider Masters’ childhood with his mother, who struggled with addiction and physically abusive foster parents.
Savitt responded by saying that Masters had the choice to choose a better life for himself, but didn’t.
“I have to conclude that the death jury verdict must be upheld,” Savitt said.
She added that “if people don’t want kids, they should have them,” according to Time.
It’s unclear why the gang members targeted Hal.
Masters is optimistic his appeal goes further than his other failed attempts
Masters later appealed to the California Supreme Court in 2008 — but was later asked to be reviewed by a “special judge.”
A report on the case was then prepared by Marin County Superior Court Judge Lynn Duryee in 2011.
The judge found loopholes in the case and conflicting claims made by gang members who previously testified against Masters.
Although she noted that some witnesses may have lied, she concluded that the jury had an opportunity to question the reliability of the testimonies given.
Judge Goodwin Liu later added in 2019 that Masters did not provide sufficient reason to support his claims that the witnesses were liars.
“At best, Masters has shown that these witnesses are generally liars, but he offers no compelling reason to prioritize their contradictions over their trace testimonies,” Goodwin said.
While Masters’ appeal is currently being considered, California Gov. Gavin Newson has placed a moratorium on executions on the death penalty.
If this is not removed, Masters will remain alive and behind bars.