Dear President Joseph R. Biden,

We the people respectfully ask that you grant a full presidential pardon to Billie Jerome Allen, a wrongfully convicted person on Federal Death Row. Our campaign, endorsed by prominent advocates including Ollie Gordon, Dr. Yusef Salaam, Khaliah Ali, Jason Flom, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Seth Glier, and many more, addresses over two and a half decades of injustice. It is based on evidence that supports Billie was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death 26 years ago – a decision he has passionately contested during his entire incarceration. The evidence we refer to includes but is not limited to:

1. The Government's "Negative" DNA results; where DNA was found at the crime scene, on evidence linked to the crime scene and both suspects involved in the crime, and where the Government's own results not only exclude the victim as a source, but Billie as well.

2. The Government's "Negative" Gasoline results; where all of Billie's clothes were specifically tested for gasoline, being that the getaway van used in the crime was soaked throughout in gasoline before the crime took place. According to the Government's forensic expert, whomever was inside the van, would also have had gasoline on their clothing. Yet, when they tested his clothing, "ALL" of Billie's clothing that he was supposedly wearing in the crime came back NEGATIVE.

3. Key witness statements; several witnesses who were at the crime scene, reported to officers and agents that they saw someone other than Billie fleeing the crime scene, and that this person had a clear visible injury to his right hand. Billie had no such injury.

4. Alibi statement; a security guard who was at a shopping mall picking up his pay cheque came forward to explain to the FBI that at the time the crime took place, he saw Billie talking to several people in the mall. According to this individual, Billie was carrying bags from purchases he made that morning - making it impossible for him to have been in two places at once.

Yet, like in all wrongful convictions, Billie was provided with ineffective assistance of counsel, and his trial attorney never looked for, discovered, nor presented any of this evidence.

The crime of bank robbery at the Lindell Bank and Trust in St. Louis, Missouri, in March of 1997 was the basis of Billie’s wrongful conviction. Tragically, this crime also involved the killing of a bank security guard, with which Billie was mistakenly implicated. Billie has always maintained his innocence; telling the arresting officers and agents of his alibi that all they had to do was go to the shopping mall and retrieve the surveillance footage from the stores he shopped at and from the mall itself. He also requested that police officers visit the place where he was staying to retrieve the bags and receipts from his purchases on the day of the crime. None of this was done.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, as of June 2024, the total number of people who have been proven to be wrongfully convicted (and exonerated) for crimes they did not commit in the United States has now reached 3,536 individuals. We firmly believe that Billie is one of these thousands of wrongfully convicted people, and his freedom awaits him.

Billie has most recently filed a pardon/clemency petition, presenting the evidence listed above, along with a trove of other evidence that helps to prove his innocence. All of this has been submitted in the hope that you will grant a pardon and that, finally, he can go home to join his family again. Billie has now spent more than half of his life on Federal Death Row, serving time for a crime he did not commit. Under no reasonable system of government or humanitarian ethics can that be right.

We know that you are the final decision maker for the petition. We trust in your judgement and understand that whilst you are hard on justice, you are even tougher when it comes to righting the wrongs of previous generations. Back in 1997, a terrible miscarriage of justice ripped through the life of Billie Allen and the family who have been waiting for him and fighting for him to come home for 26 years. We implore you to begin the process of healing by repairing that wrong.

I am just one of over 160,000 people who believe in Billie Allen, (See petition titled “DEAR BIDEN: FREE BILLIE ALLEN” on Change.org) and ask that you grant his pardon and release him home to his family where he belongs.

Respectfully submitted,

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