Dear Friend,
I’m writing to you now, heartbroken, because my brother cannot.
Right now, my little brother Jovanny Crespo is sitting in a cold prison like a caged animal.
He can’t go outside and enjoy the sun and fresh air like you and me.
His young children aren’t even allowed to visit him.
Jovanny is utterly alone…
…all because he showed up to work one day and followed his training.
Because, you see, Jovanny was a police officer who has been unjustly convicted of manslaughter after a split-second, life or death decision in the line of duty.
Back in January 2019, Jovanny and his partner got a call on their dispatch radio to help stop an armed suspect who was trying to evade police.
After chasing the suspects for a few miles, they were finally able to cut the fleeing suspects off.
That’s when my brother’s life flashed before his eyes. When he got out of the police cruiser and rushed to the suspects’ car to make the arrest…
… he saw the passenger pointing a gun right at him. Friend, Jovanny literally had seconds to make a decision if he wanted to live.
So, he fired at the gun-wielding criminal – stopping the threat to his life, the lives of his fellow officers, and the entire community.
It was a clear-cut case of self-defense.
And he protected his partner and his community from a dangerous criminal — exactly what he was trained to do.
So, you can imagine my shock when I found out Jovanny was being prosecuted for a crime instead of awarded for his bravery.
I always knew the dangers of his job. I worried about him all the time – he’s still my baby brother, after all.
I used to lie awake at night worrying about whether he’d be injured or killed in the line of duty.
As you may know, it’s a difficult and dangerous time to be in law enforcement. Officers across America have targets on their back just for wearing the uniform.
And friend, if you’ve never been to Newark, let me assure you, Jovanny was working in one of the roughest neighborhoods in New Jersey.
Many nights he would call me or one of our brothers if he thought he was going to be mugged…because he had been before.
Most of the vocally anti-law enforcement politicians and prosecutors in our country wouldn’t dare to even walk through a neighborhood like the one my brother lived and worked in daily.
But still, he did his job every single day out of love for his community and a sense of duty.
So I was stunned and horrified when I learned that he was facing life in prison, something I had never even thought to fear.
You never think something like this will happen to you…until it does, and you’re left reeling from the shock.
But I didn’t have long to process these unjust charges. I had to stay focused on the biggest problem my family was facing: how are we going to pay for Jovanny's defense?
A case like this can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars – that’s money that we just can’t scrape together.
The answer to our prayers finally came when we received a call from Jason Johnson, president of Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, who had heard about Jovanny’s case.
LELDF defends good officers, like my brother, who have been unfairly prosecuted for split-second, use-of-force decisions in the line of duty.
They have generously helped us pay for Jovanny's legal defense and have been standing with us every step of the way for years when other organizations turned their backs on us.
Now that my brother has been convicted, they’re committing to raising money for his appeal, but that will require more hours of legal research, legal motions, and court hearings than we had ever planned for.
To be honest, Friend, I’m not used to asking for help. But today I'm going to take a deep breath and ask you one of the hardest questions I've ever asked another person: Will you help LELDF fight for my brother Jovanny by making a tax-deductible donation of any amount today?
The thing you have to know about my brother is that he is the gentlest person you’ll ever meet — not the aggressive monster the media wants you to think he is.
Before his conviction, he spent his free time coaching youth baseball in the city he grew up in and loves.
He’s been through so much in his life, but he’s taken every trial and turned it into motivation to be better and to help those around him… that’s why he became an officer in the first place.
And nothing matters to Jovanny more than his own four children.
Jovanny’s greatest desire create a life for his kids that he never had himself, and he’ll do anything he can to provide for them.
So I hope and pray you’ll send a gift of $30, or any amount you can spare, to help get Jovanny out of prison and back where he belongs, with his children.
My friend, I know we've never met. But I hope you'll find it in your heart to help LELDF fight for my brother.
Whether you can give $10, $30, or $100, your contribution could be the difference between letting Jovanny rot in prison for the rest of his life for a crime he didn't commit... or keeping him at home with his children where he belongs.
After the hell we’ve been through, my family will be forever grateful for your contribution and support.
I was able to speak to Jovanny recently and he wanted me to let everyone who has donated to his defense know how much it means to him and to our whole family – truly, he is not standing alone.
So friend, thank you in advance for your kind support.
People like you remind me that there is still good in this broken world. May God bless you.