About Lester
In 2008, Lester was 26 years old living in Vancouver, Washington with his wife and their two young children, when he was wrongly implicated in crimes he did not commit. Eight years into his 24 year sentence, Lester was freed after it was proven that his conviction was based on prosecutor misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel.
The Investigation
Shortly before midnight on May 16, 2008, Gary Atkinson was awakened by loud knocking on his apartment door. Atkinson got out of bed and opened the front door. As he did so, two black men wearing bandanas on the lower part of their faces tried to force their way into his apartment. They were both holding pistols and telling him to get down or they would shoot him. Although both men were partially masked, Atkinson immediately recognized one of the men as Garry Alexander. Atkinson was able to push his way through his door and ran towards his neighbor’s adjacent apartment. While running, Atkinson heard two shots and felt one of them hit him in the back.
Atkinson recognized Garry Alexander as one of the attackers based on his distinctive voice, build, eyes and nose, and the tear-drop tattoo under Alexander’s eye. Atkinson was familiar with Alexander because Alexander was the father of his girlfriend’s child. The two had spoken more than twenty times over the preceding two years. Alexander had been to Atkinson’s residence to pick up the child and had visited the used car dealership where Atkinson worked. Atkinson gave Alexander’s name to the Vancouver Police Department at the scene, before he was taken away in an ambulance. At the hospital, he identified Alexander in a photo laydown.
Based on Atkinson’s positive identification, officers began looking for Alexander. He was arrested on May 17, 2008, less than 24 hours after the crime. Detective Jeffrey Wilken, the lead investigator in the case, interrogated Alexander the evening of May 17, and then again on May 18 to May 19. During the first interrogation, Alexander denied any criminal involvement. During the second interrogation, he admitted he was involved but claimed that Lester Griffin and a man named Christopher Perkins were the two men who committed the robbery. Alexander told Wilken that on the night of the crime, the three men drove to the Evergreen Park Apartments, which was near Atkinson’s apartment complex. They parked there. Alexander said he was supposed to be the getaway driver but thought better of it and left Lester and Perkins stranded at the apartments after they got out of the car.
The police searched Lester’s home on May 19, 2008. On the same day, they searched the area around the Evergreen Park Apartments and did not find any evidence. After the search of Lester’s home, Detective Wilken returned to the area that night with another officer and discovered a single glove. Subsequent testing indicated the glove contained a mixed DNA profile that included Lester as a contributor.
Shortly before trial, the defense learned that Detective Wilken was on administrative leave, and requested Brady information (i.e., exculpatory material) held by the State. The prosecutor explained to the judge that when he learned of the leave, he asked the chief criminal deputy whether there was any Brady material that needed to be turned over to the defense. He was directed not to disclose to the defense that Wilken was on administrative leave. The next day the prosecutor’s office gave the trial judge their file on Wilken, which was received under seal for in-camera review. After reviewing the file, the trial judge ruled that the documents did not contain admissible evidence for substantive or impeachment purposes, and the defense request was denied.
The primary evidence against Lester at trial was the testimony of Garry Alexander. Based on his prior record and the seriousness of the charges against him, Alexander faced a sentence of up to 17 years. In exchange for his testimony, the State agreed to charge him with attempted robbery, without a firearm enhancement, resulting in a standard range sentence of only four years.
Atkinson, the victim, continued to insist at trial that Garry Alexander was one of his attackers. Despite Atkinson’s positive identification of Alexander, the jury convicted Lester , and he was sentenced to 24 years in prison. The Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction in 2010.
Post-Conviction and Freedom
WashIP obtained Wilken’s entire personnel file from Lester’s mother, who received it through public disclosure requests. The contents were shocking. Wilken’s personnel file contained information showing that in 2000, a Clark County deputy prosecutor complained that Wilken made materially false statements under oath during a suppression hearing. Specifically, the prosecutor’s office asserted that Wilken’s testimony conflicted with statements he made in a search warrant affidavit and order of destruction of materials.
The personnel file also revealed Wilken was reprimanded and suspended in 2002 for violating numerous department policies, including conducting an unauthorized investigation and disregarding the chain of command. His superiors had concerns about Wilken going too far in conducting investigations and his lack of a clear understanding of lawful police conduct.
In 2008, at the time of Lester’s trial, authorities were investigating a sexual harassment and police misconduct complaint against Wilken. A female officer with the Department of Corrections, who was assigned to work with the Vancouver Police Department, filed the complaint. It alleged sexual harassment and other misconduct including grabbing her by the throat, placing women’s underwear on her head during a search warrant execution, handcuffing her to a chair and leaving her in the men’s locker room, sending her pictures of suspects or informants wearing her (and another officer’s) equipment or clothing, and making sexual remarks. She also alleged that Wilken defecated at a crime scene and stuck a DOC business card in the feces. This investigation led to Wilken’s resignation.
WashIP pursued DNA testing on items of evidence from the scene, and in 2011 filed a timely amended personal restraint petition based on violations of several of Lester’s constitutional rights, including the withholding of exculpatory Brady evidence. A stay was granted for the personal restraint petition pending the results of testing. DNA testing was determined to not be scientifically possible, WashIP urged the court to consider Lester’s claims that he was denied a fair trial because the prosecutor withheld Brady evidence and engaged in other misconduct, and because he was denied his right to effective assistance of counsel. The court of appeals dismissed Lester’s personal restraint petition on procedural grounds in 2014. The Supreme Court reversed the dismissal in 2015, remanding Lester’s petition to the court of appeals for determination on its merits.
In 2016, the court of appeals granted Lester’s petition and remanded his case for a new trial. It found the State failed to disclose favorable Brady evidence and found that Lester was denied his right to effective assistance of counsel.
Lester Lester’s children were in grade school and middle school when his conviction was overturned. When his case was returned to Clark County, the prosecutor offered a plea deal to lesser charges which, if accepted, would result in Lester’s immediate release. On January 5, 2017 he made the difficult decision to enter a “Newton Plea,” a legal mechanism allowing an accused person in Washington State to take advantage of a prosecutor’s offer while still maintaining their innocence. He was released from custody and had an emotional reunion with his children, surprising them at their respective schools.
Since obtaining his freedom, Lester has been an engaged husband, father, friend, community advocate and business owner. He was a varsity basketball coach for three years at Evergreen High School and is still actively involved in different areas of the school, which his children attended. Lester has dedicated himself to empowering youth and individuals through second chances, mentorship, and reentry support. He is the Executive Director of The Foundation Vancouver, an organization providing youth development and court diversion programs for at-risk youth, alongside reentry support for adults reentering Clark County after incarceration, aiming to foster positive growth and community restoration.
Lester also serves on the Vancouver Police Department’s Diversity Board and Community Action Team, where he actively promotes inclusivity and community engagement and is a Board Member of the Washington Innocence Project.
*Based on the average annual per-person incarceration costs in Washington State as of May 2019. Does not include the financial cost of trial, appeals, community supervision, retrial, or related civil proceedings.
**Based on the average salary by age https://smartasset.com/retirement/the-average-salary-by-age; not including retirement or social security contributions.
WashIP is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Federal Tax ID No. 83-3498962
