Krishna Maharaj

Convicted of a murder that was almost certainly carried out by the Medellín drug cartel, 70 year old Krishna Maharaj is the victim of poor representation and prosecution misconduct.

Kris was born in Trinidad when it was in British possession and has been a British citizen all his life. In 1987 Kris was convicted of the murders of Derrick and Duane Moo Young in Miami, Florida, and was sentenced to death.

Kris has always maintained his innocence. He has five alibi witnesses all of whom place him more than 30 miles away at the time of the murder, but none of whom were called to testify at his trial. The original trial judge was led away in handcuffs for taking bribes in another case, and the new judge ordered the death penalty to be drawn up even before a verdict of guilty had been given.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the victims had been laundering money in the Caribbean, and that the murders were almost certainly carried out by the Medellín drug cartel.

Reprieve has achieved partial success on Kris’s case - but it was a bittersweet victory. In 2002, due to the violations in due process at his trial, his death sentence was quashed; but instead of being released, he was resentenced to life imprisonment. Kris is now 70 years old.

There is overwhelming evidence of Kris’ innocence and Reprieve continues to work to have him exonerated. In 2006, our attempts to secure a retrial were rejected. Pardon, commutation, or prisoner repatriation are Kris’s remaining hopes, and Reprieve is working on all these fronts on his behalf.

Write to Kris at:

Krishna Maharaj
109722
Location B 2106 L
South Unit SFRC
13910 NW 41st Street
Doral
Florida 33178