After release on false allegations, Nashville man seeks stability
- Robert E. Polk's parole was revoked because of new charges in November 2014. He went back to prison.
- A year later, prosecutors dropped the charges and prosecuted his wife, who made up the allegations.
- Polk remained in prison for another year before the Board of Parole granted his appeal.
- The 33-year-old Nashville native was released the night before Thanksgiving.
Robert E. Polk knows what some people think of him because of his criminal history. He sold drugs to an undercover cop. He committed crimes of assault, drug offenses and fled police.
But he did not threaten his wife with a gun in November 2014. Because she said he did, Polk's parole was revoked and he went back to a Tennessee prison.
And there he stayed. Even after his charges were dismissed a year later. Even after his wife was charged and convicted of perjury. Even after a Nashville prosecutor asked the Tennessee Board of Parole to reconsider Polk's case. Polk remained behind bars for two years.
"It’s overwhelming, that’s all I could say," Polk said.
His return to prison cost Tennessee taxpayers more than $54,000, and cost Polk his job doing electrical work and separated him from his children.
"I knew I was getting incarcerated for something I didn’t do," Polk said. "I knew I was on parole, so it’s like, any run-in with the law I can easily go back to prison. For something I didn’t do, I wasn’t trying to accept that, but I had no choice."
He was released the night before Thanksgiving, six days after the Board of Parole agreed to reinstate his parole and three weeks after The Tennessean first published a story about Polk's case.
The 33-year-old Nashville native is now staying with his sister in a West End apartment. He said he's been visiting staffing agencies to find work.
"After I get all this squared away, hopefully I get my job, get my kids back, and, hopefully, I can open a door for other people that’s in the situation I’m in," he told The Tennessean in an interview last week, his first since his release.
"I just want to be in a stable position, to not want or need for anything. Whether it is working at McDonald's or being a lawyer or a doctor, if that was possible, that would be all right with me. Just as long as I can be happy and be there with my family."
Polk was arrested in November 2014 after his wife reported to authorities he had threatened her with a weapon. Polk was on parole in a drug dealing case at the time, and his parole was revoked because of the new charges.
About a year later, Assistant District Attorney General Vince Wyatt dropped charges against Polk and sought charges against Polk's wife. Polk's wife in September pleaded guilty to a perjury charge, court records show, admitting she made up the story.
Wyatt then sent a letter to the Board of Parole, suggesting Robert Polk's case deserved review. Polk said he felt it was a blessing that a prosecutor would take that step.
The board granted Polk's appeal and then agreed last month his parole should be reinstated, leading to his release. Had that not happened, Polk's next chance at release was January 2018.
The length of the parole appeal hearing process has been blasted by lawmakers and those who know Polk.
Rep. Brenda Gilmore, a Nashville Democrat and chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, said she previously reached out to the state and national chapters of the NAACP to help get Polk out of prison. Polk's release hasn't curbed that conversation, however.
"We want to see if there’s any legislation we can present that can prevent what happened to this man," she said.
Getting out means Polk will continue to serve parole in the 2007 drug dealing case. His parole will expire in August 2018, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
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Polk does not understand why he was not released when the state dropped the domestic violence charges against him a year ago.
"I feel they should have just opened those gates and let me out," he said. "But they didn’t. They kept me another year and some days after that, for no reason."
But dismissed charges aren't enough for the board to change its mind, according to the board's spokeswoman, Melissa McDonald.
"An offender may be revoked based on evidence at our independent fact-finding hearing, even if underlying charges are dismissed," she said in an email.
Throughout his case, Polk was helped by his older sister, Tamika Polk, who has also questioned the board's actions. Tamika Polk said that as she tried to advocate for her brother, it was difficult to get information from parole board staff.
"I just felt that, once he was incarcerated, there was just nobody to turn to," she said.
"If one side has to be held accountable, the other side has to be accountable, too."
In April, Tamika Polk sent an email to parole staff asking about the appeals process and saying her brother was falsely accused. McDonald said staff responded promptly, outlining the appeal process.
The email is in Robert Polk's parole file. But, according to the board's rules, it came too late. Rules say inmates or their representatives must appeal a parole decision within 45 days, and there must be misconduct by staff or significant new information to grant an appeal hearing. In Polk's case, that would have been in early 2015, before his wife was indicted.
Criminal justice reform advocates say Polk's case shows a systemic and costly problem in the penal system.
Taxpayers spent more than $54,400 to keep Polk incarcerated in this case; $27,400 of that from the time his charges were dismissed; and $3,600 from the time the parole board was notified the allegations were false.
"We’ve got to have measures that work more quickly to secure their release," said Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, a Memphis-based criminal justice reform group.
"The default nature of the system is to keep people locked up. You have the McKinney case, this case. The almost insurmountable hurdles people have to overcome even with prosecutors and DNA saying these are not people that need to be locked up. Even when the normal foes are aligned with you. It’s a crystal clear picture of the system and how it’s aligned."
In September, the Tennessee Board of Parole denied Lawrence McKinney of Wilson County a formal exoneration recommendation, questioning his innocence even though McKinney had been cleared by DNA evidence in a rape for which he spent 31 years in prison. McKinney's record was expunged but a formal exoneration would allow him to seek compensation from the state.
McKinney's lawyers have gone directly to Gov. Bill Haslam. The governor has ultimate authority and is not bound by the Board of Parole's recommendation.
And there are more than just incarceration costs to consider, Spickler said.
Polk's release sent him back to the start of a marathon with many hurdles: Getting on his feet and finding a job with a criminal record. Court records show he owes more than $41,000 in court fees from his past cases.
"It might as well be a mortgage on a mansion in Green Hills for him," Spickler said. "It’s never going to get paid off."
But close family ties and support are a crucial part of success, Spickler said, and Polk and his family are determined to stick together. When Polk came to The Tennessean for an interview last week, he brought his sister, a cousin, family photographs they'd sent him while he was incarcerated and another tall hurdle.
It was a seven-paragraph letter to the editor he'd cut from the pages of the newspaper titled "Life of crime rewarded," suggesting Polk's criminal history and "drug dealing career" meant he would reoffend.
"A lot of people are going to do that," Polk said. "I expect that. But that don’t mean they have to do that.
"I would just say don’t judge a book by its cover. ... I feel I’ve been blessed, so I want to do something different this time."
Timeline of Robert E. Polk's case
The Tennessee Board of Parole provided this timeline of its review of Robert E. Polk's case:
Sept. 28: The board receives the prosecutor's letter and begins verifying the information and asking for more records.
Oct. 18: The board receives all the information necessary.
Nov. 2: The board votes to conduct an appeal hearing.
Nov. 4: An appeal hearing is set for Nov. 10.
Nov. 10: A parole hearing officer recommends Polk be released from prison.
Nov. 17: Three board members vote to release Polk.
Nov. 23: Polk is released from prison. His parole expires in 2018.
Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 or on Twitter @sbarchenger.