Convicted in 1975 of Pittsburgh murder, ailing inmate dies 12 days after release from prison
Please note: this article was originally published with dehumanizing language in the headline, which is still visible in the url and in the article’s photo caption. We have called on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to adhere to journalistic ethics when referring to people who get incarcerated.
TribLive, 06/03/24: “A quadriplegic man granted compassionate release last month after spending nearly 49 years in prison for murder died Saturday, less than two weeks after a judge granted the order to move him to a long-term care facility.
Ezra Bozeman, 68, never made it to the care facility.
Instead, 12 days after a judge granted the release, he died at UPMC Altoona, where he had been placed on life support May 20.
Dolly Prabhu, an attorney with the Abolitionist Law Center who filed the petition for Bozeman’s release, confirmed his death.
‘It’s really cruel he had to wait until he was so sick to even be eligible for compassionate release,’ she said Monday. ‘And on top of that for the (district attorney) to cause unnecessary delays, it just emphasizes how urgent these cases are.’
Bozeman, who continued to proclaim his innocence, was serving a sentence of life without parole for second-degree murder. He was convicted in October 1975 for killing Morris Weitz during a robbery at Highland Cleaners in Highland Park.
During his time in prison, Bozeman became a model inmate and mentor and served as a certified peer specialist, his supporters said.
But in February, Bozeman was paralyzed from the neck down following spinal surgery for an injury that had been misdiagnosed four years ago.”