Do two tragedies equal justice? We teach our children that two wrongs don't make a right and we learn in school that justice in a courtroom guarantees proof "beyond a reasonable doubt."

Yet, James Edward Hardy remains incarcerated after nearly four decades in spite of a finding by a referee of the California Supreme Court appointed to hold a post-conviction evidentiary hearing in the case that Hardy's court appointed attorney failed to present forensic evidence indicating he could not have been at the murder scene when the crime was committed.

In his scathing 95 page report, the referee, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul Flynn also found a mountain of evidence that pointed the finger at one of the key prosecution witnesses against Hardy at trial. Flynn's report details the testimony of nine witnesses who testified at the post-conviction evidentiary hearing to facts indicating that Calvin Boyd was most likely the real killer. Judge Flynn concluded in his report that Calvin Boyd the man whose accusing finger robbed Hardy of most of his adult life and his children of their father "lacked credibility and reliability as a witness."

James Edward Hardy's prosecutor not only failed to pursue Boyd's potential guilt, but secretly gave him immunity from future prosecution for the crime.

The wheels of justice grind slowly, especially in a complicated capital case. Judge Flynn filed his report with the California Supreme Court documenting more than reasonable doubt as to Hardy's guilt and raising serious questions about the fairness of his trial back in 1999. It was not until the Fall of 2007 that the State Supreme Court ordered Hardy removed from San Quentin Prison's Death Row and returned to Southern California, where he was convicted, for retrial of the penalty phase of his case. (Although the California Supreme Court was unwilling to grant Hardy a retrial of the guilt phase of his case, Hardy's attorneys remain hopeful that a federal court will ultimately recognize that an entirely new trial is necessary.)

FACTS OF THE CASE: James Edward Hardy was arrested in May 1981 for participating in the brutal murders of Nancy Morgan and her son Mitchell in Van Nuys, Calif. He and a codefendant, Mark Reilly, were sentenced to death by a Los Angeles jury on Sept. 26, 1983. The victims' husband and father, Clifford Morgan, was convicted of arranging the murders to collect insurance money. Unfortunately, he died of cancer prior to the penalty phase of the trial, costing James Edward Hardy the possible benefit of his testimony. It was a tragic and senseless crime that deserves an honest resolution.

JAMES EDWARD HARDY IN 1981: As a young man in trouble, James Edward Hardy did little to help his case. He had associated with rough characters. When he found himself being tried for a murder that he did not commit, he expressed his consternation at being wrongly accused with a defiant demeanor that jurors took to be lack of remorse. Young, angry and without resources, he depended on the truth to set him free. Soon after realizing that his court appointed counsel was ineffective, he repeatedly requested new counsel, but those requests were denied. In desperation, he asked to represent himself. That request was also denied.

In September of 2007, Hardy was removed from Death Row and relocated to Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, after his dedicated and selfless lawyers Robin Kallman and Peter Silten successfully argued that Hardy did not receive competent representation at trial. Since then he has been moved twice more and currently resides at California State Prison in Lancaster, CA.

Still, he remains locked up after more than 25 years. Unlike many of the Death Row prisoners who have been exonerated around the United States in recent years, Hardy was convicted with no physical evidence against him. Ironically, that means there is no recourse for him in DNA or other kinds of forensic evidence that have led to the release of unfairly convicted people. One ray of hope for Hardy is that the retrial of the penalty phase of his case will open the way to review by a federal court, which can order a new trial of the guilt phase, not merely of the penalty. This process is likely to siphon more years from his life.

JAMES EDWARD HARDY IN 2008: Today, Hardy, age 53, has two adult children who maintain a close and spiritual relationship with their father. He also has four grandchildren and looks forward to more. They visit often and pray for the day Hardy can rejoin the family and watch his grandchildren grow up--a life experience robbed of him with his own children. During his decades behind bars, Hardy has educated himself and become a keen thinker on philosophy and theology. He is also a gifted artist, who has created numerous visual artworks for his children, friends and family.

It is difficult to understand how an American court can agree a person is not a murderer and was not fairly represented, then remove him from Death Row but only to be retried for his sentence. When the California Supreme Court vacated the death sentence but held that the convictions were nevertheless valid, it remanded the case to the Los Angeles Superior Court for a new sentencing proceeding. Because Hardy’s convictions remained, the only two sentencing options were life without possibility of parole and the death penalty. Almost two years after the California Supreme Court’s decision, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office decided that it would not seek the death penalty a second time, and Hardy was sentenced to life without possibility of parole. In September, 2011, he filed a federal habeas corpus petition challenging the conviction.  That petition is currently pending.

Mostly it is difficult to believe that after all that has come to light in his case, Hardy still sits in prison. While the Hardy team works toward bringing him his day in federal court and ultimately his release, Hardy reads and meditates every day in his jail cell.