Posted on 05/01/2008 12:53:25 PM PDT by Wolfie
Dallas man freed by DNA testing after 27 years in prison
DALLAS — A Dallas man who spent more than 27 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit was freed Tuesday, after being incarcerated longer than any other wrongfully convicted U.S. inmate cleared by DNA testing.
James Lee Woodard stepped out of the courtroom and raised his arms to a throng of photographers. Supporters and other people gathered outside the court erupted in applause.
"No words can express what a tragic story yours is," state District Judge Mark Stoltz told Woodard at a brief hearing before his release.
Woodard, cleared of the 1980 murder of his girlfriend, became the 18th person in Dallas County to have his conviction cast aside. That's a figure unmatched by any county nationally, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions.
"I thank God for the existence of the Innocence Project," Woodard, 55, told the court. "Without that, I wouldn't be here today. I would be wasting away in prison."
Overall, 31 people have been formally exonerated through DNA testing in Texas, also a national high. That does not include Woodard and at least three others whose exonerations will not become official until Gov. Rick Perry grants pardons or the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals formally accepts the ruling of lower courts that have already recommended exoneration.
Woodard was sentenced to life in prison in July 1981 for the murder of a 21-year-old Dallas woman found raped and strangled near the banks of the Trinity River.
(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...
I can imagine that a lot of people would be bitterly affected by a mistake such as this. After 27 years in the College for Criminals, I wonder if he’ll be able to control himself and stay out of jail?
It is quite possible that many of these men could not have been convicted in a courtroom today. But, that would mean they are Not Guilty, or Not Prosecuted, which is not the same thing as innocent.
Think about the three things that HAD to have happened for ALL these innocent men to be convicted.
ALL the crimes HAD to take place during a period of time when these innocent men had no credible witnesses to being someplace else.
ALL the crimes HAD to take place at a location the innocent men could plausibly get to.
Almost ALL the real criminals HAD to have some physical resemblance to the innocent men, since most of these cases involve eyewitness testimony.
That is one giant heap of bad luck, isn't it?
If you tell me innocent men have been sent to prison, I believe you.
When you tell me that HUNDREDS of innocent men have been convicted of murder or rape, I flat out do not believe that.
Read a science fiction story once (Orson Scott Card?) about the development of an utterly infalliable "truth" machine, otherwise known as a lie detector. With the premise that the results were always 100% perfect, all it took to prove innocence or guilt was to ask the person if they did it.
The state that executes the most also seems to have the most convictions of the innocent.
Scary.
In addition to these three things you mentioned we can also add overzealous prosecutors, shoddy police work, botched investigations that focus on only one suspect, incompetent public defenders, emotionally exhausted juries, and several other factors that could lead to innocent men being convicted.
With 2+ million Americans behind bars I have no doubt that there could be hundreds of innocent people. I also have no doubt that innocent men have been executed.
There's no such thing as an 'innocent' verdict: innocence is presumed unless proven otherwise, which means these guys are as innocent as you are.
“That is one giant heap of bad luck, isn’t it?”
Nope. You have no idea how many times a day you fall into every single one of those points. You;ll find out if anyone ever points a finger at you though, and at the time in question you were alone sleeping, or watching a DVD, or reading a book, or doing your taxes ......
One of the demonstrably innocent guys in one of the cable channels shows on the subject was ID’d by a woman who was raped for a period of hours by a guy NOT WEARING A DISGUISE OR MASK. She ID’d him a mere 3 hours after the rape ended.
I’m waiting for someone to do a study on the gender of the eyewitnesses who get these “criminals” locked up. I’m betting it doesn’t break anywhere near 50/50. (just a lurking suspicion)
Non-blacks have difficulty telling young black men apart.
That's completely possible.
However, most violent black crime is on other blacks.
Also, think of the implications of your thesis.
If hundreds of murderers and rapists are innocent, there must be tens of thousands of innocent black men in prison charged with robbery, burglary, and car jacking.
Does that really seem plausible to you?
Remember too, that prosecutors tell us they take the utmost care in such cases. Makes you wonder about all the rest, doesn't it? Or not? Nifong...?
I agree. We have to register and/or lock him up because we made him a threat to society. Good thinking, TexasRepublic! We might have let loose a danger to society but for your perspicacity.
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