Freed Prisoner Learns a Fellow Inmate Is Charged

AP via NY Times ^ | September 5, 2003 | By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[68skylark]

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Nearly every week, Kirk Bloodsworth brought fellow inmate Kimberly Shay Ruffner his library books. And almost every week, the two men worked out together in the prison weight yard.

Now, prosecutors say the two had a connection never revealed while they were behind bars.

On Friday, Ruffner was charged with the murder of a 9-year-old girl -- the very crime for which a wrongly convicted Bloodsworth served nine years.

``I'm flipping out,'' Bloodsworth said after prosecutors visited his Cambridge home on Friday to tell him the news about Ruffner, who once slept in a cell one floor down from Bloodsworth. ``The answer was right below me, and I never knew it.''

Bloodsworth was twice convicted of the girl's murder and was sentenced to die, but after struggling for years to prove his innocence, he was cleared in 1993, becoming the first American to be freed from prison because of DNA evidence.

Bloodsworth said that in prison, he and Ruffner ``spotted'' each other when lifting weights together, but they did not talk about their convictions. He remembered Ruffner as a quiet man who kept to himself.

Bloodsworth was cleared with evidence gathered from a semen stain on the victim's panties.

``Thank God for DNA,'' said Sandra A. O'Connor, the prosecutor who asked police 18 months ago to enter the evidence into a state database to help investigators find the real killer.

On Friday, prosecutors charged Ruffner with murdering Dawn Venice Hamilton, and said they will bring rape charges as well. Ruffner has been behind bars since 1984; O'Connor would not disclose his prior conviction.

Now, prosecutors are certain they have the right man, said O'Connor, whose office wrongly convicted Bloodsworth twice.

When the little girl's body was discovered in the woods in Rosedale, Bloodsworth was 23, a newlywed just discharged from the Marines. An anonymous caller told police that Bloodsworth looked just like a police sketch of the man last seen with the girl.

Five eyewitnesses picked him out of a lineup.

``We did exactly what we should have done, given the evidence we had,'' O'Connor said of Bloodsworth's convictions. ``A jury heard the evidence twice and twice convicted him. It was a strong case.''

Bloodsworth remembers the day he was cleared and released from the Maryland state prison in Jessup. His fellow inmates, including Ruffner, were there when Bloodsworth got the news, he said.

Ruffner did not react, Bloodsworth recalled.

``I wonder what he's thinking now,'' said Bloodsworth, adding he now considers Ruffner a coward. ``They got him. All his punishment's coming.''

[68skylark]

Strange.

And by the way, I wish the prosecutor in this matter acted a little more contrite about wrongly convicting someone (twice) and sending him to prison for 9 years.

[Blood of Tyrants]

A guy named KIMBERLY?

[Alter Kaker]

Perhaps prosecutor in such type case should face criminal charges. I am not legal scholar but must be important to keep nefarious prosecutors away.

[Paradox]

I hate to admit it, but thats one reason I am reeeal close to opposing the death penalty. Not because I dont think that scumbag murders should die, its just that there is no way to commute or turnover a death sentence, once its been carried out..

[Mr. Jeeves]

I'm neutral on the death penalty now, for this reason. The judicial system has become far too corrupt and incompetent to be trusted with the power of life and death.

[cavtrooper21]

She doesn't have to, but the city that he was wrongly convicted in has (and will continue to) pay out the butt.
This article doesn't even touch the whole case about this former Marine.
He was screwed over royally both times he went to court, and it took an act of God (practicly) to get the case re-examined using DNA. The gubmint didn't want to...
Now you know why..

[68skylark]

Well, I guess a prosecutor can make a mistake, so I don't know if criminal charges are right. Maybe some kind of misdemeanor charge would be appropriate for someone who obtains a erroneous conviction that sends someone to death row.

Or maybe that person should just be barred from working as a prosecutor. Some kind of sanction for this kind of mistake would be nice.

On the other hand, it's hard enough as it is now to get a prosecutor to admit a mistake and get an innocent person released. If we are going to have a penalty for their conduct, then they'll never admit a mistake, and innocent people will suffer.

[Alter Kaker]

Making government pay isn't enough. Prosecutors and police need to be held personally acountable in such case. What does beat cop or assistant DA care if city has to pay money? It isn't from their paycheck.

[Alter Kaker]

On the other hand, it's hard enough as it is now to get a prosecutor to admit a mistake and get an innocent person released. If we are going to have a penalty for their conduct, then they'll never admit a mistake, and innocent people will suffer.

Forget what prosecutor admits. Every time someone is for released for prison on basis of innocence, you must to punish prosecutor. Every time someone is for released from prison on basis of serious police misconduct, you must to punish policeman. This is not joke. It will cut down on lawsuit and cut down on innocent men suffering at lazy, overbearing, ambitious government.

[68skylark]

Let me also say I hope the "witnesses" in this case feel contrite about their role in robbing this Marine of 9 years of his life. You seem to know a little about this case -- is it possible that Mr. Bloodsworth is a minority? I only ask because I've heard that eyewitness testimony is especially inaccurate in cases where the "witnesses" are a different race than the perp. Otherwise, I don't know how all these witnesses could have been so wrong in this case.

[cavtrooper21]

Good point, Ms Thing might not be so chipper if she had to deduct X amount of $$ from her pay every month to help pay off the civil settlement.

Or get to spend a few relaxing weekends in the same cell this guy did...
Might slow down the "witch hunts" that happen so often.

[Age of Reason]

And by the way, I wish the prosecutor in this matter acted a little more contrite about wrongly convicting someone (twice) and sending him to prison for 9 years.

First, I'd like to hear more about why the prosecutor thought Bloodsworth was such a bad guy.

Perhaps he was wrongly convicted of the one child-molestation he didn't do.

[68skylark]

Yes, I agree it is not a joke. An overbearing or out-of-control government is about the least funny thing I can think of -- FAR more capable or doing great harm to us than a street criminal or terrorist or other threats we may face in daily life. And you make some good points about the need for more accountability -- good comments.

[68skylark]

Well, if you're wondering "is there more we don't know?" then I guess I can see your point. But to go on to suggest someone might be a child molestor seems like a horrible thing to say, unless you've got some pretty good evidence. From what the article says, this is an innocent guy who's been through one of the most horrible experiences anyone can have. Let's not add to his pain by questioning his character, unless you have good reason to do so.

[cavtrooper21]

There were "witnesses" that "saw" someone fitting his description near the scene at the time the little girl went missing.
2-3 9 to 11 yearolds...
This guy was new to town, and was day-laboring on constuction sites to get by untill he could get a decent job. He had no family or close friends in the area. He looked (in the mug shot) rather scruffy. Good enough for the cops.
The case wasn't strong, but he could not afford a really good defence team, and because he was new to the area, had no alibi..


He is White.

Ooops - missed that, forgot to be PC. He is of northern European decent.

[Age of Reason]

But to go on to suggest someone might be a child molestor seems like a horrible thing to say, unless you've got some pretty good evidence. From what the article says, this is an innocent guy who's been through one of the most horrible experiences anyone can have. Let's not add to his pain by questioning his character, unless you have good reason to do so.

My reason for questioning his character is that he was twice convicted of a horrible crime by people who know a lot more about him than we do from reading the above article.

Now either everyone involved in his two convictions is crazy or sadistic--or there's something about this guy we don't know.

Of course, we can just go on believing what the media tell us.

In their quest to outlaw the death penalty, I'm sure we can trust the media to tell us all sides of this story.

[68skylark]

Well, you're free to think what you want. To me, juries sometimes make a mistake, and that's just what's happened here. I guess there will always be people who will suspect this guy really is a child molestor, on whatver evidence they choose be interpret or believe. But to me, this seems unfair to him.

[John H K]

Interestingly, this is one of the rarer false convictions where the guy was white.

At the time he looked really sort of scruffy and white-trashy.

He's currently a waterman (commercial fisherman) in Southern Maryland.

The problem isn't the prosecutor, its the blind faith in eyewitnesses in our legal system; unfortunately, prior to DNA, we faced a dilemma if that truth was accepted, because we know eyewitness ID of strangers is so bad that literally every case based on it doesn't meet "reasonable doubt."

[John H K]

How hard is it to penetrate your brain that perfectly sane, intelligent, well-meaning eyewitnesses can be completely wrong?

That's the central fact; eyewitness testimony, and eyewitness ID of strangers, can be horrendously wrong without the witness being crazy, an idiot, or lying.

[Age of Reason]

How hard is it to penetrate your brain that perfectly sane, intelligent, well-meaning eyewitnesses can be completely wrong?

How hard is it to penetrate your brain that they were there and you weren't?

That the cops and the prosecutor have seen the guy's total record and you haven't?

That many here read a newspaper article years after the original crime and decide they are qualified to pass judgment on everyone involved?

I on the other hand pass no judgment.

I merely reminded people not to be so quick to judge others, lest they be guilty of faulty judgment themselves.

DO YOU KNOW IF HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CRIME BY HELPING THE GUY THEY NOW BLAME?

JUST BECAUSE HE SAID HE DIDN'T KNOW THE OTHER GUY BEFORE HE WENT TO PRISON, YOU AUTOMATICALLY BELIEVE HIM?

DO YOU KNOW IF BLOODSWORTH HAD EVER BEEN CONVICTED OF A SEX CRIME BEFORE THIS ONE?

DO YOU?

I'D WANT TO KNOW ALL THAT AND MORE BEFORE I CRY TEARS OVER HIM.

(And P.S: I am not so quick to believe in the infalibility of DNA testing: Nothing in science is proved for long, and I have already pointed-out on this forum one possible crack in the reliability of DNA testing: the unknown percentage of human chimeras among the general population and among people genetically disposed to violence.)