Posted on 11/25/2010 7:03:32 PM PST by nickcarraway
Another Man Convicted Of Homicides Last Month
A man released from jail this week more than two years after being accused in a double murder is smiling again. "I just don't believe it! I'm home," Cedric Cutter said Wednesday. "Just the other day, I was laying in the cell dreaming about this day. Now I'm home."
Not only was Cutter accused in the death of two men in an Arlington home in March 2007, he could have faced the death penalty if convicted.
"I thought I was going to die," Cutter told Channel 4's Vickie Pierre. "I woke up every morning brushing my teeth and going to bed thinking about that. It was hard." Jacksonville police arrested Anthony Vaughan six months after 41-year-old David Holmes and 37-year-old Surapol Martin were shot and killed in a house on 8400 block of Lone Star Road.
Nearly a year after that, Cutter was arrested by U.S. marshals in Georgia and also charged with two counts of murder.
Cutter's attorney, Chuck Fletcher, said the charge against Cutter was a mistake from the beginning. Fletcher said Cutter was in jail on a driving charge when another inmate saw him and told police he believed Cutter was the shooter.
"This was a jailhouse identification made by one person 18 months after the murder," Fletcher said.
"I thought I was dreaming, until I woke up in jail," Cutter said. "I didn't know the people at all." Fletcher kept working the case, and with the help of a private investigator, obtained a letter from Vaughan saying he had never met Cutter.
"(Vaughan) says he was pretty much sorry (Cutter) got charged with it, but he'll have to deal with it," private investigator Allan Wainwright said. Witnesses also described the gunman as 6 feet 3 inches tall. Cutter is only 5 feet 8 -- 7 inches shorter. Fletcher said that's when prosecutors began to reconsider the charges against Cutter.
Last month, Vaughan was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Cutter was released on Monday and was reunited with his mother and the rest of his family.
"To see one end this way, it just makes you ecstatic," Fletcher said. "It makes you kind of believe the system again."
Cutter said he first thought his release was a dream. "When I woke up the next morning, I was home," Cutter said. "It felt great."
Cutter and his attorney are considering seeking compensation from the state for his wrongful confinement.
"This was a jailhouse identification made by one person 18 months after the murder," Fletcher said.
This is the same basis for the conviction of Chandra Levy's alleged murder.
more mischief
No doubt, he mentions Eric Holder in his prayers.
I thought Levy’s killer bragged about it to a fellow convict.
| US Constitution, Amendment VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. |
| US Constitution, Amendment V. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.. |
A jailhouse snitch claimed he confessed. Is an uncorroborated claim by someone in prison enough evidence for a conviction?
Reason number 1,812 why I growing more and more against the death penalty in this country.
I am completely convinced that our criminal justice system is just not sufficiently evolved enough to be entrusted with such great power and punishment over us.
Why not, they'll use confidential informants who are either paid to drum up information on you or they are bribed with lesser to outright dropped charges. If they help the state manufacture evidence to be used against you.
And in most cases the Confidential Informant cannot be crossed examined in court because it might "jeopardize their safety"... according to police and prosecutors, who love to use them to manufacture evidence they will later use to jail you.
In other words the state wants to protect their paid liars so they can be used again, but this time the prosecutors can point to your conviction as evidence of the truthfulness of the CI...
Aint the American Criminal Justice System great?
I believe there was also some evidence that he had molested other women in the same manner.
Circumstantial evidence mounts up after a while.
It isn’t the first time it mounted up enough to put a person in jail.
I’m against taking any life. Abortion or murderer. Especially when there isn’t proof the guilty are guilty.
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