Sounds like the time my hometown police tried to blame a burglary on my mentally challenged brother (IQ of about 65). The only “evidence” they had was my brother’s confession that they coerced out of him after 8 hours of questioning where they told him he didn’t need a lawyer. No recovered merchandise, no witnesses, no nothing but an asshole cop who didn’t like my brother.
Not only that, the police allowed the burglary victim, a state trooper, to question my brother. My brother’s employer even swore under oath that he was at work when the burglary happened.
At the trial, they played a tape recording of the “confession” where parts of it had been erased. My brother’s lawyer got the police the tape was altered. If my parents hadn’t hired a good lawyer, they would have sent my brother to prison, not giving a damn that he was innocent.
Cops and prosecutors are more interested in a conviction than justice and will lie their ass off to get one.
Not all of them, but a lot of them, absolutely. That's why I'm against the death penalty. It's not a moral issue, it's a "You can't trust an ambitious prosecutor" issue.