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Dallas County Records 12th DNA Case: DNA Exons. Raise Questions About Quality of Texas Justice
AP ^ | Jan 19, 2007 | JEFF CARLTON

Posted on 01/20/2007 11:14:32 AM PST by Alter Kaker

DALLAS Jan 19, 2007 (AP)— In a case that has renewed questions about the quality of Texas justice, a man who spent 10 years behind bars for the rape of a boy has become the 12th person in Dallas County to be cleared by DNA evidence.

That is more DNA exonerations than in all of California, and more than in Florida, too. In fact, Dallas County alone has more such cases than all but three states a situation one Texas lawmaker calls an "international embarrassment."

James Waller, 50, was exonerated by a judge earlier this week and received an apology from the district attorney's office after a new type of DNA testing on hair and semen showed he was not the rapist who attacked a 12-year-old a boy living in Waller's apartment building in 1983. The boy had been the chief witness against him.

"It's been a long, horrible road," said Waller, who has been out on parole since 1993.

Only New York, Illinois and Texas have had more DNA exonerations than Dallas County, which has a population of 2.3 million, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions.

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: crime; dallas; dna; exoneration

1 posted on 01/20/2007 11:14:35 AM PST by Alter Kaker
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To: Alter Kaker
I am all for increased use of DNA evidence. Innocent men should not be punished.

However, on the flip side, when DNA evidence clearly implicates a defendant, we should feel even less hesitancy than before about dropping the hammer on him. This should allow the death penalty to be used much more freqently, which is a good thing. We should be executing every three-time felon without pity.

-ccm

2 posted on 01/20/2007 11:41:03 AM PST by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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To: ccmay
"We should be executing every three-time felon without pity"

I would change that to :"We should be executing every three-time violent felon without pity"

Driving fast is a felony.
Prostitution is a felony.
Investing in an online casino is a felony. (apparently)
Smuggling cigarettes is a felony.
Martha Stewart was convicted of a felony.
In Alaska, buying a resident fishing license can be a felony.

IMHO, none of these deserves a death sentence.

....Bob
3 posted on 01/20/2007 11:54:31 AM PST by Lokibob (Greatest snow on earth. www.utahweatherlinks.com)
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To: Alter Kaker

They really really want Texas to get rid of the death penalty. I don't think so.


4 posted on 01/20/2007 11:57:37 AM PST by freekitty
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To: Lokibob
I did NOT mean to imply that 3 murders need to take place before giving the death sentence. I meant to say that a history of violence on the felony level is enough to warrant the death sentence.
5 posted on 01/20/2007 12:11:35 PM PST by Lokibob (Greatest snow on earth. www.utahweatherlinks.com)
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To: Alter Kaker
The boy had been the chief witness against him.

So, who was the child protecting and is the creep still out on the streets?

6 posted on 01/20/2007 12:19:47 PM PST by mtbopfuyn (I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)
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To: Alter Kaker
Good article.

I think the greater problems may be in the dna science, its underpinnings, issues with the extraction methods.

I think it will be shown more and more that the science as currently based has many as yet undetected flaws.

IOW it does not work as advertised.

W,
7 posted on 01/20/2007 12:34:49 PM PST by RunningWolf (2-1 Cav 1975)
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To: mtbopfuyn
So, who was the child protecting and is the creep still out on the streets?

Why would the child be protecting anyone?

See, almost all of these DNA exoneration cases were convictions based on victim ID of the perp, and what people can't seem to mentally process is that those IDs can often be flat wrong, WITHOUT the witness deliberately lying - the witness can often sincerely believe their ID is correct - one problem is the police will often egg them on or help them convince the witness of the correctness of their IDs because they want a quick and easy conviction.

And most of the time it's white victims misindentifying a black perpetrator - not to encourage the cliche of "they all look alike" but studies have shown that people have difficulty telling people of different races than their own apart.

8 posted on 01/20/2007 1:11:31 PM PST by Strategerist
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To: Alter Kaker
"Dallas County Records 12th DNA Case: DNA Exons. Raise Questions About Quality of Texas Justice"

I have serious doubts about this. I believe that state authorities should be looking into the methods used in these tests. And, while they're about it, they should look in the political and ethnic pedigree of the people conducting and reporting the results of these tests.

Seems to me that something is seriously wrong here.

9 posted on 01/20/2007 1:47:52 PM PST by davisfh
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To: davisfh

Ethnic pedigree? WTH? DNA labs should be whites only?


10 posted on 01/20/2007 1:50:46 PM PST by Alter Kaker ("Whatever tears one sheds, in the end one always blows one's nose." - Heine)
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To: Alter Kaker

Just to let everyone know: Dallas voters kicked out all the Republican judges backed in November. Here in Big D, it's all Dimwad judges, all the time. As a result, the criminals here are ramping up operations.


11 posted on 01/20/2007 1:54:41 PM PST by Vision Thing
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