Posted on 04/16/2008 7:28:06 PM PDT by Strategerist
That’s God’s job - NOT YOURS and NOT GOVERNMENT’S!
to create a world where nations work together,
***
Read his book “Actual Innocence”. He explains several cases like this one.
It will give you chills about our legal system. It opened my eyes.
Oops.
to create a world where nations work together,=Barry Scheck.
Ah, a Fundamentalist. Thought so. Fundamentalists crave certainty - they crave it so much that they literally cannot accept any version of reality where things are not clear-cut, not black-and-white, not absolute. In extreme cases, they burn witches or fly airplanes into buildings because of their certainty that God wants evil destroyed and that they are His instrument.
Probably explains why such a high percentage of these false rape convictions take place in the Bible Belt - a combination of paternalism and Fundamentalism among the judiciary.
I may have missed the quote. For that I am sorry. The sentiment continues.
/johnny
For the safety of all those who would be harmed by the 100 guilty who go free, are YOU volunteering to be the one innocent man to be convicted?
1. Very biased juries. All businesses are afraid of going to the jury.
2. Cowards on defense. Most cases are settled out of court. Plaintiff's love that. Defendant's love that because they it is a safe gamble. Attorneys love that since it is money for less work. Judges really love that because it reduces their dockets.
3. Television - I remember in the mid 1980's seeing the first attorney commercials. Sam Bernstein. He's so well known in these parts than when someone says "Call Sam!", everyone knows who Sam is. Small Claims Court shows on TV showed people getting sued. People's Court, etc. Combine Sam and the court shows, and you get what you get today.
4. Judges. Not all judges, but most judges are bound by precidents set by above courts. Most tort law is common law, also known as judge made law, which dates back to 1700's England. Judges that set litigious common law reward plaintiffs.
5. Contingency fees. In many major tort cases, a plaintiff pays the attorney by a percentage of the earnings. The justification in this is that some plaintiffs who could not afford an attorney otherwise can now do so. The counterpoint is for obvious reasons.
6. Plaintiffs. Sam Bernstein doesn't get work unless there's a client. A good lawyer tells a prospective plaintiff the possible scenarios and foresee what would likely happen. The lawyer works for the client, not the other way around. If I do not act in the best interests of my client, I'm liable for a lawsuit myself - malpractice.
On a side note, ambulance chasing IS illegal. Lawyers or their agents can not solicit a client. Doing so is cause of being in trouble from the bar association of that state.
Now while I do not care for the over-litigiousness when it comes to neglegence torts cases (the big money), I do wish there are more penalties for breaches of contract. To me a contract is a promise, and people should keep their promises.
Yes, but the fact is, most of the convicted that are innocent and were unjustly convicted obviously know this from the start, and most have families. You'd think the families would pay for the tests. As in this case, the man had a court room full of family.
When questioned on the stand, she should have told the truth...that she wasn’t sure. Instead she lied and said it was definitely him. I’m a woman, and while I sympathize for what she went through, it was her words that wrongly convicted an innocent man.
Innocent as in being innocent of that particular crime.
Our justice system is corrupt. Family gets put into it's place by officers of the state.
Just the way is is, bro.
/johnny
I'm not sure what you were responding to, but your "let me get this straight" wasn't anywhere close to a reply to my post. I'm not totally discounting eyewitness testimony, but if it's the only evidence used to convict a man who spent 23 years locked up for a crime he didn't commit, then it obviously isn't enough to convict beyond a reasonable doubt. Fortunately, DNA evidence is being used prominently by all law enforcement agencies/defense counsels, preventing a lot more of these false imprisonments from moving forward.
In cases such as this, how often does the woman suffer any legal consequences at all for falsely accusing a man of raping her? From what I have heard, almost never.
Crystal Gail Magnum was not prosecuted for her false rape allegations. She won't get twenty years in jail, she won't get 20 seconds. It was apparently perfectly legal for her to try to destroy those boys' lives. Mike Nifong lost his law license, and received one day in jail. One day.
That shows how seriously this society takes false allegations of rape.
At best McGowan will receive some compensation from state taxpayers.
/johnny/
I don’t know.
John
Hey everybody, tear gas wants to be locked up for no reason to serve an example! And you "people need to understand one of the reasons for putting people in prison is to make an example of them - deterrence." He'll be so proud to serve as an example! Isn't tear gas such a great example! It would be a grand idea for tear gas to go take credit for a rape he didn't commit, so long as he "serves as an example!" Well as long as "the mistake is never exposed." So all you rapists out there who have innocent people serving life in prison on your behalf, tear gas gives you a great big "THANK YOU" salute!
Did he really have to put a sarcasm tag on his post?
He made it pretty darn clear in subsequent posts that he wasn’t being sarcastic.
16 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
17 then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
18 and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;
19 then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.
21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
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