Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

DNA frees man who spent almost 23 years in prison for rape
The Associated Press ^ | April 16, 2008 | Jeff Carlton

Posted on 04/16/2008 7:28:06 PM PDT by Strategerist

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-155 next last

bump for later


121 posted on 04/16/2008 10:08:02 PM PDT by Drew68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Strategerist
I don't think the word of one witness is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, for any crime.

-ccm

122 posted on 04/16/2008 10:08:27 PM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper

If he is only making a point, he should just say that, not defend his outrageous remarks.


123 posted on 04/16/2008 10:09:20 PM PDT by papasmurf (Unless I post a link to resource, what I post is opinion, regardless of how I spin it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 115 | View Replies]

To: Marie2
I’d consider physical evidence as a witness. For instance, if this guy was caught pawning her stuff or if his DNA was on her couch or whatever.

What if she invited him home, initiated sexual intercourse, then had regrets in the morning and called him out for raping her? It does happen, you know, despite what the shrieking fem-hags say.

-ccm

124 posted on 04/16/2008 10:17:13 PM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: cherry
100 animals on the street causing havoc is in reality a much worse outcome for society than 1 innocent man in jail...

for the record, I don't trust the police or attorneys to work for justice...they work for and "end"....period...

I agree with you 100% about cops and prosecutors working primarily to close the book on cases. Which is what makes your first statement so scary.

Violent criminals on the street cause havoc. But it's havoc I can to some degree do something about. I can lock my doors and bar my windows. I can stay out of some neighborhoods. I can have a loaded .45 next to me. Might help. Might not. Might never find out. But being able to do something gives the peace of mind to get on with life.

An environment where a transposed address, or having the same goatee as someone who was seen in the lobby later that night, or having a vindictive ex, or whatever it is is going to sick an intentionally blind, close the case and save society from the 100 justice system on me isn't something you can do anything about except keep your head down and live in fear.

125 posted on 04/16/2008 10:25:51 PM PDT by CGTRWK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: Strategerist

How many Nifong DAs you figure there are out there? One out of a hundred? I’d guess ten times that many. Anything to get ahead in this modern world.

How can we be pro death penalty when we know we are putting innocents in jail all the time?


126 posted on 04/16/2008 10:27:50 PM PDT by gost2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Diggity; Strategerist
The reason I inquire as to the man's criminal record:

The police generally know the criminals in their jurisdiction surprisingly well. If a victim ID's the perptrator from mug shots, that means they can arrest a bad boy they don't want on the streets. The police can make the crime fit the man every time. Many a man is serving time for a crime he didn't commit, but whom the police "know" is not innocent of other crimes.

It's wrong and justice has nothing to do with it. It's more like practical urban housekeeping.

Mug books get populated by criminals. I obviously know nothing about this particular man. However, if he had an extensive criminal record, even of petty crimes, we ought to hear about it.

127 posted on 04/16/2008 10:35:16 PM PDT by Kenny Bunk (GOP Plank: Double Domestic Crude Production. Increase refining capacity 50 percent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies]

To: Diggity; Strategerist
The reason I inquire as to the man's criminal record:

The police generally know the criminals in their jurisdiction surprisingly well. If a victim ID's the perptrator from mug shots, that means they can arrest a bad boy they don't want on the streets. The police can make the crime fit the man every time. Many a man is serving time for a crime he didn't commit, but whom the police "know" is not innocent of other crimes.

It's wrong and justice has nothing to do with it. It's more like practical urban housekeeping.

Mug books get populated by criminals. I obviously know nothing about this particular man. However, if he had an extensive criminal record, even of petty crimes, we ought to hear about it.

128 posted on 04/16/2008 10:35:34 PM PDT by Kenny Bunk (GOP Plank: Double Domestic Crude Production. Increase refining capacity 50 percent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper
"it’s just a horrible, tragic mistake.

That is correct. And it tends to turn the alleged perp's life into a great big $h!t sandwich. And he'll have to eat on it for the rest of his life. Even if exonerated. "

Just a couple hours ago I saw a show on TV about a guy named Avery- was falsely convicted of rape by eyewitness ID, exonerated by DNA after abt 18 years( which provided a name of the real perp who was already in for a LONG time), let loose, then within a few years was convicted of murder, of another woman, on confession of an accomplice nephew. Really strange.

129 posted on 04/16/2008 10:44:53 PM PDT by matthew fuller (Hope, Change, and the Muslim Way! (Barrak Hussein Obama))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: ccmay

Weeelll, as a member of the jury, I’d be looking for two or THREE witnesses.

Witness one: the lady says he raped her
Witness two: there’s DNA evidence of a sexual encounter.

That doesn’t PROVE anything.

Witness three: Roommate enters late and finds her screaming help, help as he does his thing -

that would convince me.

There is scripture for this you know - in the laws of the OT, the rape victim has to cry out and so forth - the Bible totally condemns rape, and it is a death penalty crime. But it has to be well proven.


130 posted on 04/16/2008 10:56:53 PM PDT by Marie2 (I used to be disgusted. . .now I try to be amused.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 124 | View Replies]

To: Jonah Johansen
Jonah Johansen said: "What if, for example, someone with access to the location ..."

Then the defendant wins. If the prosecutor can't secure the evidence from tampering, then there is no good cause for a conviction. The tampering could just as easily have been perpetrated in order to win a fraudulent conviction. The burden is on the prosecution to prove that the evidence has not been tampered with by anybody.

131 posted on 04/17/2008 1:25:06 AM PDT by William Tell (RKBA for California (rkba.members.sonic.net) - Volunteer by contacting Dave at rkba@sonic.net)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: dragnet2

"Er....Why did it take so many years to test his DNA, when DNA testing has been around so many years now?"

Excellent question! DNA testing, while it might be expensive, seems like a no brainer to me. It would be useful in many types of cases, but particularly in a rape case it should be standard procedure. I've read of cases where people were exonerated by testing it, but only after they or their family were able to raise the money for the test. That is shameful!

132 posted on 04/17/2008 2:42:53 AM PDT by Mila
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: KoRn

He doesn’t really need to do either. It’s just vengeance in that case. IIRC in Texas you get $25k a year per year of wrongful imprisonment capped at $500k. He’ll get all $500k AFAIK being in for 23 years.


133 posted on 04/17/2008 2:50:45 AM PDT by ketsu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: tear gas
There is no such thing as an "innocent" man. He may not have been guilty of this crime, but we're all guilty of doing things or at least thinking things that are wrong.

Maybe he just wasn't punished for the right wrong, but it still might be right that he was punished. At least it wasn't wrong in that sense.

Da Komrade, everyone needs to go to the gulag.
134 posted on 04/17/2008 2:52:25 AM PDT by ketsu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: OeOeO

"Here in Illinois they caught the 2 Brown's Chicken murderers after 10 years on the loose. One of them had a meal at the place and luckily the cops saved the evidence just in case."

I recently saw that case profiled. Horrible! To think these fiends would target a place just because they want to kill innocent people and then they jammed the back door so people couldn't escape. Pure evil! I do hope that somehow they can get the death penalty.

135 posted on 04/17/2008 2:55:35 AM PDT by Mila
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: ketsu
"IIRC in Texas you get $25k a year per year of wrongful imprisonment capped at $500k."

That's a ripoff. I make much more than that at my job! Sure, it's better than nothing, but is hardly compensation for being in prison for something you did not do.

136 posted on 04/17/2008 4:18:01 AM PDT by KoRn (CTHULHU '08 - I won't settle for a lesser evil any longer!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 133 | View Replies]

To: KoRn
That's a ripoff. I make much more than that at my job! Sure, it's better than nothing, but is hardly compensation for being in prison for something you did not do.
True enough. Then again, given that the railroaded are almost always poor schlubs who can't afford a lawyer it's probably the right amount(if you're thinking like an actuary).
137 posted on 04/17/2008 4:51:55 AM PDT by ketsu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 136 | View Replies]

To: informavoracious; Darren McCarty

Do I want to be the one? Of course not...

But I could just as justifiably ask YOU, do you (or your family) want to be one of the victims?

Do you think it’s right to “sentence” hundreds of innocent people to death, rape, or other violent acts to save one innocent person wrongly accused?

I know this is something most folks don’t want to even entertain as a reasonable argument, but I maintain that it is.

Thomas Sowell has a concept for this - it’s called “invisible cost”. If the cost of a decision or policy cannot be DIRECTLY attributable to the decision or policy, it is more likely to remain or be put into place.

Example, how many people die due to the FDA withholding approval on a drug? Unknown, it’s “invisible”. But, if they approve a drug that causes harm, that’s HIGHLY visible.

So, which way will they err?


138 posted on 04/17/2008 5:33:13 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 106 | View Replies]

To: JLS

Don’t be facetious, of course I don’t mean 3.
You forgot another “wrongfully freed” - those obviously guilty who are freed on a technicality...

OJ committed another violent crime with a gun.


139 posted on 04/17/2008 5:35:05 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: MrB
It's right because it is the least worst solution.

Here's my counterpoint to your argument.

Obviously I do not want to be one of the victims. However, I can defend myself and my family from criminals thanks to .45ACP. Most violent criminals do not have the power of the state backing them either. When something is sanctioned and given the power of law, there is much more of an authority there than street criminals do not have. DA and Law Enforcement have a lot of authority. Much of it is actual authority, but their persuasive authority is much stronger. They have the media access, and titles which causes a lot of average citizens to think they are automaticaly right until proven wrong.

Now not all DA's are bad, and not all cops are crooks. In most towns, most aren't. However, there's a reason why defendants have a right to a fair trial. The founding fathers knew what a tyrannical government was, and we have safeguards against that. Everyone has a right to a fair trial.

140 posted on 04/17/2008 8:00:30 AM PDT by Darren McCarty (Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in - Michael Corleone)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 138 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-155 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson