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Yet another victim misidentification - with the rise of routine DNA testing should hopefully run out of these but it's going to take decades.

I'm not in favor of the press hectoring the victims asking about it but I always wonder how they deal with the mistaken IDs mentally. Most, as in this case, are steered towards the ID by the police, so not like it's entirely their fault.

1 posted on 04/16/2008 7:28:06 PM PDT by Strategerist
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To: Strategerist
According to some FReepers who hold a firm belief in the Immaculate Conviction, no matter what the crime, this is impossible.

Hang him. Slowly.

And let his blood be on their heads.

2 posted on 04/16/2008 7:34:05 PM PDT by Clint Williams (Read Roto-Reuters -- we're the spinmeisters!)
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To: Strategerist
This is a great thing to do. If we are hell-bent to spend money, rather than foreign aid, we should encourage private and public monies to be spent on such cases.
3 posted on 04/16/2008 7:34:26 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
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To: Strategerist

Next, we’ll learn that the rape didn’t even take place!


4 posted on 04/16/2008 7:34:46 PM PDT by Revolting cat! ("I am like...Dude......do you really....like want the Sex?")
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To: Strategerist
I'm not in favor of the press hectoring the victims asking about it but I always wonder how they deal with the mistaken IDs mentally.

I am. An innocent man lost half his adult life because of this woman. I want her, the cops, and the prosecution held to account. If that means reporters camped out on their front lawns for the next 5 years, so be it.

5 posted on 04/16/2008 7:35:17 PM PDT by lesser_satan (Vote McCain - The Choice who Sucks Less!)
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To: Strategerist

I hope the guy sues the hell out of the woman who accused him and the prosecutor who put him in jail.


6 posted on 04/16/2008 7:36:06 PM PDT by KoRn (CTHULHU '08 - I won't settle for a lesser evil any longer!)
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To: Strategerist

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


7 posted on 04/16/2008 7:36:24 PM PDT by dragnet2
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To: Strategerist

Unless the victim knows their attacker, witness ID is perhaps the most unreliable evidence allowed to be introduced in a courtroom. As a coach, it took me three baseball practices to be able to tell two kids apart who weren’t related to each other. I kept calling Michael “Isaac,” and Isaac “Michael.” I still have to look really close to tell who I’m talking to.


10 posted on 04/16/2008 7:38:45 PM PDT by highimpact (Abortion - [n]: human sacrifice at the altar of convenience.)
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To: Strategerist

Does DNA evidence degenerate?


12 posted on 04/16/2008 7:40:27 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
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To: Strategerist

These things happen every day now. Not rape and 23 years in the slammer, but false, frivolous accusations of “sexual harassment” and all the consequences of such accusations that you never read about in the papers. Talk to people, ask around if you don’t believe it, I have, there is a war going on out there!


13 posted on 04/16/2008 7:41:18 PM PDT by Revolting cat! ("I am like...Dude......do you really....like want the Sex?")
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To: Strategerist

This man lost half his entire life. I think something should be done to help him.

And ID by witnesses is perhaps the least reliable “evidence.”


25 posted on 04/16/2008 7:48:13 PM PDT by Firedarrow
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Does anyone know what precautions are taken to make sure there is absolutely no possibility of some trick or fraud involved in these tests.

I believe Barry Scheck, his associates and anti-death penalty types would have no moral qualms about pulling some trick or fraud.
There are people like magicians and card sharks that can switch objects or manipulate objects while you are closely watching them. I would feel much more comfortable if I knew for an absolute fact that every possible avenue of fraud was covered.

What if, for example, someone with access to the location where the evidence was stored from old cases was bribed or for their own reasons changed the evidence samples. The police could closely monitor the testing process and still be fooled because the original sample taken years earlier was switched.

There have been a number of these cases where there was other evidence which strongly indicated guilt and I think there are at least two cases where the “innocent” man was released and not long after being released committed a rape or murder.

30 posted on 04/16/2008 7:51:14 PM PDT by Jonah Johansen ("Coming soon to a neighborhood near you")
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To: Strategerist
Eyewitness misidentification is more common than people think. If you're an innocent man wrongly convicted, its little consolation you've lost a quarter of your life for something you never did.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

39 posted on 04/16/2008 7:55:48 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Strategerist

In cases like this in Florida, the state usually approves about $50K per year in prison payment to a wrongly convicted person. I have no problem with this at all, but I think whoever is responsible for delaying a DNA test should pick up the tab from the date they first declined to test the evidence.


45 posted on 04/16/2008 8:00:05 PM PDT by Diverdogz
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To: Strategerist

What most people don’t think about when they complain about “defendant’s rights” (”What about victim’s rights?”, they say), is that when you convict the wrong person of the crime, you simultaneously let the guilty party go free.


46 posted on 04/16/2008 8:00:15 PM PDT by onguard
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To: Strategerist

We at least this isn’t the UK. When they find someone innocent on DNA and release them after 15 years, they charge them room and board.


50 posted on 04/16/2008 8:02:00 PM PDT by Malsua
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To: Strategerist

Anything Barry Scheck is attached to has ten foot pole marks all over it..


52 posted on 04/16/2008 8:03:46 PM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
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To: Strategerist

im glad DNA freed man instead of the other way around.


56 posted on 04/16/2008 8:09:12 PM PDT by Disciplinemisanthropy (...and that, people, is what grinds my gears.)
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To: Strategerist

People get railroaded when they have a prosecutor who is more interested in publicity than justice. I couldn’t imagine spending 23 years of my life in prison because a prosecutor wanted to make a name for himself. The punishment should be severe for a prosecutor or expert witness who lies and cheats to win a conviction.


63 posted on 04/16/2008 8:11:47 PM PDT by peeps36 (Politician = Corrupt Degenerate Loser = Ted, Nancy, Barry, Jack and Many More)
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To: Strategerist

This is wonderful. I think we owe it to the victim, the wrongly convicted, and ourselves to make this a National Program.


69 posted on 04/16/2008 8:17:54 PM PDT by papasmurf (Unless I post a link to resource, what I post is opinion, regardless of how I spin it.)
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To: Strategerist
‘”I know God forgives, so hey, I've got to forgive, too,” McGowan said. “It's not going to benefit me to be harboring anger or resentment.”’

Sir, your a better man than me.

To be locked away, put in the presence of danger in prison, subjected to the administration of the state and haven taken away your rights. Indeed. You are a better man than me.

God bless you, and I hope your future is better than your past.

In this amazing universe, everything happens for a reason.

72 posted on 04/16/2008 8:20:13 PM PDT by BGHater (It's easy to be brave from a distance.)
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