CNN story
Posted on 03/01/2010 2:04:45 PM PST by Dallas59
More than a decade after he died in prison, Fort Worth’s Tim Cole – wrongly convicted of rape – finally received a pardon from the state.
Gov. Rick Perry sent out a statement saying that he gave Cole the state’s first posthumous pardon, saying he was innocent of the rape conviction that put him behind bars more than 25 years ago.
“I have been looking forward to the day I could tell Tim Cole’s mother that her son’s name has been cleared for a crime he did not commit,” Perry said in a written release. “The state of Texas cannot give back the time he spent in prison away from his loved ones, but today I was finally able to tell her we have cleared his name, and hope this brings a measure of peace to his family.”
This comes days after the state Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended that Perry issue the pardon.
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
Lots of innocent men in prison for rape.
Hmmmmmmm...that probly won’t cost the State of Texas too much....
That is so sad! I wish our justice system was well more just. People that are truly guilty sometimes walk away with little punishment or walk altogether on a technicality and then this.
Sometimes a lawsuit needs to get filed.
If my wife/child/parent died in prison for a crime he or she did not commit, I’d be looking for a pound of flesh.
All men: Never take the babysitter home by yourself... always take someone with you.
Poor man. This should never have happened.
I thought the meme was that the death penalty was wrong because we might execute an innocent man. That we needed life in prison without parole instead because that would be more humane to let a man die in prison...
There is quite a bit of other information out there about this situation. The guy was framed by a group of over zealous police officers and detectives. The actual rapist sent numerous confession letters to the authorities during a period of over ten years while the innocent man was still alive. The letters were ignored. It was not until the guilty man directly contacted Tim Cole’s mother that the family got an attorney to force the DNA testing that proved his innocence.
If he was wrongly convicted why did he get a pardon? Why didn’t they completely exonerate him?
Of course she should not have. She acted in good faith. I would prefer holding the jury responsible more than the witnesses. That jury should be ashamed to the day the last one dies.
But the people of the state of Texas will pay and they should pay big time. This innocent man died in prison for lack of treatment. The state of Texas and every citizen of it should be ashamed.
Is there any consequence for that?
We wouldn’t have any left if that happened./s
Still, the older I get the less painful it gets.
But dying in prison for a crime you didn't commit. There should be hell to pay.
“Prosecutorial Immunity”
I learned of it in the MA Senate race.
Apparently the Democrat was the DA who championed all those “fake memory of child abuse” cases and put plenty of innocent fathers in prison -— a dream Democrat, in other words.
That’s why we should not execute rapists (unless, of course, that crime accompanies murder.)
Waaaaaaay too many false accusations and legitimate accusations which are simply erroneous.
Isn’t it strange how the real rapist seems to have felt so much guilt over this but committed multiple rapes?
Maybe he values men but not women...I don’t know.
But it’s terrible. Tim Cole had asthma and the victim said the man was smoking constantly. Makes you want to hurt someone that they didn’t at least listen to the man WRITING IN for years to tell them Cole was innocent.
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