Posted on 02/09/2014 11:47:07 AM PST by nickcarraway
Two men behind bars for more than half their lives over a triple murder walked free this week after DNA evidence tore holes in their convictions.
Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson were teenagers when prison doors clanked shut behind them. Now, in their late 30s, they can hardly believe they're out.
What does freedom feel like? "I'm still going through it right now," Yarbough said Friday. DNA frees 2 men in N.Y. triple murder
"I haven't slept yet. I've been up for two days now. I have no words for it right now." Nearly 22 years of hard time
Imagine more than two decades in a maximum security prison. Add to that the fact that you're accused of killing your mother, your sister and your cousin.
As if that's not enough, you were the one who discovered their lifeless, bloodied bodies when you opened the door to your home one night.
If it's hard to imagine what that's like, Yarbough will tell you.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
We have to come face to face with the fact that our justice system has become corrupted by politics in many, many ways.
If you read the story, there's no getting around this damning fact: One of the alleged perpetrators cooperated with police and testified against the other one for a crime that neither one of them apparently committed.
In many, if not most, if not all of these cases of false convictions, the police, prosecutors, and judges knew they were putting away an innocent man.
Whenever a convict is exonerated by DNA or other evidence, an investigation into the behavior of the police, prosecutors, and judges should be opened.
Who does this sort of thing?
How about the government employees that actually committed this crime? No skin off their nose.
People who are being threatened with death.
Not "apparently", and who do you think coerced that cooperation and why?
I don’t think this was political. Both of the guys, who were teenagers at the time, ratted each other out. So it’s possible that they were just scared and blamed each other for that reason, since they were tried separately and one got a lighter sentence than the other (although they were in jail for the same length of time).
I would suspect, however, based on my knowledge of NYC at that time, that they were also too stoned to give a decent statement or even remember what they had actually been doing at the time. I think this is a problem that is only going to become worse.
Sorry for the mistake sir. Oh, and you’re free to go.
If anything, it's the other way around. In most urban sh!t-holes in this country a perpetrator or witness is far more likely to fear for his life by cooperating with police.
That happens more often than not, even when the accused has done nothing to warrant an arrest.
Many people don’t have the means to fight the state and will often agree to take a plea because of their inability to fight, because they are up against a prosecutor with an unlimited ability to prosecute.
These things are always political in the sense that prosecutors are either elected or beholden to politicians. Their job is to deliver convictions, not justice. The police operate by the same standard, judges as well. Their victims are usually societies losers, so everyone applauds putting the criminals behind bars.
What has changed, at least in my view, is that this attitude and behavior has moved beyond the poor wretches such as these and now targets anyone who disagrees with or threatens the political power machine. Both parties endorse what is going on.
Who does what? Agree to testify, even when there is nothing to testify about?
A lot more people, including possibly yourself, than you think. You’d be surprised what the police can get out of you when you’re in the room by yourself and being bombarded with questions.
It's easy to sit here two decades later and blame the police and the prosecutor's office, but how about the twelve jurors in the case? CNN should go track them down and get their side of the story, too.
Rahm Emanuel, the Mayor of Chicago, is asking for a $900 million loan to pay off some settlements for several individuals that were “tuned up” by the Chicago police and ended up giving false confessions to major crimes they didn’t commit.
Indeed something stinks.. and it starts top down.. from Holder’s office..
Maybe they are innocent, MAYBE NOT..
The Justice Department is not really INTO justice..
Same could be said for LITERALLY All Executive Branch Agency’s..
AND I’m not all that confident of Congressional oversight either..
THEN..... you got you’re Supreme’s with the Cretin John Roberts...
Oh! the Federal Buttocks of Investigation has been “Packed” as well...
Hard to know what to believe... WHICH seems to be according to plan... from the White Hut..
Tribal America is well and thriving..
Such a system is inherently corrupt, IMO, especially since the vast majority of the accused are unable to obtain competent legal help.
In a high-profile case such as this one, police and prosecutors are pressured to "close the case." Doing so with the actual perps is a lot less of a priority.
I wouldn’t blame the jurors. Quite often, the prosecutors have managed to get a judge to suppress evidence that might set free an accused, so the jury often never hears about evidence that might have led to reasonable doubt.
The US system of justice is very much weighted in favour of the prosecutors.
I used to be pro death penalty. These types of cases, the incrreasing number of thugcops, and some really bad prosecutions have changed my mind a bit. Still for it, but believe the standard should be “beyond an unreasonable doubt.”
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