Posted on 05/06/2002 6:51:44 AM PDT by rw4site
I'M not a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist. Or a politician. Or the head of any organization. I'm simply an average American. An average American who sat on death row.
My name is Ray Krone. I grew up in York, Pa., with a loving family and many friends. I played Little League baseball, went hiking with the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, attended Sunday school and sang in the church choir. I graduated in the top 10 percent of my high school class and did well on my college entrance exams. I decided to enlist in the Air Force, where I proudly attained the rank of sergeant. I served my country for seven years and was honorably discharged. My last assignment in the Air Force was in Arizona. I decided to stay there and joined the U.S. Postal Service.
I had a normal, good life. Nothing spectacular. Then, in an instant, my life was turned upside down. I was arrested for the stabbing murder of a local female bartender. At the time, and quite frankly, throughout the whole legal process, I truly felt I would be OK. After all, I was innocent. I reassured my family and friends I would be fine without a private attorney. How could the system fail an innocent man? I was deeply mistaken.
It was a bar I frequented, and I did know the bartender. Thanks to some bad forensic science, bite marks on the body were mistakenly said to have been made by my teeth.
I spent 10 years behind bars, including two years on death row, for a horrible crime I did not commit. It's difficult to describe what it is like to serve time on death row knowing you are innocent. All you know is that what seems like an awful nightmare is now reality, a reality beyond comprehension.
I still find it hard to believe that only four weeks ago I was sitting in my Arizona jail cell and today I am a free man. I owe my freedom to the extraordinary efforts of my family, friends and volunteer lawyers who fought tirelessly for me to obtain the DNA evidence from my case. The DNA proved my innocence -- and a match has now been been made with the DNA of another man.
What happened to me, unfortunately, has happened to many others. True, I have recently received notoriety -- if it can be called that -- for being the 100th American exonerated, but the fact is that being 100 or 99 or 98 doesn't really matter. What matters is that our death penalty system is broken. What happened to me can happen to anyone. And it doesn't have to be that way.
I've learned a lot in the last few weeks of freedom. And one thing I've learned is that there are steps our nation can take to improve our death penalty system. One important step would be for Congress to pass the Innocence Protection Act. This act would ensure that people who face the death penalty have greater access to the DNA from their cases. And it would also help states provide competent legal counsel in capital punishment cases.
Curiously enough, I still believe in our system of justice. But like any system, it can be improved. I'm not asking members of Congress to change their views on the death penalty. I have to believe, however, that even those who support the death penalty do not support putting innocent people to their death -- and leaving the guilty to roam free.
Ten years ago, I was an average Joe who liked delivering the mail. Today, I'm still an American with average dreams, but I've had a lot more time to think about things.
I can't afford to look back at what my life would have been like if I had obtained access to the DNA from my case years ago or if I had listened to my mother and hired a private attorney. For me, there is no sense in dwelling on what might have been. The time has come to look at what can be. And helping to make sure that what happened to me is less likely to happen to someone else is a much better use of my precious time.
Krone was sentenced to death in Arizona for the murder of a female bartender a decade ago. He was exonerated by DNA evidence last month. He wrote this article with the help of his attorney, Alan M. Simpson.
DNA evidence is a clear indicator of guilt or innocense in cases where it can be used
Nonsense. The criminal justice system is a complete joke--we convict innocent individuals by the hundreds--sure a lot of them are guilty of other crimes; lots of other excuses you hear from prosecutors. But the bottom line is that we have criminalized way too much conduct to administer prosecution effectively; and way too many individuals are wrongly convicted.
Don't forget to pay your ACLU dues.
It means that there are numerous barriers to your eventual freedom that are stacked against you.
We no longer need to worry about making mistakes.
In principle or theory.
But, the fact is DNA cah prove there is no match. The converse is not true.
I think that the fingerprint is very good and for all intents and purposes does show a match, but technically it cannpt prove a match, whereas the opposite is true. A non-match is proof.
DNA evidence alone can prove someone didn't do it. DNA evidence alone should not be enough to prove someone did it though.
David
Do you have any source information to back this up or is it just your opinion?
David
David
Do you have any source information to back this up or is it just your opinion?
David
I take it he is not referring here to the prenatal death penalty system we have.
Cordially,
Something doesn't sound authentic here, including this statement. I'd need to know more. What kind of DNA evidence? What was the problem in obtaining that evidence in his case? Not incidentally, identification through bite marks is not bad forensic science, though every so-called "forensic scientist" is not competent. I'd appreciate any background information any Freeper could provide, including directing me to sites where I could get more information about the case.
You have spent more space in your post referring to the victim than Mr. Krone and his atty. did in their whole piece.
The "system" still has a very small failure rate if you consider your "killer is still free" factor. It has a zero failure rate as far as actually putting to death innocent people. Nobody has been able to come up with one case where someone innocent has been put to death. And a lot of people have tried to.
If your definition of the system "working" includes putting an innocent man behind bars for ten years, I would hat to think what your definition of its not working might be.
As far as the death penalty, which is what Mr. Krone and his atty. wrote about, I'd say "not working" would be Mr. Krone having been put to death by the "system".
If you wish to change the subject to wrongful convictions then pick any criminal conviction type you wish and you can say that the (insert conviction here) system is broken too. Rapes, auto theft, arson, drug crimes, etc,etc. All broken when any percentage of any of those people are wrongfully convicted?
As far as Joyce Gilchrist? Your post #35. Still nothing there but speculation. As the links you pointed to show.
How is putting an innocent person in prison for 10 years an example of the system working? The guilty party went free and the innocent was punished; a double crime.
The problem with this statement is that it is overly simplistic. It's like the atheist saying, "I see no direct evidence for a God(s)" therefore he/she/it/they do not exist - period. There are more complicated factors involved. I think for the most part, while I don't agree with capital punishisment, every person who has been put to death at least was responsible for the crime that they were accused of. However, as can clearly be seen at least 100 men have been freed, not 1 or 2 or 3, but 100. This doesn't trouble you in the least? You honestly think that an innocent man has NEVER been put to death in this country?
You're saying, you can prove, absolutely, that EVERY executed convict was guilty? Odds are most of them probably might have, but you must trust every jury, every cop, every judge, etc., without ANY possibility of error or corruption?
Perfection?
We can't "prove" so many things, events, happenings.
We're still working on JFK, TWA 800, and a few others.
We can't perfectly prove any executed were innocent, and we can't perfectly prove they were guilty, and we can't perfectly find a lot of unknown culprits.
Sorry, but I can't accept your assumption that proving innocence is a criteria. So much of human action is unprovable.
But, if you're omnipotent, you may have a following.
I am sure everyone is dying to know just how convicting innocent men benefits you, politically, religiously or do you work for the judicial system?
By the way WTF is “victocrat”?
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