I don't know that I buy your truism. I think in the end it's a toss-up.
If they have to be weighted against each other, I would rather see some guilty go free than to overlook police misconduct. Sometimes you just don't know if an individual is guilty. At any rate, we have a press and the internet that can argue this at will.
If the criminal is the Colombian drug cartel, you don't stand much chance either way. But I know I would rather have my door kicked in by a couple of scumbags I can shoot at rather than the Houston Police Department and their crime lab.
The irony of this case is that Sutton and his whole family are no doubt ardent supporters of Brown, Bradford, and their ilk whose incompetence and corruption sent Sutton to prison wrongfully. And they will go on supporting the same corrupt pols who prey on them.