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Author Topic: man was he screwed or what  (Read 1279 times)

cassandra and sara's daddy

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man was he screwed or what
« on: July 30, 2010, 09:57:15 PM »
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_dna_exoneration

27 years on a rape he didn't do  and the cops now know who did but the statute of limitations has run out
« Last Edit: July 30, 2010, 11:47:37 PM by cassandra and sara's daddy »
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It is much more powerful to seek Truth for one's self.  Seeing and hearing that others seem to have found it can be a motivation.  With me, I was drawn because of much error and bad judgment on my part. Confronting one's own errors and bad judgment is a very life altering situation.  Confronting the errors and bad judgment of others is usually hypocrisy.


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PTK

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Re: man was he screwed or what
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2010, 11:40:54 PM »
Did you even read the new policy?

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BridgeRunner

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Re: man was he screwed or what
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2010, 12:45:02 AM »
Eyewitness/victim ID is incredibly unreliable. 

The trouble is that getting DNA evidence is an incredibly tedious process that can take months.  Even when the raw material is available, it is usually not used in cases where there is a eyewitness or victim ID, because of the time and money involved.

Of course it wasn't available 27 years ago, but there are students all over the country going through old cases like this with fine-tooth combs, working on freeing innocent people.  The tragedy is that they are still happening.

The single thing that would radically reduce the rate of wrongful conviction in rape cases would be speeding up and streamlining the process for analyzing DNA evidence.  There's no reason why it needs to take months.  This is mostly a fixable problem. 
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Battle Monkey of Zardoz

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Re: man was he screwed or what
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2010, 01:41:45 AM »
This surprises you?
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Iain

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Re: man was he screwed or what
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2010, 03:43:20 AM »
Quote from: BridgeWalker on July 31, 2010, 12:45:02 AM
Eyewitness/victim ID is incredibly unreliable.   

This quickly gets very scary when you start reading up on it. The human memory is very suggestible and very fallible.
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MechAg94

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Re: man was he screwed or what
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2010, 11:31:50 AM »
She didn't identify him that night as her attacker, but did see him when police asked her to identify him.  Later she picks him out of a line up after apparently seeing him for the first time the night she was raped.  Doesn't that seem like sort of a set up?  Some of these cases you hear about seem to have pretty poor evidence or none at all.  It makes you wonder if someone could run a test and get pictures of responding officers and EMT's in civies and put them in front of a victim later on and see if they pick them out of a picture line up. 

The article also says they now know who raped her, but can't prosecute due to statute of limitations.  I didn't know there was a statute of limitations for rape and abduction.  That seems a bit absurd.  

Also, if they know who raped her, but can't prosecute, then there should be no problem with making that evidence and information public so everyone knows who those scumbags are.  
« Last Edit: July 31, 2010, 11:37:08 AM by MechAg94 »
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: man was he screwed or what
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2010, 02:05:15 PM »
Quote
The single thing that would radically reduce the rate of wrongful conviction in rape cases would be speeding up and streamlining the process for analyzing DNA evidence.  There's no reason why it needs to take months.  This is mostly a fixable problem.

Seriously, it only takes a few minutes on CSI.
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Monkeyleg

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Re: man was he screwed or what
« Reply #7 on: July 31, 2010, 04:30:18 PM »
Quote
Seriously, it only takes a few minutes on CSI.

Maybe if crime labs had to cut to commercial breaks they'd pick up the pace.

I sure hope I never get charged with anything. The idea of being convicted because of faulty memory is frightening.
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vaskidmark

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Re: man was he screwed or what
« Reply #8 on: July 31, 2010, 04:58:47 PM »
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but the statute of limitations has run out

I've always been conflicted on the issue of a statute of limitations.

On the one hand the imposition of punishment long after (no, I don't have a working definition of "long") the crime was committed seems more related to revenge than anything else.

On the other hand, merely not getting caught within x years should not be a free pass regarding the committing of a crime.

On the third hand, there are some (admittedly I know of barely a handful of cases) who comport themselves as "model citizens" after having committed some henious crime they were not caught for.  Not only do they live the rest of their life without commiting as much as a speeding infraction, they make significant positive contributions to society.  Should their one indiscretion years earlier ruin their life at this later point?

In Virginia there are no statutes of limitations on felonies.  I have participated in the admissions processing of three (IIRC - could be 4) folks who were eventually caught, prosecuted and sentenced to prison.  In all three cases a referral was made to the Governor for a conditional pardon based on a multiplicity of factors, but always including the inmates current age as compared to their age when the crime was committed, their (lack of a) criminal record since the crime, and any positive accomplishments (even that they had raised a child/ren who were not criminals).  In one case, which involved both an escape from prison (a road camp - look it up under Virginia prisons history) and a robbery of a country store, the decision was that the guy (then 87 years old) must serve a full year before being released as that was the statutory minimum sentence.  He was locked up for 61 days when his case was heard by the Parole Board, who released him on Home Electronic Monitoring (ankle bracelet).

Now, since there is no information about the 3 guys in Texas who are getting off scott free, I have no thoughts.  As for whether or not Michael Anthony Green should be compensated by Texas, or sue them if they do not offer compensation, for his erroneous conviction and inprisonment - I just don't know.  Sure it sucks to lose that large a slice of your life, but if there is some sort of way to prove the prosecution was not malicious ....

stay safe.
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