Cash For Kids
Judge convicted of taking money for sending kids to boot camp. The Prison Industrial Complex is real and this undeniably underscores that fact.
shadylady wrote:Absolutely. There's a reason that the USA has the highest incarceration rate in the world. It has nothing to do with the commission of actual crime and everything with greedy azzh*oles getting rich. Whether it's some politician grandstanding on a get tough on crime policy, a corporation that makes goods purchased by the law enforcement and prison industries, or a corrupt judge, it all adds up to more people being wrongfully incarcerated. It's time to do a little house cleaning and run the corrupt detectives, DAs, judges, prison guards, etc. out of law enforcement!
United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote his first majority opinion of the Term Tuesday and, naturally enough, it was a 5-4 decision against the interests of a criminal defendant whose constitutional rights had been dramatically violated by prosecutors. To mark the occasion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg read her dissent aloud in court (also a first for the Term) and Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Ginsburg's well-chronicled BFF, took a few shots at her in an otherwise needless concurrence joined by Justice Samuel Alito.
Here's the story. Convicted of murder, and on Louisiana's death row for 14 years, John Thompson was just one month away from being executed when defense investigators discovered exculpatory evidence that prosecutors had failed to share with Thompson's lawyers in the two cases (one for armed robbery, one for murder) which led him to death row. The evidence hidden by the state were blood samples -- not from Thompson's blood -- found at the scene of the robbery.
Confronted with the new evidence, an appeals court quickly reversed both of Thompson's convictions. Undaunted, prosecutors tried Thompson again for murder. This time, Thompson was acquitted. He then sued the district attorneys. Thompson alleged that prosecutors had intentionally caused him to be wrongfully imprisoned for a total of 18 years. He argued that the DA's office unconstitutionally handled exculpatory evidence -- or at least that lead prosecutors inadequately trained their office staff to handle such evidence.
shadylady wrote:Prosecutors Get a Mulligan, Wrongfully Convicted Man Gets Squat
When the highest court in the land can't do the right thing, then our justice system becomes a complete joke. If the precept "Not guilty until proven innocent" means anything, then it would be impossible to falsely convict someone accused of a crime. If a person is innocent, then there would always be a shadow of a doubt and unbiased jurors would be morally obligated to return a verdict of innocent. However, jurors go with their guts and overlook the gaps in the evidence! It's a disgusting system we have and it's even more disgusting when the Supreme Court makes a mockery of the concepts of justice and fairness! There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of brazen stupidity!
United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote his first majority opinion of the Term Tuesday and, naturally enough, it was a 5-4 decision against the interests of a criminal defendant whose constitutional rights had been dramatically violated by prosecutors. To mark the occasion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg read her dissent aloud in court (also a first for the Term) and Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Ginsburg's well-chronicled BFF, took a few shots at her in an otherwise needless concurrence joined by Justice Samuel Alito.
Here's the story. Convicted of murder, and on Louisiana's death row for 14 years, John Thompson was just one month away from being executed when defense investigators discovered exculpatory evidence that prosecutors had failed to share with Thompson's lawyers in the two cases (one for armed robbery, one for murder) which led him to death row. The evidence hidden by the state were blood samples -- not from Thompson's blood -- found at the scene of the robbery.
Confronted with the new evidence, an appeals court quickly reversed both of Thompson's convictions. Undaunted, prosecutors tried Thompson again for murder. This time, Thompson was acquitted. He then sued the district attorneys. Thompson alleged that prosecutors had intentionally caused him to be wrongfully imprisoned for a total of 18 years. He argued that the DA's office unconstitutionally handled exculpatory evidence -- or at least that lead prosecutors inadequately trained their office staff to handle such evidence.
LINK: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/03/prosecutors-get-a-mulligan-wrongfully-convicted-man-gets-squat/73197/
Davis, who has always maintained his innocence, has supporters around the world, including Pope Benedict and Desmond Tutu. Hundreds of vigils have been held in the last week. Davis? lawyers point to a lack of DNA evidence linking him to the murder and a number of key eye-witness recantations after his conviction. Former President Jimmy Carter says, "This case illustrates the deep flaws in the application of the death penalty in this country."
Proving innocence is far more difficult than establishing doubts as to one's guilt and flips our system of criminal jurisprudence on its head. Instead of the American system's presumption of innocence and a requirement that the state prove guilt, Davis' evidentiary hearing began with the court presuming guilt and required the condemned to prove his innocence.
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