Saturday, August 09, 2014

Capital Punishment; How Many Innocent Victims?

Three arson cases are in the news. A man jailed 42 years ago at the age of 16 has been released because the latest arson science proves that the fire was not arson. A second man, jailed for 24 years, may soon be freed for the same reason. Arson experts found that a fire for which a third man was sentenced to death in Texas was not arson. A special commission in Texas found that the man should be retried. The Texas governor dismissed the commission and their recommendation and allowed the man to be executed because a prison inmate testified that the accused confessed that he was guilty. However, 10 years later investigators have found that the prosecutor concealed the fact that the inmate was promised a reduced sentence if he testified that he had heard a confession. The jailhouse witness has also admitted that his testimony was a lie.

Three innocent men. They were in prison a total of 77 years in prison. One is still in prison. One was executed. All were innocent.

Hundreds of convicted people have been found innocent and released. Now there is significant evidence that at least one innocent person was executed. How much longer will the US allow states to execute people, when we know that our legal process convicts innocent people, sometimes because of misconduct by the prosecution?

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