Taking away more peoples' liberties than any other country speaks clearly about the putative aspect of the political-legal American culture.
Politically ambitious or corrupt prosecutors scoff at the notion of prosecutorial discretion.
Unfortunately, for those proven innocent after spending years in prison, the road to a comfortable, normal life is elusive.
The New York Times has two excellent piece this morning reporting on the issue of 100s of innocents robbed of their liberty by unscrupulous prosecutors.
by JANET ROBERTS and ELIZABETH STANTON
Christopher Ochoa (an innocent man convicted of murder, and who served 12 years before being proved innocent, freed through the work of the Wisconsin Innocence Project) graduated from law school five years out of prison and started his own practice in Madison, Wis. He has a girlfriend and is looking to buy a house. ...
The men are among the more than 200 prisoners exonerated since 1989 by DNA evidence — almost all of whom had been incarcerated for murder or rape. Their varied experiences are typical of what The New York Times found in one of the most extensive looks to date at what happens to those exonerated inmates after they leave prison.
The Times worked from a list of DNA-exonerated prisoners kept by the Innocence Project — widely regarded as the most thorough record of DNA exonerations. The Times then gathered extensive information on 137 of those whose convictions had been overturned, interviewing 115.
The findings show that most of them have struggled to keep jobs, pay for health care, rebuild family ties and shed the psychological effects of years of questionable or wrongful imprisonment.
Prosecutors issued no apologies for the inflicted harm on the innocent. It's difficult to shame the shameless.
See also FERNANDA SANTOS's Vindicated by DNA, but a Lost Man on the Outside.
As a boy, Jeffrey Mark Deskovic could swim the length of a pool underwater without coming up for air. On sultry days at the Elmira state prison, where he spent most of his 16 years behind bars for a rape and murder he did not commit, Mr. Deskovic would close his eyes under a row of outdoor showers and imagine himself swimming. ...
In September, he filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the police, the medical examiner, a prison guard and the governments of two counties, alleging that detectives falsified reports and coerced his confession, and that the prison guard groped and beat him. A separate lawsuit in the Court of Claims is planned seeking payment from the state for the wrongful incarceration.
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Politically ambitious or corrupt prosecutors scoff at the notion of prosecutorial discretion.
Unfortunately, for those proven innocent after spending years in prison, the road to a comfortable, normal life is elusive.
The New York Times has two excellent piece this morning reporting on the issue of 100s of innocents robbed of their liberty by unscrupulous prosecutors.
by JANET ROBERTS and ELIZABETH STANTON
Christopher Ochoa (an innocent man convicted of murder, and who served 12 years before being proved innocent, freed through the work of the Wisconsin Innocence Project) graduated from law school five years out of prison and started his own practice in Madison, Wis. He has a girlfriend and is looking to buy a house. ...
The men are among the more than 200 prisoners exonerated since 1989 by DNA evidence — almost all of whom had been incarcerated for murder or rape. Their varied experiences are typical of what The New York Times found in one of the most extensive looks to date at what happens to those exonerated inmates after they leave prison.
The Times worked from a list of DNA-exonerated prisoners kept by the Innocence Project — widely regarded as the most thorough record of DNA exonerations. The Times then gathered extensive information on 137 of those whose convictions had been overturned, interviewing 115.
The findings show that most of them have struggled to keep jobs, pay for health care, rebuild family ties and shed the psychological effects of years of questionable or wrongful imprisonment.
Prosecutors issued no apologies for the inflicted harm on the innocent. It's difficult to shame the shameless.
See also FERNANDA SANTOS's Vindicated by DNA, but a Lost Man on the Outside.
As a boy, Jeffrey Mark Deskovic could swim the length of a pool underwater without coming up for air. On sultry days at the Elmira state prison, where he spent most of his 16 years behind bars for a rape and murder he did not commit, Mr. Deskovic would close his eyes under a row of outdoor showers and imagine himself swimming. ...
In September, he filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the police, the medical examiner, a prison guard and the governments of two counties, alleging that detectives falsified reports and coerced his confession, and that the prison guard groped and beat him. A separate lawsuit in the Court of Claims is planned seeking payment from the state for the wrongful incarceration.
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