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family of man cleared by dna still seeks justice
Published February 6, 2009Views: 117
The recent blog about the corruption present in our court and law enforcement system hit the nail squarely on the head. I was reminded of it this week when I heard a story on NPR. In a nutshell, in 1985, the District Attorney of Lubbock, Texas conspired and succeeded in sending an innocent man to prison for rape. Timothy Cole was convinced of a rape he did not do, and sentenced to 25 years. He didn’t fit the description of the rapist, there was no evidence, and he had alibis. Even after the real rapist confessed to the crime to the DA, the DA took no action to seek the release of Cole. Cole actually died in prison because he was given inadequate care for his asthma.
Read or listen to the story at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100249923
If it doesn’t make your blood boil, I don’t know what will. I think the DA, and anyone that conspired with him in this case, should be taken to the nearest tree and hung by the neck until dead. They maliciously gave Timothy Cole what amounted to a death sentence and I feel they should receive the same.
THIS is what the previous blog was talking about. And it should scare you to think about it. What if one of your kids winds up in the sights of an evil DA? And it doesn’t even take a bad DA. I found myself in court one day, accused of felony larceny because a landlord LIED and claimed my roommates and I stole some things. Luckily the DA at the arraignment saw through the ruse, dismissed the case, and told the dude to get the “hell out of his court”. But what if the DA (like the stupid magistrate) actually believed the lying landlord?
The folks that think cops and such never do any wrong always claim that if you’re not doing anything bad, you won’t have to worry about dealing with the legal system. I know personally that this isn’t correct. And as you can see by the case of Timothy Cole, sometimes there can be devastating and deadly results from assuming the courts and the legal system is right, or good.
Filed under: Crime
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According to the story, the police showed her a single picture and said is this him. She said she thought it was him, but assumed the police wouldn’t be showing her the picture if it wasn’t. The whole case was built on her saying it was him, plus he was black. But he didn’t match the description (actually the opposite given his asthma), there was no physical evidence what so ever (no fingerprints, no fibers, no nothing), and he had multiple alibis. For some reason the police and DA picked him, and purposely ignored evidence to make sure he was convicted.
Then when the REAL guy confesses, the DA STILL doesn’t do the right thing.
One might could claim incompetence, but it also looks like corruption to me.
GOLO member since August 16, 2007
February 6, 2009 12:34 p.m.
GOLO member since July 2, 2008
February 6, 2009 12:15 p.m.
GOLO member since November 10, 2008
February 6, 2009 11:17 a.m.
Just changing up the cliche."
I'll be charitable and assume you are just making a lame joke here. And I'll grant that (innocent) mistakes do sometimes happen. Are "mistakes" rare? I don't know how often they occur. But I'm sure that there are many mistakes that haven't yet come to light, and that innocent people are in jail because of them.
Nor do I know how often convictions result from prosecutorial misconduct. But anyone who has been paying attention must surely agree that they happen far too often. And I've seen scant evidence that offenders are appropriately punished when they do.
As someone else pointed out, there can be no stronger argument against the death penalty than this.
GOLO member since January 25, 2008
February 6, 2009 10:46 a.m.
GOLO member since August 1, 2007
February 6, 2009 9:42 a.m.
GOLO member since July 29, 2007
February 6, 2009 9:39 a.m.
GOLO member since October 31, 2008
February 6, 2009 9:38 a.m.
Texas seems to be the exception to the “rarely” part.
I know it happens. I just want some severe consequences in cases like this, or like with Nyfong. What’s the use in having trees and rope, if you can’t hang the bad people?!
GOLO member since August 16, 2007
February 6, 2009 9:34 a.m.
February 6, 2009 9:32 a.m.
Just changing up the cliche.
Does it suck? Yes, of course it does. Is our system of justice perfect? No, none is 100%. Would I take China's system over ours? Or Britain's? Or Holland's? Or Malaysia's? H377 no.
Mistakes happen. Bridges fail. Planes crash. People get cancer. Kids die and innocent people go to prison (though I would say very rarely).
GOLO member since November 12, 2007
February 6, 2009 9:24 a.m.
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