[Vision2020] DNA exoneration reaches 200; questions remain for justice system

[Art Deco]

This is not a slam at Bruce personally, whom I know is very conscientious about his job.

However, I have observed several murder/other felony case trials and read about numerous others.

There is a huge variability in the quality of defense defendants get.  Those with money who can hire the best-track-record attorneys and crack investigative personnel have a much greater chance at a favorable verdict than those who have as a an attorney a public defender with a large caseload and little or no investigative resources.  For example, the O.J. Simpson case.

Hence, I suspect there are at some lower income defendants who have been wrongly convicted and would not have been convicted given an adequate defense.  I am unable to guess the percentage.  Perhaps someone with expertise in this area can point out some studies.

Here are two problems that I have personally seen and have been disgusted by:

1.    LE officers sometimes make up their mind early in the game about who is guilty.  They then tend to gather evidence to support that view; they tend to ignore, suppress, or even destroy evidence that is not consistent with their view.

2.    Egregious perjury by some LE officers and other witnesses motivated by their belief that the defendant is guilty tip the scale toward gross injustice.

I have had many discussions with people in the justice system whom I think highly of.  They all agree that perjury is a very serious problem [I am not speaking of erroneous initial perceptions or memory failures].  The worse part of it is the difficulty in persuading PAs/DAs to prosecute even the most egregious cases of perjury.  Until this changes, the justice system will continue to be much less effective and respected.


Wayne A. Fox
1009 Karen Lane
PO Box 9421
Moscow, ID  83843

(208) 882-7975
waf at moscow.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ted Moffett 
To: Bruce and Jean Livingston 
Cc: vision2020 at moscow.com 
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 2:11 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] DNA exoneration reaches 200;questions remain for justice system



Bruce et. al.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--dnaexonerations-20423apr23,0,1071686.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork 

I guess this is some kind of milestone...But not all these cases are death penalty cases.  But the question is obvious:  if this many are exonerated by DNA, how many on death row or imprisoned for other crimes are innocent who do not have DNA available to prove or disprove their innocence? 

Likely a much larger number!

The price we must pay for a justice system, or a justice system in need of radical improvement?

I won't even start...

Ted Moffett

 
On 4/23/07, Bruce and Jean Livingston <jeanlivingston at turbonet.com> wrote: 
  We confronted two high profile cases  in the last couple of weeks, first, a declaration of innocence in the Duke Lacrosse case in NC, and second, the apparent innocence of Rauland Grube in a murder case from southeastern Idaho, on which I posted several days ago.  

  Now appears this series of editorials from of all places, Texas.  The Dallas Morning News editorial staff reversed its 100 year stance in favor of the death penalty.  In so doing, it made many of the best arguments for reconsidering our willingness to retain the death penalty.  The editorial pieces are thoughtful and worthy of all citizens' review, especially in states like Idaho that continue to have the death penalty.
    I thought you might be interested in these recent Dallas Morning News editorials.  The Morning News is historically one of the most conservative major-city newspapers in the country, although it moderated somewhat when the "liberal" competition folded. 



    http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-toy_01edi.ART.State.Edition1.43b925d.html 

      

    http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-deathmonday2_16edi.ART.State.Edition1.42d305b.html



    http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-deathmonday1_16edi.ART.State.Edition1.42d1ffd.html

  The explanation about the Dallas Morning News' editorial slant is from my sister-in-law, who resides there, reads the paper regularly, and forwarded me the above links.

  Bruce Livingston



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