Texas Man, Wrongly Convicted of Murder, Exonerated After 23 Years In Prison

Some prosecutors need to exchange places with the innocent that they framed and imprisoned.  Michael Morton, of Austin, Texas, is a case in point.  After Morton left for work one day in 1988, an intruder came into his house and beat his wife to death with a club.  The police blamed the crime on Michael Morton, even though the real perpetrator had stolen his wife's credit cards and checks and used them in the days following her death.  These facts, among others, were hidden from the defense attorneys representing Morton.

The AP has the story, and relates:

New DNA testing linked the killings of Debra Baker and Christine Morton to another man with a prison record in several states. Police have not publicly identified the suspect, whom they are trying to locate, but his genetic links to both slayings led to Morton's release from prison last week after nearly 25 years behind bars, and his formal exoneration by an appeals court on Wednesday.

But lawyers for the Innocence Project, a New York-based group that spent years fighting for DNA testing in Morton's case and the release of his police case files, say he likely never would have been convicted if the prosecutor in charge of the case hadn't withheld key evidence from the defense, including his mother-in-law's statements.

To see what his mother-in-law said, read the whole article here.

What this proves is that the police and the prosecution are not infallible, and in some cases, downright dishonest.  Prosecutors are under pressure to find the criminals and prosecute them, lest they bear the wrath of the public and the voters.  Sometimes these prosecutors delude themselves and prosecute the innocent and the latters' lives are ruined (or ended) in the process.

That was the case of Amanda Knox, too.  If you ever sit on a jury, try to actually believe the maxim that one is "innocent until proven guilty."

Hat tip:  View From  the Right

Finally, Justice for O.J. Simpson: GUILTY on All Counts

Yesterday in Las Vegas, O.J. Simpson was found guilty on all counts of armed robbery and kidnapping. His trial verdict came thirteen years to the day after he was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. O.J. Simpson was given an undeserved free pass thirteen years ago.

Although the evidence of his guilt in the Simpson-Goldman slayings was overwhelming, the almost all black jury let him off. Their verdict was was clearly jury nullification on account of their shared race with the defendant. Simpson's acquittal was an outrageous miscarriage of justice.

It was very shocking to me when the 1995 verdict was read on television and I realized, for the first time, that black people are, as a whole, very racist. This was made clear by the fact that 90% of black people nationwide wanted O.J. acquitted (regardless of his guilt) and broke into cheers when the verdict was read. To them, the trial was not about murder or guilt or innocence, it was about black people against white people. My college-inbred racial idealism went flying out the window and has not returned.

So O.J. got to play golf for the next decade, even though largely spurned by a society who knew the truth: that he was a vicious murderer who had been given a get-out-of-jail free card. He was successfully sued in a civil trial by the families of Nicole and Ron and found liable for their deaths. The jury awarded millions of dollars to the families, if they could collect it. Then a year or so ago, O.J. did something incredibly stupid. He attempted, with five accomplices, to rob two sports memoribilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room.

How he could have thought this was a good idea is not obvious to me. Did he think he wouldn't be recognized? That the victims wouldn't report it to the police? No, there was something else at work in this drama: O.J.'s deep feelings of guilt for Nicole and Ron. I suspect that O.J. was operating on a subconscious level, that he committed such a bone-headed crime because he wanted to be caught and punished. Then and only then might he be finally released from the guilt of the murders he committed. The fact that he was finally convicted of a serious crime, on the 13th anniversary of his acquittal in Los Angeles, is truly amazing. It seems that God had a hand in it.

Somewhere, Nicole and Ron are smiling. When the cell door finally slams shut in O.J.'s face it will be because he wanted it that way. O.J. Simpson has judged himself and pronounced sentence: guilty on all counts.