Unjustly imprisoned people

[traz]

and that's the story of hurricane...but it wont be over till they clear his name

[jba]

[jba]

when I was in high school a sheriff pulled me out of class and accused me of sexually harassing my ex-girlfriend and vandalizing her parents' house. He handcuffed me and took me out to his car. turned out to be a practical joke a friend was playing on me, but those 10 minutes I thought it was real were like the worst moments of my life.

[guids]

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So, maybe this guy's conviction should have been appealed and overturned for technical legal reasons, but give me a break. A miscarriage of justice? He was an accomplice in a conspiracy that led directly to four murders! He confessed! He did it for money!

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Yes, I'm sure this mentally handicapped juvenile had full awareness he was about to participate/aid in a murder. $25 to help in a quadruple homicide doesn't exactly seem like the going rate.

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but every nonviolent drug offender has to be way higher on the list of people who shouldn't be in prison than this guy.

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So by your logic a guy convicted of trafficking millions in cocaine is less deserving of prison than this kid, so long as he didn't hurt anyone? You cannot be serious.

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the analogy doesnt work, if you say a guy who traffics hundred thousands dollars of weed, than the analogy works, becuase no million dollar coke trafficker ever gets away with not hurting someone. And yes, the weed guy is deserves less (no) prison than the kid.

[PRE]

Does anyone know of the story (I think it as on Dateline NBC) of the kid who pleased guilty to murder after being interrogated for hours on end, only to be found innocent of charges after having video evidence that he wasn't even in the country at the time it happened?

[Howard Treesong]

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I read about Eric Volz a while back. Was reminded of it today.

From Wikipedia:

"In November 2006, Doris Ivania Jiménez, a Nicaraguan who had dated Volz, was murdered at midday in her store in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, a coastal town near Rivas. Volz was arrested and charged with her murder.[4]

However, according to both associates and mobile phone records, Volz was at his home in Managua, which also served as the magazine headquarters, conducting meetings and business, including a conference call with contacts in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States, and telephone and internet logs confirm this.[4] Managua is two hours' drive from San Juan del Sur.[3] Volz was arrested November 23, 2006 and charged with murder, based on the confession of a Nicaraguan man who was later released.[3] During a trial in Rivas in which, his lawyers say, no physical evidence was produced,[4] Volz was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in a Nicaraguan penitentiary."

Some links. The Outside article is great.

http://outside.away.com/outside/dest...caragua-1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Volz

http://www.friendsofericvolz.com/

http://www.myspace.com/freeericvolz

This is pretty terrifying stuff.

Feel free to discuss this or other instances of people being unjustly imprisoned.

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This is absolutely terrifying stuff. Truth be told, it can and likely does happen here as well, although it is much much less likely. Perhaps I'm too close to the system to make an accurate judgment, but I really do believe that most Americans truly believe in the rule of law.

I think the forces that operate are a little different here, though. I think that prosecutorial zeal rather than community rage is more likely here; look at a situation like the Duke rape case, where Mike Nifong was up for re-election. At the end of the day, North Carolina got the right answer, although at some significant cost to the defendants involved.

There aren't many legal systems I'd trust with my life, though. Here, Canada, and the UK. Maybe some of the EU countries, Australia, NZ, and perhaps Japan.

[suzzer99]

Semi related - there was a Frontline a little while back about minors who get life. It'll depress the crap out of you. Most of them were guilty to some degree but a couple claimed innocence.

Also a famous one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_3. I think it's pretty obvious these guys are innocent. Pretty horrible.

[El Diablo]

bob,

"At best, he thought he was being paid to help them beat up someone over a drug deal gone bad."

That may well be true, but reading the article, it also sounds quite possible that they may have had the wrong guys.

[Matt Flynn]

like one of my attorneys said, the last place you want to go for justice is a courthouse.

[Sooga]

If you guys are interested in this stuff, you should check out the movie 'After Innocence' (should be available at Netflix)... it documents not only the people who were unjustly imprisoned, but also the quality of their lives after they get out. Pretty fascinating stuff.