Unjustly imprisoned people

[El Diablo]

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.

[lapoker17]

i read an article about this in wsj like 2 months ago - pretty nuts.

i was once falsely imprisoned and it was the worst feeling. complete helplessness.

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
i read an article about this in wsj like 2 months ago - pretty nuts.

i was once falsely imprisoned and it was the worst feeling. complete helplessness.

[/ QUOTE ]

TR?

[TalkingDonkey]

Came across this article today - not the same as imprisoning an innocent man, but still a huge miscarriage of justice nonetheless.
Your justice system at work


Cliff notes: Borderline retarded 16-year old indirectly (and perhaps unknowingly) involved in a quadruple homicide is still in jail 20 years later while one of the murderers is free.

edit: you need to register to read it, but it's worth it

[cambraceres]

An employee of mine has a good friend who was imprisoned for 13 years on a rape charge and was recently released because of DNA evidence. He was a participant in a prison pen pal program, and regularly exchanged letters with Jeffrey dahmer. His case is coming up soon, the one to get some money for his losses that is.

All this is based upon the assertions of one $10.00 wage worker who was clearly stoned. He also told me that the King of England visited Virginia last month, so take it for what you will, the trend is impressive

Cam

[bobman0330]

[ QUOTE ]
Came across this article today - not the same as imprisoning an innocent man, but still a huge miscarriage of justice nonetheless.
Your justice system at work


Cliff notes: Borderline retarded 16-year old indirectly (and perhaps unknowingly) involved in a quadruple homicide is still in jail 20 years later while one of the murderers is free.

edit: you need to register to read it, but it's worth it

[/ QUOTE ]

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! Conceivably his rights were violated by his questioning or the way the appeal was handled, but every nonviolent drug offender has to be way higher on the list of people who shouldn't be in prison than this guy.

[ne14dirt]

False imprisonment can happen in a system that is not perfect. The thing is that there is no criminal system in the world that is. The price we pay for what justice we have is that a very small fraction of the folks in the slammer aren’t supposed to be there. Let me also say that I think we can do a way better job in giving some of these people fare trials and access to defenders that have some interest in what they are doing. All of the above being said, I think that if we can agree that people are in fact falsely imprisoned we can also agree that people are put to death who are innocent. My take is that if even one innocent man die’s then it makes the death penalty wrong as we are putting a value on human life, i.e. one innocent man is worth a 1000 or 10,000 murders lives. I hate the fact that anyone would have to be imprisoned or worse yet be put to death for something they had no part of, makes me sick even thinking about it.

Apologies for going off topic but as soon as I read the devils post title I just couldn’t help myself.

[TalkingDonkey]

[ QUOTE ]
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!

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

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

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

[Cornell Fiji]

OOT Thread on Genarlow Wilson

Cliffs: Wilson was a Sr. in highschool. He went to a party and got head. He was underage. The girl was underage. That constitutes sodomy, a felony in Georgia. He got a 10 year prison sentence.

A new law was passed because of the case but his sentence was not vacated. His case was overturned on appeals but the state is appealing the fact that it was overturned and it is going up to the supreme court. He recently lost a hearing to be let out of jail while the judgment to let him free is being appealed by the state.

[bobman0330]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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!

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

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

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can spin it to make the story seem sympathetic all you like, but look at what happened. He wasn't duped into being an accomplice with some kind of innocent story ("Help me find my lost puppy" or whatever). At best, he thought he was being paid to help them beat up someone over a drug deal gone bad. I can't find it in my heart to be sympathetic when it completely predictably leads to murders. And then, does he try to stop the killings? Does he run for help? Does he turn himself in to the police and identify the murderers? Of course not. (Why not? Because he's a criminal, that's why!)

I'm sure the guy didn't plan to get involved in a multiple homicide, because, as you say, criminals tend to charge more for aiding in murder than they do for aiding in breaking and entering/assault. But are you really claiming that helping drug dealers break into someone's home to beat someone up isn't a serious crime? That he's not morally responsible when things get out of hand and the victims get killed?

(Anyways, I don't want to get involved in an endless roundabout argument, so I won't post anymore about this.)