A court in Syracuse has awarded Roy Brown $2.6 million dollars for having endured 15 years in prison for a murder he clearly did not commit. That amount can't start to repay him for all he has suffered and lost. Sadly, that amount is no deterrent to a system focused on as many arrests and convictions gotten as quickly and cheaply as possible.
The deal in America is supposed to be, “better 10 guilty go free than one innocent go to prison.” In New York in the last year or so, using DNA primarily, nearly a dozen innocents have been freed. Because DNA exists in but a fraction of cases, it seems obvious that hundreds of thousands of Roy Browns may be languishing in New York prisons because they have no simple, cheap way to prove their innocence.
New Yorkers should demand to know why a 100 percent innocent man can be arrested, indicted, prosecuted, found guilty by a jury, given a maximum sentence by a judge and lose regular appeals, when they have to foot the bill, which may total nearly $4 million in the Brown case. Clearly “guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” is not a high enough standard when innocents can spend decades or die in prison.
Of those charged, up to 90 percent take plea bargains giving up most appeal rights because - guilty or innocent - the justice system can be insidious. Because DNA exonerations expose a horrendous flaw in a system that must be as flawless as possible, there needs to be full and open hearings.
There should be no politics motivating the system. Many seeking high office, such as a mayor of a major city, judgeships, senate seats, governorships, etc. know getting elected district attorney is invaluable, especially with a 100 percent conviction rate.
In retrospect, allowing innocents to go to prison pales in comparison to what laws allowed to be done to 'slaves,' natives, women, etc.
Today, the most free, most just nation on earth creates law upon law resulting in our rate of imprisonment being up to 23 times that of nations we condemn as unjust and tyrannical. Supreme Court Judge Kennedy related our, “sentences are eight times longer than Europe's.” It's time for hearings!
Henry J. Halm
Auburn
New Yorkers should demand to know why a 100 percent innocent man can be arrested, indicted, prosecuted, found guilty by a jury, given a maximum sentence by a judge and lose regular appeals, when they have to foot the bill, which may total nearly $4 million in the Brown case. Clearly “guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” is not a high enough standard when innocents can spend decades or die in prison.
Of those charged, up to 90 percent take plea bargains giving up most appeal rights because - guilty or innocent - the justice system can be insidious. Because DNA exonerations expose a horrendous flaw in a system that must be as flawless as possible, there needs to be full and open hearings.
There should be no politics motivating the system. Many seeking high office, such as a mayor of a major city, judgeships, senate seats, governorships, etc. know getting elected district attorney is invaluable, especially with a 100 percent conviction rate.
In retrospect, allowing innocents to go to prison pales in comparison to what laws allowed to be done to 'slaves,' natives, women, etc.
Today, the most free, most just nation on earth creates law upon law resulting in our rate of imprisonment being up to 23 times that of nations we condemn as unjust and tyrannical. Supreme Court Judge Kennedy related our, “sentences are eight times longer than Europe's.” It's time for hearings!
Henry J. Halm
Auburn
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Farmer's Gal wrote on Dec 19, 2008 3:38 PM:
united we wish wrote on Dec 19, 2008 12:52 PM: