TheAgitator.com
Innocence Roundup
Thursday, October 8th, 2009A roundup of wrongful conviction-related stories from the last several weeks:
• Wisconsin court dismisses charges against rape and murder after the prosecutor withheld evidence of his innocence. Ralph Armstrong was convicted in 1981. In 1995, a woman told prosecutors Armstrong’s brother confessed to the crime, but prosecutors never informed Armstrong’s attorneys. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered a new trial when DNA cleared Armstrong in 2005, but prosecutors kept him in prison another four years while they made plans to try him again. Believe it or not, it only gets worse from there. There’s some startling prosecutoral misconduct in this case.
• Florida man released after DNA clears him of a rape for which he served 26 years in prison. Anthony Caravella, who is mentally disabled and was 15 at the time he was convicted, falsely confessed to the crime. His lawyer says he was beaten into a confession. Prosecutors had orginally sought the death penalty.
• Oklahoma prosecutors drop charges, release two former death row inmates convicted of a 1993 drive-by shooting. A federal court threw out their conviction after learning that prosecutors failed to disclose that their main witness and only real evidence in the case had struck a deal in exchange for his testimony.
• The University of Michigan Innocence Project is seeking the release of a man they say was wrongly convicted of rape due to prosecutoral misconduct and junk science. Karl Frederick Vinson has been in prison since 1986 for the rape of a 9-year-old girl.
• Indiana Supreme Court orders state policy agencies to adopt the most stringent rules in the country for videotaping police interrogations of felony suspects.
I set the over-under on prosecutorial discipline at nothing. Anyone want to take the over?
The news from Indiana sounded good until I read this:
“Seven exceptions to the recording rule include statements made during routine bookings, a suspect’s refusal to talk on tape, malfunctioning equipment and “substantial exigent circumstances” that prevent recording or preservation of the footage.” (my emphasis)
I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of malfunctioning camera’s in Indiana…
it’s like we have a giant bastille and we’re at the mercy of a bunch of asshole bureaucrats.
That Indiana thing about requiring video taped questioning is one of the most encouraging news items I’ve seen on this site.
If only they would be so aggressive in discouraging the cops from interfering with ordinary people recording police activities. If recording police activity during interrogations advances the cause of justice, then there should be no doubt that recording police activities everywhere else does the same.
Luckily they didn’t execute that guy who was convicted of raping the 9 y/o girl. It would suck if it turned out they took the life of an innocent man. By locking the guy up for 23 years, they only took about a third of his life.
@#1 – I was taking the under as well until I read this:
I know the ACLU doesn’t have a great record on the 2nd amendment, but I really encourage everyone here to donate some money to that organization as well as the Institute for Justice (IJ). They are two best organizations out there fighting corrupt prosecutions.
http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/deliverdocument.asp?citeid=60430
Read numbered paragraph 3.
ADA Miller is well before my time, but that was when Bob Macy was the district attorney in Oklahoma County and nothing that happened then would surprise me.
If you told me that prosecutors and police back then had just arrested some random guy and completely fabricated every scintilla of evidence, I’d believe it.
I just read through the article on Indiana’s new policy. Not required until January 1, 2011???? Boo. January 1st, 2010 is plenty of time to buy a videocamera. Or even July 1st. But, it’s a step in the right direction.
Don’t forget the Innocence Project.
@Hattio: I’d guess the reason for that is fiscal. The federal government’s fiscal year ends on 30SEP, and I think most states follow the same FY. They’re getting three months, effectively, from the time money is budgeted for the cameras, which is not that bad.
Of course, the practical effect of this will be many more interrogations performed outside the police station, which will not be subject to the policy.
Yes, and the Innocence Project. Anyone else got any organizations that do good work that need money?
Depends what odds you want to give me on Space Aliens landing on the White House lawn this afternoon.
Wow, that actually made my day. Kudos to you, Mr. Prater – we read about so much prosecutorial misconduct here that’s it’s nice to see someone even mention ethics.
That Karl Vinson story is depressing, and depressingly familiar. The Innocence Project is making a big difference in those rare cases when the evidence and/or testimony hasn’t been completely destroyed or suppressed, or just vanished with the passing of time.
But we’re left with the scumbags who railroaded the innocent for their own career advancement. And a system which rewards it. Until these good works lead to some kind of accountability, it’s all just a drop in the ocean.
@ Michael Chaney: Before you give Prater too much credit, look at his bio and see where he was working when that case was tried (okay, don’t look: he was an Oklahoma County ADA).
Also, note what it took him to reach that conclusion: only the fact that the U.S. District Court found the witness not to be credible. But for that finding, it seems, he would be fine with it.
Don’t you just love all the arguments about how it will cost too much?
Laptop $400
Webcam $20
1.5 TB USB drive $200
Total cost for TONS of video = $620
Oh, the $400 laptop has a DVD burner and DVD’s are getting cheap.
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