When Truth Meets Arrogance

Take a look at this short video featuring John Grisham, author of The Innocent Man.

Note: Bill Peterson, the DA who wrongly convicted Williamson and Fritz continues as the District Attorney in Ada, Oklahoma.

The Center for Wrongful Convictions

Take a few minutes and watch this video from the Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University. Note the chilling statistic that of the 289 men and women sentenced to death in Illinois after it reinstated capital punishment in the mid seventies, by 2003, six percent had been exonerated.

What happens to prosecutors who pursue the innocent?

Maybe, they'll be nominated to the US Senate.

Embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blogojevich's recent pick of Roland Burris to fill Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat demonstrates the impunity prosecutors enjoy. Propublica reports today that

"While state attorney general in 1992, Burris aggressively sought the death penalty for Rolando Cruz, who twice was convicted of raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. The crime took place in 1983. But by 1992, another man had confessed to the crime, and Burris’ own deputy attorney general was pleading with Burris to drop the case, then on appeal before the Illinois Supreme Court. Burris refused. He was running for governor."

Until there is accountability for prosecutorial misconduct, how can we expect fairness in our criminal justice system?

NY Times Endorses Webb's Call for Reform

The New York Times begins the new year by calling on all members of congress to show the same courage Senator Webb has shown and to "rally to the cause" of criminal justice reform. The editorial points out that "Senator Webb — a former Marine and secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration — is in many ways an unlikely person to champion criminal justice reform. But his background makes him an especially effective advocate for a cause that has often been associated with liberals and academics."

The editorial concludes saying:

"With Barack Obama in the White House, and strong Democratic majorities in Congress, the political climate should be more favorable than it has been in years. And the economic downturn should make both federal and state lawmakers receptive to the idea of reforming a prison system that is as wasteful as it is inhumane."

To learn more about what comprehensive criminal justice reform should look like, visit the Constitution Project's report "Smart on Crime: Recommendations for the Next Administration and Congress." Here you'll find a concise yet broad description of what we can do to improve the entire system, from investigation through release. It's a report written by respected scholars and reform advocates that's worth our attention--and the attention of our elected leaders.

What I would add to the welcome comments in the Times is that reform is not an issue of right vs. left, conservative vs. liberal or republican vs. democrat. It is first and foremost an issue of justice. As such, it transcends political boundaries. For example, Senators Brownback and Leahy--as different as night and day--joined forces to sponsor the Wrongful Convictions Tax Relief Act. There need be no division or restraint in the pursuit of justice.

James Webb and Criminal Justice Reform

The Washington Post reports that Senator James Webb (D-VA) will propose a national panel to review our broken criminal justice system. Webb is quoted in the article saying "I think you can be a law-and-order leader and still understand that the criminal justice system as we understand it today is broken, unfair, locking up the wrong people in many cases and not locking up the right person in many cases."

You can read the article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122801728_2.html?hpid=topnews.

I encourage you to send your support for Senator Webb to his web page at http://webb.senate.gov/contact/.

Submitting to Authority

A column by Adam Cohen from today's New York Times:

In 1963, Stanley Milgram, an assistant professor of psychology at Yale, published his infamous experiment on obedience to authority. Its conclusion was that most ordinary people were willing to administer what they believed to be painful, even dangerous, electric shocks to innocent people if a man in a white lab coat told them to.

Now, 45 years later, that experiment has been repeated by Prof Jerry Burger of Santa Clara University--with the same results. Read the entire article at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/opinion/29mon3.html?_r=1&ref=opinion.

Cohen concludes his column saying:

An instructor at West Point contacted Professor Burger to say that she was teaching her students about his findings. She had the right idea — and the right audience. The findings of these two experiments should be part of the basic training for soldiers, police officers, jailers and anyone else whose position gives them the power to inflict abuse on others.

Let's add to that list jurors, who all too often unquestioningly accept what authorities say despite the tragic consequences a wrongful conviction brings.

An Addition to this Web Site

Over the years we've maintained BearingFalseWitness, we've added volumes of material. On this, a quiet day for me, I've seen the need to provide a simple summary of Todd's case--what really happened that night. So, we've added a "Case Summary" page. It details the prosecution's central claims and exposes how things went wrong during the investigation and prosecution of the case. Please read it. As always, we appreciate the comments of visitors to this site.