Guy freed from prison after 27 years

[Lee]

There was a story in the news today that a guy was released from prison, after DNA testing revealed he did not kill the lady in question. After serving 27 years he was let free from prison, he threatens to sue blah blah blah...but here's the clincher...the man CONFESSED TO KILLING HER, that's why he went to jail...it does not make sense.

 

[Slyfox696]

There was a story in the news today that a guy was released from prison, after DNA testing revealed he did not kill the lady in question. After serving 27 years he was let free from prison, he threatens to sue blah blah blah...but here's the clincher...the man CONFESSED TO KILLING HER, that's why he went to jail...it does not make sense.

Just because he confessed doesn't mean he did it. Confessions are not always accurate.

And if I was in jail for 27 years for something I didn't do, you can DAMN sure bet I'd be suing someone. You can't just take my life away, and then expect to get away with it.

 

[Gelgarin]

I was talking about this with one of my old lecturers today. She's had a lot of experience within the prison system, having spent almost a decade running a prisoners charity and producing the newspaper Inside Times.

Anyway, she knows a lot of people who've met the guy in question, and it really should be mentioned that the man is screwed in the head. Not in a malicious 'I'm going to kill your family and bathe in their blood' kind of way; but in the manner of having very serious learning difficulties.
Apparently after 27 years in prison he's much worse, and will likely never be able to function as a member of society.

I'd like to think that, 27 years on, we're now in a place where this kind of obvious diminished responsabilty would keep someone out of prison regardless of what they said.

 

[Lee]

And if I was in jail for 27 years for something I didn't do, you can DAMN sure bet I'd be suing someone. You can't just take my life away, and then expect to get away with it.

If YOU said I killed someone, then went to prison for 27 years then came out and said actually I didn't...you should get sweet FA, you lied to the police wasting police time/resources and has really hindered the capture of this ladies killer.

 

[Gelgarin]

Yes... but Slyfox doesn't have a serious mental handicap, and understands the consequences of his own actions.

Given the time period that this took place, the man most likely confessed under interrogation from the police, under circumstances that would be considered totally illegal under today's judicial system.

 

[HBK-aholic]

He said he'd done it, therefore he should get no compensation - it makes no sense. Would he even have been convicted without pleading guilty? I doubt it. So why should he get lots of tax payers money for it? I guess I'll go do the same thing..say I did something, then go back on that for a few million. He's an idiot, he deserves nothing. We might actually have th ereal killer behind bars now if he hadn't 'confessed'. But no, he left her kilelr nicely to go kill whoever else he wanted. Eugh!

 

[The Big Gunnzbowski]

Coerced confessions... It's your word against the police at this point. Believe the "Accused killer" or the Police who are sworn to protect and serve the community? Personally, I think once you've been accused of something, regardless of guilt, it takes a very very long time to wash yourself of something like that, if you can at all. I don't know the details of the case in question, but somebody mentioned a mentally handicapped gentleman? The man should have never been taken to trial in the first place, but this was 27 years ago. Does anybody remember the story of Ruben Carter? "The Hurricane" was his story. He was accused of killing somebody and convicted because the cops had it in for him. Their only living witness picked Carter as the shooter, but later said he was wrong, and the charges still weren't dropped. I honestly think that the guy in question does have grounds for a lawsuit, but again, I don't know the details. His option at this point would be to just enjoy what life he has left...

 

[FromTheSouth]

I heard something even more fucked up. A woman misidentified a man as the man who raped her. He looked LIKE the the guy that did it, but it wasn't him. So 15-20 years later, he hears about DNA during the OJ case. He asks an attorney to use DNA. The lab found a single sperm of the rapists, and it wasn't the guy in prison.

Now tehy tour the country together, speaking against eye witness accounts in trials. The woman felt so sure about the identification of the rapist, that she misidentified him in several court proceedings.

 

[Tastycles]

Woah! This man should be compensated heavily. Not only did he waste the lion's share of his life in gaol for something he didn't do, he was coerced into making a false confession. This was not an entirely uncommon thing to do in the 1970s and 80s. Look up the Guildford four if you don't believe me, but the British police were fucking attrocious.

Here you go - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildford_Four_and_Maguire_Seven

If you live in a media centric culture, the police HAVE to get someone for a crime, otherwise they look terrible, and the Daily Mail will let everyone know how terrible they are. This man was mentally handicapped, and couldn't defend himself. He could have easily been conned into saying what he said, and he probably was, nobody is going to confess to something they didn't do for no reason.

The fact that makes it worse is that 11 years ago this went to appeal but the CPS said they had lost the samples from the case. This wasn't true, so he spent further 11 years in prison wrongfully.

His confession didn't mean jack shit because he protested his innocence almost immediately, once he realised the reprucussions of his actions.

 

[Minor League Brian]

Honestly, if you've been pegged like that and you know that (even if you didn't do it) you're going to jail, wouldn't you lie and confess to it to get a shorter sentence. Shit, if I knew I was going to be wrongfully imprisoned, I'd rather it be for 30 years over 60 - life, I mean come on now. And you gotta understand, when those cops are "questioning" you, if they think you did it they'll let you know it. They'll trick you into answering questions and twisting your answers.

Nobody follows the "innocent to proven guilty" schtick, that's bullshit.

 

[The Big Gunnzbowski]

Honestly, if you've been pegged like that and you know that (even if you didn't do it) you're going to jail, wouldn't you lie and confess to it to get a shorter sentence. Shit, if I knew I was going to be wrongfully imprisoned, I'd rather it be for 30 years over 60 - life, I mean come on now. And you gotta understand, when those cops are "questioning" you, if they think you did it they'll let you know it. They'll trick you into answering questions and twisting your answers.

Nobody follows the "innocent to proven guilty" schtick, that's bullshit.

I don't give a shit what anybody tries to charge me with...remember, the burden of proof is on the prosecution. Admit nothing... Plead not guilty and let them try to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are indeed guilty. Something like that happened to me in high school. A bunch of buddies of mine stole a shitload of computers from the school, and got caught. Police interrogated me, making it seem as though I was involved. They kept saying shit like "Come on... So many people have told us that you guys hang out ALL THE TIME. You're trying to tell me that you weren't with them when they did this? Blah Blah Blah" I admitted nothing, and they had to let me go. They couldn't prove shit, because there was nothing to prove. Never put your freedom at stake to try and get out of something... This poor guy should be a model for this argument.