THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE NIGHTMARE
A few days ago, Tim Masters, 35, walked out of the Colorado prison a free man. He spent 10 years in jail for a murder he had always maintained he did not commit.
His conviction was based on gruesome sketches he made as a 15 year old boy in 1987. He served 10 years of the life sentence handed down for the murder of Peggy Hetrick, whose mutilated body was found in a field close to where Masters lived. He wasnt arrested till 1987, when a psychologist reviewed those gruesome sketches made.
But a review of the case reveled that the DNA found on the body was that of Ms Hettricks's boyfriend , who was dismissed as a suspect, at that time.
In this case, prosecutors and investigators, failed to turn over key evidence to Master's defence team during the trial as required by standard court procedure.
The tragedy of the the whole saga is, while an innocent man langiushed in jail, the prosecutors moved on to become district court judges. No doubt Masters' conviction was one of those cited on these guys resume. Also, police misconduct is already being investigated.
This, once again puts on the front burner, the debate about the American justice system.
According to the Innocent Project, a non-profit body that review convicts cases, there have been 200 post conviction DNA exonerations as 2007. A study by a team of lawyers and criminologists at Columbia University, led by James Liebman,a prof. of law, said two of three convictions overturned on appeal, were due to incompetent defence, overzealous police, and prosecutours who witheld evidence.
It said ' the rate of error found in appeals in death penalty cases ranged from 100% in three states- Kenturcky, Maryland, Tennessee, and 91% in Mississippi, to 81% in Virginia, by far the lowest of any of the 34 states with the death penalty. 24 of the 26 states with the death penalty, where there have been fully completed appeals, had an error rate of 52% or higher.
The study did not spare the highly flawed jury system. It said 51% of the error could be blamed on bias jury, while 19% was due to coerced confessions, and prosecutors keeping African-Americans off the jury, when a black defendant was on trial. William Broadus, former Attoney-General of Virginia, said" Juries in death penalty cases often feel the rush to convict, as they see victims pictures and grieving families.
The issues now are what happens to those wrongfully convicted, and should those ambitous and dishonest prosecutors and policemen be left to roam free?
More than half of the 50 states have no form of compensation, while a state like Florida had repetedly blocked bills seeking compensation. According to Barry Scheck Co-ordinator on innocent project, at Yeshiva University" we are exonerating people who did not commit crimes, spent two decades in prison, or time on death row, and when they get out there are fewer reentry services for these people than for individuals who commited these crimes" 21 states along with the federal government and the District Of Columbia(DC), have standardized laws on the book offering between $15,000 and $50,000 per imprisonment year. 13 states have bills on the table. Take the case of Alan Grotzer, who, after spending 24 years in the slammer for a crime he didnt commit, was denied a palrty compensation of $1.2million.
States should find a way of compensating those wronfully convicted, while the American Bar association, and State Bars, should take a good look at the conduct of their members who are ethical issues in wronful convictions. Most of these prosecutors have moved on to become judges, or congressmen, while the dubiuos police officers are captains in big cities.
Crowded court dockets, budgetary pressures and careerism, have contributed to elevating ambition above justice. According to Robert Merkel, former US Attorney, " today a prosecutor who gives the defendant the benefit of the doubt is regarded as a failure... prosecution is a result-oriented process today , fairness be damned...they are pressured to justify budgets with convictions and that causes them to prosecute absolutely bogus cases to get those statistics"
Arnold Burns wrote in the Wall Street Journal " its time for a sober reassessmnet of the power we have concentarted in the hands of prosecutors and the alarming absence of effective checks and balances to prevent widespread abuse"
In 1998 the Pittsburg Post Gazzette wrote " hundreds of times during the past 10 years, federal agents and prosecutors have pursued justice by breaking the law ...they lied hid evidence, distorted facts , engaged in cover-ups , all in relentless efforts to win convictions...rarely were these federal officials purnished for the misconduct"