"In a free country a government agency should not be able to destroy people without due process. "

Unfortunately,initiating a civil suit in might as well be a guilty sentence for someone who works in the securities industry. Although, the SEC cannot bring criminal charges like the Justice Department, they have just as much discretion to destroy someone. Here is what an innocent man had to say after the fact:

Once the SEC initiated a Wells Notice process against Mr. Leighton it became impossible for John Leighton to work in the securities industry. The SEC drained his life savings by making it unbearably expensive to defend himself. It tried to force him out of the securities industry and put his firm out of business before he had a chance to defend himself. While we are very pleased that truth has prevailed, the sad fact is that John Leighton lost three years of his life defending himself that he can never recover. He lost three years of work that he can never recover. He spent large amounts on defense costs and supporting his family while unemployed that he can never recover. His family has suffered financially and emotionally and can never fully recover from that. His good name has been smeared and he can only hope that this decision will over time restore his name.

Under our current system, you are guilty of SEC charges until you prove yourself innocent. That is wrong.

Third Time's the Charm for Fake Terrorism Case?

Way back in June of 2006 we reported that the Sears Tower terrorism case was a joke. This was pure entrapment by the feds as these guys were about as threatening as the Apple Dumpling gang. Here is what we said in 2006:

Despite the indictment mentioning Al Qaeda several times and Bin Laden for some reason, neither were involved in this alleged plot. There was a law entrapment, errr…enforcement officer who somehow convinced these boneheads they he was really part of Al Qaeda. He got them to swear allegiance to Al Qaeda and even got them to believe they would have a chance to blow up the Sears Tower.

They are so laughable inept that the idea they could be a threat to the Sears Tower is absurd. By the end of the indictment it is clear that this group has probably seen too many movies (just look at their materials list) and that even getting boots was a multi–step process that they could barely accomplish.

Unable to admit defeat, the US is dragging these guys to court for a third time, according to today’s New York Times. The story is here, and the best quote from it is below:

“These are the types of prosecutors Las Vegas is built on,” Mr. Turley said. “They keep returning to the table with the same losing hand.”

State fails wrongly convicted prisoners

LA Times on the FAJ report:

California does a bad job of compensating people wrongfully convicted in its courts, a blue ribbon commission said Friday. Men and women imprisoned for years, even decades, for crimes they didn't commit are offered fewer benefits than convicts released on parole, the commission said.

The lack of compensation for wrongly convicted people is a problem outside CA as well.

Two recommendations:

* People who gave false confessions or forced guilty pleas be allowed to seek a court determination of factual innocence, the gateway to compensation.

In many cases that the Innocence Project has proved innocence there was a false confession made. Like eye witness accounts, confessions are not a sure sign of guilt like most people consider them.

* The deadline for a wrongfully convicted person to sue his trial lawyer for malpractice should be pushed back. The commission said the recent case of Peter Rose, who was wrongfully convicted of the kidnap and rape of a 13-year old girl in November 1995, demonstrates the need for this reform.

Good start, but why not hold the prosecution responsible as well? We know prosecutors will trump up charges to force a deal even when the evidence is lacking. Why should they get a pass?

DNA acquittals shaking up forensic science

Mainstream media attention that brings up the unreliability of eyewitnesses:

But Neufeld and many others argue that is a tiny concern compared to what real crime labs really can and cannot do.

People are often convicted by eyewitnesses, an informant, or someone with a grudge. Even witnesses with the best of intentions can be totally wrong, psychology tests show.

Physical evidence will always be important. Unfortunately, there is no DNA to be found at the scenes of many serious crimes. Forensic techniques need to be a good as possible and courts and juries need to understand the limits.

It is not just a question of freeing those wrongfully convicted, but catching the real perpetrators of the crimes.

The Value of an Extracted Confession

These days, many people realize how unreliable an eyewitness account can be. In many cases where a “guilty” man was later exonerated, the victim themselves had wrongly identified the perpetrator.

In addition to unreliable eyewitness accounts, anyone who has been following the work of the Innocence Project also knows how even a confession is not always what it seems. An innocent person who is faced with spending their life in prison has to consider cutting a deal given the cost of mounting a defense.

In the below case, as in all the other Innocence Project success stories, no-one – not prosecutors or police – has been taken responsibility for these errors.

Mr. Phillips, 49, is one of 15 men exonerated by DNA testing in Dallas County since 2001 – more than any other county in the nation.

"He's glad they identified the right person," said Mr. Phillips' attorney, Robert Udashen. Mr. Phillips could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Phillips had also pleaded guilty to eight related cases that authorities believe were committed by Mr. Goodyear. Mr. Phillips' attorneys say he pleaded guilty to the other crimes because he feared an even longer prison term after losing two jury trials.

Poor Services for the Wrongly Convicted After Release

David Sanders was wrongly convicted in a child molestation witch hunt. He has been freed, but is on the verge of bankruptcy since Milwaukee law caps awards at $5,000 per year for wrongful imprisonment. The Innocence Project has attracted a lot of publicity for getting the innocent released but there seems to be little compensation for the victims. Notably absent, in nearly every single case, is the lack of responsibility borne by the prosecutors and police. They get all the credit for these fake arrests and convictions, why should they get a pass on the shameful conduct of putting an innocent person in prison?

The state claims board seems likely to at least pay the $18,000 in attorney bills for Sanders ' first attorney. But under limits set in 1980, Sanders is entitled to a maximum of $5,000 for the eight months he was wrongly imprisoned.

Lichstein said Wisconsin ranks dead last among states that compensate people wrongly imprisoned. Wisconsin awards $5,000 a year, with a total cap of $25,000. By contrast, Alabama allows up to $50,000 per year in prison with no cap. Texas has raised its total cap to $500,000.
And states such as Virginia offer immediate financial assistance of up to $15,000 for those newly released.

Ironically, Sanders would have received more state services if he had committed the crime and was released on parole.

The Innocence Project - Life After Release

Excellent feature in todays New York Times about the difficulties the innocent have adjusting to the real world after release. Once again there is a conspicuous lack of accountability on the part of the police and prosecutors who perpetrated this fraud. We have suggested previously that some of a prosecutors pension be based on keeping the innocent out of jail. Essentially a bit from each paycheck would be held in escrow and released over time. he prosecutor would be funding a reimbursement fund for his mistakes. Here are some interesting stats from the article:

At least 205 men and one woman nationwide have been exonerated through DNA evidence since 1989, including 53 who, like Mr. Deskovic, were convicted of murder.
...
More than a quarter of all prisoners exonerated by DNA evidence had falsely confessed or made incriminating statements, according to the Innocence Project, the legal clinic that secured Mr. Deskovic’s release. Like many of those men, he had maintained his innocence since shortly after the confession, proclaiming at his sentencing hearing: “I didn’t do anything.”

Two MSM Wrongful Convictions in the News

The first from the LA Times:

Attorneys for a death row inmate found guilty of killing three 8-year-old boys in Arkansas in 1993 filed a motion in federal court to overturn his conviction based on new evidence, including DNA test results that found no genetic material on the victims' bodies from his client or two others convicted with him.

The conviction parallels how the Richard LaPointe case was closed: a mentally impaired person was bullied into a false confession. They had to go through several versions to get the story right since his initial confessions would have exonerated the other two. Despite the lack of credibility from the witness, the case was rammed through.

Misskelley was tried first. His attorneys maintained that he was borderline mentally retarded, and that he had only made a statement to prosecutors in the hope of being rewarded.

He was convicted, but it was established in court that he had changed key aspects of his story more than once. He initially told police that he saw the crimes occur at a time at which it was established that the three victims and Baldwin were in school, Echols was at the doctor's and Misskelley was at work on a roofing job.

The WSJ profiles the troubled readjustment to society of a man who was wrongfully convicted and released after 24 years in jail. Michael Anthony Williams is one of the 200+ victims the Innocence Project has cleared through DNA testing.

Even after release these victims has difficulty getting their lives back in order.

He didn't know how to drive. He had never used a cellphone, or left a message on an answering machine, or typed on a computer. He says that what surprised him most was the automatic flush toilets at Wal-Mart.

Neither article mentions the people – detectives, prosecutors, judges – that are responsible for these awful errors. In particular, the prosecutors have a lot of discretion and no accountability. A better system would have part of a prosecutor's pension held in escrow and released over time. If anyone they prosecuted or managed someone who prosecuted anyone who was later cleared, the prosecutor then compensates the victim with his retirement funds. After all, they seem to have no problems capitalizing on their victories, its only fair that they are responsible for their mistakes as well.

As it stands, the victims of wrongful prosecution receive little compensation for having their lives destroyed. It costs an average of $22,000 a year to house an inmate, yet Williams only got a little over $6k for each year he was in prison.

New York Times on DNA Exoneration

Inmates are now being given greater access to DNA evidence after 200+ have been found to be wrongfully convicted. Some highlights from the article:

Nationwide, misidentification by witnesses led to wrongful convictions in 75 percent of the 207 instances in which prisoners have been exonerated over the last decade, according to the Innocence Project, a group in New York that investigates wrongful convictions.

Other changes under consideration:

Two states, Vermont and Maryland, passed laws this year to improve crime lab oversight to eliminate errors and omissions. Maryland recently passed a law that will hold its crime labs to the same standards as clinical labs, a much more rigorous requirement. Other legislative changes to crime lab oversight are pending in 21 states, including New York.

More than 500 local and state jurisdictions, including Alaska, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia have adopted polices that require the recording of interrogations to help prevent false confessions, according to the Innocence Project.

The California Legislature also passed a bill this year that requires informant testimony to be corroborated before it can be heard by a jury.

Errors or Malicious Prosecutions?

For one group of innocent death row inmates nearly two-thirds were there due to intentional deception by the prosecution:

My recently completed study of the 124 exonerations of death row inmates in America from 1973 to 2007 indicated that 80, or about two-thirds, of their so-called wrongful convictions resulted not from good-faith mistakes or errors but from intentional, willful, malicious prosecutions by criminal justice personnel. (There were four cases in which a determination could not be made one way or another.)

Yet too often this behavior is not singled out and identified for what it is. When a prosecutor puts a witness on the stand whom he knows to be lying, or fails to turn over evidence favorable to the defense, or when a police officer manufactures or destroys evidence to further the likelihood of a conviction, then it is deceptive to term these conscious violations of the law — all of which I found in my research — as merely mistakes or errors.