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How about a "Conviction Integrity Unit" for Durham?
Topic Started: Mar 7 2010, 09:52 AM (260 Views)
Quasimodo

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669736692929339.html

NOVEMBER 15, 2008

The Exonerator
The Dallas D.A. is Reviewing Old Cases, Freeing Prisoners -- and Riling His Peers


DALLAS -- Craig Watkins may be the only prosecutor in America who is making his name getting people out of prison.

As district attorney of Dallas County, Mr. Watkins is using DNA evidence to investigate more than 400 guilty verdicts notched up by his predecessors. His office's Conviction Integrity Unit, launched last year for this purpose, has so far cleared six men wrongly convicted of rape, murder or robbery.

(snip)

While it's true that Mr. Hill and other prosecutors sometimes end up exonerating defendants after they've been convicted, few prosecutors take it upon themselves to review old convictions.

(snip)

Mr. Wade was famous for never losing a case he personally prosecuted, and for getting juries to impose the death penalty nearly every time he asked.

[How likely is it that Wade never tried and convicted an innocent defendant?]

His staff of assistants was almost as successful, and all told, won convictions in more than 150,000 cases.

(snip)

"Many times, you bring these cases to district attorneys and they say, 'You can't go see my file. I won't do anything.' There's a knee-jerk reluctance to revisit anything," says Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project. He thinks this will eventually change, and that Dallas County's aggressive approach will serve as a model for others. "Watkins takes the view that if he can correct a wrongful conviction, that's a good thing."

[That's also part of a DA's job--if his obligation is to justice and not to racking up a total of convictions.]

Dallas County has had more exonerations than any other county in the country, according to the Innocence Project.

At a recent meeting in Mr. Watkins's office on the top floor of the hulking brown criminal courthouse near downtown Dallas, prosecutors debated which labs to hire and which DNA testing techniques to use for a particular case.

Mr. Watkins, who is 6 feet 5 inches tall, slouched in a chair, fidgeting with a rubber band around his wrist and asking the occasional question.

"How long did this guy stay in jail?"

"Did he go to trial or did he plead?"

"Can we find out who did it?"

[He's asking the right questions.]

(snip)

Rev. Heath says the jury was compelled by the fact that the victim identified Mr. Giles in a photo array. He now regrets the verdict and says "no one in his right mind" would want to put an innocent man in prison.

[The pastor didn't know that the bible says "On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness." (Deut. 17.6) I think that's probably good advice for not convicting anyone of other crimes solely on the basis of one witness, as well. . .]

(snip)


[So what would happen if Durham were to create a "Conviction Integrity Unit"? The Durham gang operated too efficiently and too smoothly--without a single dissenting voice, other than from Chief Chalmers, who voted with his feet--for this to have been the first time they engaged in this type of thing. So who else might have been railroaded in Durham? Who else accepted a plea and then never complained because complaining in NC would do no good?

Remember Erick Daniels? Who else might have run afowl of the establishment? Any Duke students? Should this be added to the list of needed reforms?]
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Walt-in-Durham

Quasimodo
Mar 7 2010, 09:52 AM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669736692929339.html

NOVEMBER 15, 2008

The Exonerator
The Dallas D.A. is Reviewing Old Cases, Freeing Prisoners -- and Riling His Peers


(snip)

Mr. Wade was famous for never losing a case he personally prosecuted, and for getting juries to impose the death penalty nearly every time he asked.

[How likely is it that Wade never tried and convicted an innocent defendant?]

It is easy to attack Henry Wade. But, the only reason this DNA evidence even still exists is Henry Wade ordered that it be preserved.

"[So what would happen if Durham were to create a "Conviction Integrity Unit"? The Durham gang operated too efficiently and too smoothly--without a single dissenting voice, other than from Chief Chalmers, who voted with his feet--for this to have been the first time they engaged in this type of thing. So who else might have been railroaded in Durham? Who else accepted a plea and then never complained because complaining in NC would do no good?

Remember Erick Daniels? Who else might have run afowl of the establishment? Any Duke students? Should this be added to the list of needed reforms?]
"

This is the crux of the civil litigation. Sydney Harr, Mike Nifong (one in the same for all practical purposes) Mayor Bell, Patrick Baker and the DPD would like you to believe it's about the $5.0 million in insurance the city has. But, if that was the situation, Durham would not be spending a cent to defend the lawsuits. There are far too many Erick Daniels' in the system and even the modest oversight panel sought by the plaintiffs would expose more than a few.

Walt-in-Durham
Edited by Walt-in-Durham, Mar 9 2010, 08:18 AM.
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