Innocent Man Freed After 26 Years

[Imagebuffet]

The State of Florida convicted and sentenced a man to life in prison because a dog supposedly tracked the sent from a killer's bloody shirt to the man. The dog and his handler were discredited 20 years ago, but the State of Florida never reviewed any of the cases in which the conviction came from the dog's identification.

http://news.aol.com/article/fake-sce...an-to%2F597931

Wow! This is another reason that I hate, hate, HATE, having other people's opinions have any control over my life. I can believe the conspiracy theory, too; I've heard of lots of other abuses of the Florida criminal system.

[Crashoran]

Geez. They basically took all the better years away from his life. They should compensate him. Can he sue?

[C!LLY]

you shold read "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham. Very good book.

[Howard Barlow]

Originally Posted by Imagebuffet

Wow! This is another reason that I hate, hate, HATE, having other people's opinions have any control over my life.

So, are you for eliminating laws?

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by Howard Barlow

So, are you for eliminating laws?

I'm having to give serious consideration to telling everyone to go away and LEAVE ME ALONE!

[sldi]

once the "State" has it there way, not much will convince them otherwise. I just saw a TV program about guy in Ft Collins, CO that got out recently after being in prison for about as long. Most of the evidence that exonerated him was held back by the DA.

[kenw]

Originally Posted by Imagebuffet

I'm having to give serious consideration to telling everyone to go away and LEAVE ME ALONE!

as long as you are totally and 100% self-sufficient, go ahead. But once you need something from someone else (electricity? food?....) or wish to even interact with someone, your deal is null and void.

Laws are a less-than-perfect way to deal with mankind's lack of moral compass. If we were all moral (and moral has only 1 ultimate definition, btw), laws such as these would be pointless.

Alas, we aren't ....so they exist.

Our system of laws isn't perfect. It is by most counts the better of those otherwise available on this planet. Or the lesser of many evils if you are so inclined.

I chose to look at situations such as this as evidence the system IS working, rather than as "proof" that it isn't. Yes, it took far too long. Innocent people suffered. Welcome to the world.... But the system did work, albeit slowly. The potential is now that it will work faster in the future. Will it happen again? Certainly. We tend to be slow learners...

However, walking away and ignoring the problems is a coward's reaction. (don't take this personally, I know your point was merely retorical). Society might actually evolve if those who saw opportunities to improve it actually did so. If we all just walk away and become hermits, how do we improve it for future generations? If we are working for a more perfect future, then we must work within a (by definition) less-than-perfect present.

Ask one of the Tuskegee airmen how they feel about injustice and sticking around to work on the solution....




now open your songbooks to #345 and stand as we sing.......

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by kenw

as long as you are totally and 100% self-sufficient, go ahead.

I think that most men dream of it. I sure do. That has been my life-long craving.

Originally Posted by kenw

But once you need something from someone else (electricity? food?....) or wish to even interact with someone, your deal is null and void.

If I had my way, I would journey to the far reaches of space, making my own worlds, and leave humanity behind.

Originally Posted by kenw

Laws are a less-than-perfect way to deal with mankind's lack of moral compass.

That is their primary and ultimate purpose.

Originally Posted by kenw

If we were all moral (and moral has only 1 ultimate definition, btw), laws such as these would be pointless.

Laws serve another purpose; they provide organization to society. It is moral for people to drive in a safe manner, but whether they drive on the left or the right side of the road is not per se more moral one way than the other. The law sets the traffic direction, as a means to the end of the moral world, but even the moral world would need organization.

Originally Posted by kenw

Alas, we aren't ....so they exist.

Our system of laws isn't perfect. It is by most counts the better of those otherwise available on this planet. Or the lesser of many evils if you are so inclined.

The State of Florida used a dog's testimony to convict a man to life in prison. How could anyone ever have thought that was a good idea? This is a key point, a huge, huge point that we need to look at here in Texas, too. Our court systems keep adopting these questionable reasons and tactics and implementing them as if they came engraved in stone from Mount Sinai, and no one can tell the men and women who pass these laws and processes that they are wrong. This isn't just a matter of people not realizing that their method has a flaw; they didn't even bother to certify that it is reliable in the first place. Then, the State didn't bother to correct itself until citizens mounted a grass-roots program that put pressure on the State.

The Bible says that only in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall a man be put to death, but our enlightened society is willing to throw away a man's life on the testimony of a single dog! Or, on the testimony of a single woman, who thinks she glimpsed someone at night. This is insane! And, the more I dig into the record of court cases, especially in Texas, the more I become convinced that this isn't a justice system; it is insanity given the power of law!

Originally Posted by kenw

I chose to look at situations such as this as evidence the system IS working, rather than as "proof" that it isn't. Yes, it took far too long. Innocent people suffered. Welcome to the world.... But the system did work, albeit slowly.

I don't believe that one can rightly brush away 26 years of a man's life that way. What are you going to do to make that right? How can you return a man his youth? You would have more hope of restoring justice if the courts had chopped off his hand and set him free immediately.

Originally Posted by kenw

The potential is now that it will work faster in the future. Will it happen again? Certainly. We tend to be slow learners...

However, walking away and ignoring the problems is a coward's reaction. (don't take this personally, I know your point was merely retorical). Society might actually evolve if those who saw opportunities to improve it actually did so. If we all just walk away and become hermits, how do we improve it for future generations? If we are working for a more perfect future, then we must work within a (by definition) less-than-perfect present.

Perhaps the more perfect future is not found within an organized society? It's possible that is the case. Or, if the more perfect future could be found within an organized society, perhaps that society can only be reached by abandoning the current flaws that empower and perpetuate miscarriages of justice?

[Howard Barlow]

Originally Posted by sldi

Most of the evidence that exonerated him was held back by the DA.

That's the person that needs the death penalty.