Tuesday, April 24, 2007

200 Exonerated by Innocence Project

The Innocence Project has produced a pamphlet that tells the stories: 200 people wrongly convicted, imprisoned, many facing death.

The tragic truth revealed by the Innocence Project is that our criminal justice system gets it wrong. And remember, for each wrongly convicted person, a guilty party may go free.

Every one of those exonerated by the Innocence Project had been charged and convicted of the most serious crimes. You'd think that if the system got anything right, it would be the serious crimes.

One of the great disappointments during the tragic journey our family has been on is that those in the legal profession know how inaccurate the system is. They often refer a jury verdict as a "role of the dice." How terrible, I thought upon this, that such a cherished American tradition would be degraded to a game of chance. Sadly, though, that is the case, and it will continue to be the case until we can hold prosecutors accountable for unethical actions, and until we improve juror education and training.

1 comment:

swd said...

I am so sorry for the predicament that your family is now in.

I can tell you that the scariest thing for a criminal defense attorney is representing the truly innocent at trial.