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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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 Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 1:04 pm Post subject: Wrongly convicted man set free after 35 years |
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It seems like there is at least one of these cases every year. And they occur only because The Innocence Project gets involved. How many other innocents languish behind bars because there is no group to take up their cause?
I don't get it. If someone is factually innocent, how could they ever have been found guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt"? Some checks ought to be put in place so that prosecutors cannot get these near-automatic convictions. What a slam dunk this one was: a child rape charge AND the suspect was black!
Is this a record for time wrongly spent behind bars?
Wrongly convicted man set free after 35 years in prison
Reported by: Cary Williams
Email: [email protected]
LAKE WALES, FL -- A man convicted kidnapping and raping a Lake Wales boy was set free by a Polk County judge Thursday morning.
The Florida-based Innocence Project says initial DNA testing showed sperm found on the victim could not have been from James "Jamie" Bain, who spent 35 years in prison.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement completed the DNA testing before today's hearing, confirming Bain's innocence.
Bain, 54, was released unconditionally during a 9 a.m. hearing. Judge James A. Yancey told him, "Sir, you are a free man."
Bain and his family maintained his innocence all along. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1974, when he was 19.
At a news conference following the hearing, Bain said he felt no anger and he was "fine. " He said it was his faith in God that pulled him through the long years. He added he got through it "one day at a time."
Asked what was going through his head over the past 35 years, Bain said, "To maintain myself and get back to my mom."
At the end of the news conference, Bain was presented with a bottle of Mountain Dew and a bottle of Dr. Pepper -- not available to him while he was in prison.
Bain said he just wanted to spend time with his family. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 4:11 pm Post subject: Re: Wrongly convicted man set free after 35 years |
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| bacasper wrote: |
| I don't get it. If someone is factually innocent, how could they ever have been found guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt"? |
While this is perhaps somewhat tangental to the article itself, here's your answer: the jury system. Drawing jurors at random from the masses and simply expecting them to understand what they're really supposed to do and then actually do it is a complete gamble. Every time a man is brought before a jury of his "peers" on trial, there's a decent chance the jury will simply not comply with the standard of reasonable doubt. These are people generally not educated in law, with opinions, emotions, and prejudices just like anyone else.
It's unreasonable to leave a man's fate in the hands of a small group of random strangers uneducated in the law. Sure, aggressive, career oriented prosecutors are a problem, but if the jury system worked, their efforts would be for naught if the individual on trial were innocent. |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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Fox, you are proposing the concept of professional jurors. Interesting idea. I wonder if such a thing has ever been tried. I see your point that they might be better able to see through a lot of the tricks prosecutors (and defense lawyers, although with the overwhelming conviction rate, that is less of a problem) pull. Has it ever been tried?
Of course, even with a professional jury system, there would still have
to be safeguards against it getting corrupted.
What does Kuros think? |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:22 am Post subject: Re: Wrongly convicted man set free after 35 years |
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| Fox wrote: |
| Drawing jurors at random from the masses and simply expecting them to understand what they're really supposed to do and then actually do it is a complete gamble. |
That much was obvious in the OJ Simpson trial. Not only did they split along racial lines but they didn't even know what "DNA" was at the time. |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:49 am Post subject: Re: Wrongly convicted man set free after 35 years |
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| Junior wrote: |
| Fox wrote: |
| Drawing jurors at random from the masses and simply expecting them to understand what they're really supposed to do and then actually do it is a complete gamble. |
That much was obvious in the OJ Simpson trial. Not only did they split along racial lines but they didn't even know what "DNA" was at the time. |
The problem of wrongful convictions far outweighs that of wrongful acquittals. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:00 am Post subject: |
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| bacasper wrote: |
Fox, you are proposing the concept of professional jurors. Interesting idea. I wonder if such a thing has ever been tried. I see your point that they might be better able to see through a lot of the tricks prosecutors (and defense lawyers, although with the overwhelming conviction rate, that is less of a problem) pull. Has it ever been tried?
Of course, even with a professional jury system, there would still have
to be safeguards against it getting corrupted.
What does Kuros think? |
I like civilian juries. Remember, they're triers of fact, not triers of law. Its the judge's (and advocates') job to explain to them any legal doctrines necessary. But usually they decide questions like: why were the gloves bloody? where was the suspect on the night of the murder? can witness A's testimony be trusted in a drug trial even though she has multiple drug convictions herself?, etc.
But civilian juries are not perfect. |
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