DNA Results Free Wrongly Convicted Man

[Wags]

NBC News - DNA results free man after 27 years in prison - James Woodard is the 18th person in Dallas to have conviction vacated

DNA results free Dallas man convicted wrongly - Crime & courts - MSNBC.com

Excerpts from the article

DALLAS - A man who spent more than 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit was freed Tuesday, after being incarcerated longer than any other wrongfully convicted U.S. inmate cleared by DNA testing.

"I thank God for the existence of the Innocence project," Woodard, 55, told the court. "Without that, I wouldn't be here today. I would be wasting away in prison."

More than 30 wrongful convictions
Overall, 31 people have been formally exonerated through DNA testing in Texas, also a national high. That does not include Woodard and at least three others whose exonerations will not become official until Gov. Rick Perry grants pardons or the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals formally accepts the ruling of lower courts that have already recommended exoneration.

End of excerpts.

If this poor devil, Mr. Woodard would have been sentenced to DEATH instead of receiving a life sentence, he would have been executed some time ago.

Whether one agrees with the death penalty or one opposes it - this is feel good story in which an innocent man was set FREE.

GOD BLESS US ALL

[Orchidflower]

The HPD Crime Lab was so disorganized much evidence was lost in 2003 when I was there--as well as experiencing a major flood in 2001--so, just think of all the possibly innocent people doing time from Houston who will keep doing time as all the DNA evidence was either lost or flooded out. Sad situation....really sad.
Looks, at least, as if Dallas has gotten their act together.

[Wags]

Originally Posted by Orchidflower

The HPD Crime Lab was so disorganized much evidence was lost in 2003 when I was there--as well as experiencing a major flood in 2001--so, just think of all the possibly innocent people doing time from Houston who will keep doing time as all the DNA evidence was either lost or flooded out. Sad situation....really sad.
Looks, at least, as if Dallas has gotten their act together.

If my memory serves me right I believe that the current Dallas DA is having cases reviewed. KUDO's to Dallas for taking these steps.

It is sad that some people have been and are being wrongly convicted due to mistaken identity and on testimony that was later recanted.

GOD BLESS US ALL

[Orchidflower]

Wags, do you mean the Dallas D.A. is reviewing Dallas cases only? He's not looking into Houston's cases is he?

[summer2007]

I'm against the death penalty and this is one of the big reasons that I am. Because you will kill innocent people with it. Even in 10,000 years from now there will be people who are innocent that will be in prison...if there is prisons in 10,000 years.

I just saw a story on tv that a woman was falsely convicted of poisoning her husband with arsenic and they had her doing life and it turned out that they messed up he actually had a heart attack!

I know it's hard to believe that a woman would even do a day in jail in this country for killing her husband but that is the story!

Also I think inmates should be treated humanely and not be subject to violent assaults from guards and other inmates or degraded and dehumanized. Most people will get out of prison someday and shouldn't be so messed up from being there that they can never fit in. I don't see how you can come out a better person by being in that environment for a long time.

I just saw a report a little while ago that greater than 1 in 100 people in the U.S. are in prison.

Jim

[Wags]

Originally Posted by Orchidflower

Wags, do you mean the Dallas D.A. is reviewing Dallas cases only? He's not looking into Houston's cases is he?

I think he is only looking and reviewing cases in the areas that fall under his ju·ris·dic·tion.

GOD BLESS US ALL

[Orchidflower]

That's what I thought, but was not sure because of your post..and, well, things are "different" in Texas. I could see Dallas actually helping Houston out in that department, because, well...that is the way they cooperate in Texas. One of Texas' better qualities.

[Wags]

Originally Posted by Orchidflower

That's what I thought, but was not sure because of your post..and, well, things are "different" in Texas. I could see Dallas actually helping Houston out in that department, because, well...that is the way they cooperate in Texas. One of Texas' better qualities.

QuickDFW. com - Dallas district attorney steps up scrutiny of cases where DNA can't prove innocence

Dallas district attorney steps up scrutiny of cases where DNA can't prove innocence | QuickDFW.com - Dallas/Fort Worth - Click It, Read It, Go! | news local

Excerpts from the article

For 16 wrongly convicted defendants in Dallas County, DNA testing was the key that set them free after years – even decades – in prison.

Now, because of the doubt those exonerations raised, Dallas prosecutors are taking an unprecedented look at convictions in which DNA evidence cannot conclusively prove guilt or innocence.

And that may lead to a significant departure from the way prosecutors traditionally have responded to claims of innocence by inmates.

DNA cases "are the very tiniest tip of a gigantic iceberg of injustice in Texas," said Jeff Blackburn, an Amarillo civil rights attorney who also serves as chief counsel for the Innocence Project of Texas.

The decision to pursue non-DNA cases broadens a review of convictions begun a year ago by Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins and the Innocence Project of Texas amid a wave of DNA exonerations.

End of excerpts.

KUDOS to Mr. Watkins (the Dallas DA) and the Innocence Project of Texas for taking on the issue and advocating for the review of these cases.

GOD BLESS US ALL

[Wags]

Originally Posted by summer2007

I just saw a story on tv that a woman was falsely convicted of poisoning her husband with arsenic and they had her doing life and it turned out that they messed up he actually had a heart attack!

Jim

Summer 2007 I beleive that the woman was the one that was accused of poisoning her Marine husband.

ABC News: Cleared Widow: Change Death Certificate

GOD BLESS US ALL

[Wags]

CBS News/60 minutes - DNA Helps Free Inmate After 27 Years

60 Minutes: James Woodard Owes His Freedom To Project Started By Dallas County D.A.

DNA Helps Free Inmate After 27 Years, 60 Minutes: James Woodard Owes His Freedom To Project Started By Dallas County D.A. - CBS News

Again KUDOS to Mr. Watkins (the Dallas DA), the DALLAS DA Office and the Innocence Project of Texas for taking on the issue and advocating for the review of these cases.

17 in Dallas have been CLEARED that's 17 innocent men who might have been executed if they had all received the death penalty.

GOD works in mys·te·ri·ous ways.

GOD BLESS US ALL

[Bram]

I just caught the tail end of a piece that 60 Minutes did on this case. Mr Woodard had been offered probation @ some point in time on condition he would admit guilt. He chose to continue imprisonment rather than lie about his innocence.

Classic choice between Scylla and Charybdis. I can't imagine what I would have done.

[ziggy29]

I'm glad to see that some DA's offices aren't fighting this as much any more, and some (as in the case of Mr. Watkins) are actually helping to push these through to either exonerate the convicted or cement the proof against them.

Good to see they realize justice isn't served by making someone "pay" for a crime if that person isn't the actual perp. That mentality only turns one victimization into two.

[Khan]

Originally Posted by ziggy29

I'm glad to see that some DA's offices aren't fighting this as much any more, and some (as in the case of Mr. Watkins) are actually helping to push these through to either exonerate the convicted or cement the proof against them.

Good to see they realize justice isn't served by making someone "pay" for a crime if that person isn't the actual perp. That mentality only turns one victimization into two.

And possibly three or more, as the actual perp is likely still out there.

[clifp]

Originally Posted by Wags

17 in Dallas have been CLEARED that's 17 innocent men who might have been executed if they had all received the death penalty.

GOD works in mys·te·ri·ous ways.

GOD BLESS US ALL

I agree Kudos to the Dallas DA and the innocent project for "ending the injustice" as the judge said in releasing the guy after 28 years.

However, none of the 17 were on death row. After all this is Texas they don't last a decade on death row like most states. Also the Supreme Court has required further safeguards for capital offense cases. I would hope that in the future these safeguard include a thorough review of DNA evidence.

[Wags]

ABC News - DNA Frees Man After More Than 12 Years in Prison
Man freed after dozen years in prison is 29th Illinoisan exonerated by DNA

ABC News: DNA Frees Man After 12 Years in Prison

If one is a person who has been wrongly convicted whether one spends 12 years or 1 day in prision for a crime he or she did not commit - that is 1 day too long.

It makes one wonder just how many poor innocent devils are sitting in prison and how many of these poor innocent devils might have been executed.

Great article.

God Bless Us All

[Notmuchlonger]

Originally Posted by Wags

ABC News - DNA Frees Man After More Than 12 Years in Prison
Man freed after dozen years in prison is 29th Illinoisan exonerated by DNA

ABC News: DNA Frees Man After 12 Years in Prison

If one is a person who has been wrongly convicted whether one spends 12 years or 1 day in prision for a crime he or she did not commit - that is 1 day too long.

It makes one wonder just how many poor innocent devils are sitting in prison and how many of these poor innocent devils might have been executed.

Great article.

God Bless Us All

The catholic church comes to mind. The Salem witch trials. Go throughout human history you can find all kinds of gems where people were wrongly imprisoned or put to death.

Ya god bless ..

[summer2007]

Wags

Yes that was the lady was talking about!


I saw a show one time on how even when you have DNA or fingerprint evidence it's up to the person interpreting it to do it right or you can falsely convict someone.

On this show an innocent guy was put in prison for first degree murder because his fingerprints were on a gun used to kill the victim. Only problem is the guy that has the job of matching fingerprints messed it up they sent the fingerprints to a top expert and found out that they didn't match. If it were not for the correction in the fingerprint analysis this guy would be doing life in prison.

And the guy that messed up the fingerprints saying that they were a match....well he was involved with like 600 other cases!!!!!

On the same show a guy was convicted on dna of some sort of sex crime on a young girl. They used his hair to convict him. This guy was badly beaten in prison I don't remember his injuries but I remember it was serious. As it turns out the hair was from the girls dog!!

How to you ever repay this guy?

It's hard to tell how many people are innocent that are put in prison but at times it seems like the figure must be a lot.

I seems that I always hear people saying how they want to make people really suffer in prison and seem to take such delight in thinking how badly that someone will be abused while in prison.

I don't think anyone should be subject to abuse in prison for the reason that they could be innocent and also a lot of these people will get out into society again and coming out of a horrid environment can't be good!

These guys that were falsely imprisoned might be ruined for life after that.

I saw a study that compared states with the death penalty to ones without...and the rate of crime is way lower in the states without....add that to the part of killing innocent people with it sometimes and it's not a great idea. Also sometimes decades later real killers confess to additional murders and shed light on other things that would have been forever lost if they were killed. Look at Saddam he was a bad guy no question but he also knew a heck of a lot. If you have any questions you would like to ask him about well too late!

I also wonder if they put men and women together in prison if it would help cut the violence way down. I know it sounds really bad at first but it might be why things are so messed up I think you need to interact with the opposite gender.

I don't know if any of you have ever been falsely accused in your life. I have and it was in 5th grade. I won't go in to details but it wasn't a really huge deal and was not a criminal offense that I was accused of. But just the fact that someone would just make up a total lie about you that could get you in serious trouble sticks with you for life. For me it's even worse than when someone hit me or stole stuff from me. It's a horrible thing to do to someone IMO it might even be the worst.

The worst part is knowing day after day someone is delibertaly trying to hurt you. If someone just hits you or something they might have just snapped and not really meat it. But when you get up day after day and lie about something that could really hurt someone it's really bad and IMO impossible to forgive.

And the other thing that gets me is it seems that any time someone is falsely accused the false accuser is never punished. In my above example that was the case.

Look at the Duke lacrosse boys. The false accuser was given nothing and that Nifong guy got one day in jail. I think both should have got the sentence they felt comfortable giving those innocent guys.




So when you have no justice like that false accusers just have a free shot a putting people in jail. And if they are lying...oh well nice try maybe you will do better next time!

BTW nice thread Wags

Jim

[ziggy29]

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger

The catholic church comes to mind. The Salem witch trials. Go throughout human history you can find all kinds of gems where people were wrongly imprisoned or put to death.

Never mind that today, the Catholic Church is one of the most outspoken opponents of capital punishment...