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Truth in Justice
Newsletter - February - March, 2005
Ken Richey's Death Penalty and Conviction Tossed The American Dream that Died in a Death Row Cell More About Kenny Richey's Case Ken Richey Colombus Grove, Ohio Complete transcript of Frontline Scotland'sKilling Time profile of Kenny Richey's case!
The victim, shot while riding on the back of her husband's motorcycle in South Florida, identified someone else as her assailant. The best-positioned eyewitness was unable to pick out Persad from a photo lineup; he, too, picked someone else. He couldn't identify him in court, either. The same eyewitness said there was nothing unusual about the assailant's car, while Persad's car had foreign slogans written all over it. Moreover, three witnesses testified Persad was studying for an exam with them when the incident happened. But the victim's husband was shown a photo of Persad by an ex-FBI investigator, told Persad was the assailant, identified him in court -- and Persad is doing 43 years in prison. Martin Soto-Fong and the
DA with Killer Instincts [pdf format]
Last
year, former Pima County, AZ DA Kenneth Peasley was disbarred for
intentionally presenting false evidence in death-penalty
cases—something that had never before happened to an American
prosecutor. In a 1992 triple-murder case, Peasley introduced testimony
that he knew to be false; three men were convicted and sentenced to
die. Peasley was convinced that the three were guilty, but he also
believed that the evidence needed a push. According to the Death
Penalty Information Center, since the
mid-nineteen-seventies a hundred and seventeen death-row inmates have
been released. Defense lawyers, often relying on DNA testing, have
shown repeatedly how shoddy crime-lab work, lying informants, and
mistaken eyewitness identifications, among other factors, led to unjust
convictions. But DNA tests don’t reveal how innocent people come to be
prosecuted in the first place. The career of Kenneth Peasley -- and the
case of Martin Soto-Fong -- do.Students at the Texas Innocence Network have uncovered new evidence, never presented at trial, that death row inmate Anthony Graves was not involved in the 1992 slaying of six people. The students believe Graves would be acquitted if he were retried. But this is Texas, the state has what it wants -- a conviction -- and despite grave prosecutorial misconduct, U. S. Magistrate Judge John Froeschner thinks Anthony should keep his appointment with the executioner. There's a reason adolescents are overrepresented in every form of reckless behavior. Sometimes they lack the judgment, the impulse control, the maturity and the character to resist harmful peer pressure. Every parent knows this. So do most legislators. That's why young people are prohibited from serving on juries, voting, marrying, serving in the armed forces and drinking. The U.S. Supreme Court now knows this, too. In a landmark ruling Tuesday, the court found that it is unconstitutional to put to death those who were under age 18 at the time of their crime. A 5-4 majority of justices acknowledged what common sense already tells us: Adolescents inherently are different from adults.
Florida (but could be anywhere in the US): James Faller claimed innocence in a complicated loan fraud from the time he reported it to Florida regulators more than 10 years ago, when he tried to explain it to an FBI Agent, when he was indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced to prison. Along the way he infuriated federal prosecutors by making hundreds of allegations of misconduct at virtually every stage of his prosecution in the $3.6 million fraud because, he claims, they got the wrong guy. They'll Get You if You Tick Them Off Illinois and Missouri: A federal jury has awarded nearly $6.6 million in damages to former Chicago police Officer Steven Manning, finding two veteran FBI agents framed him for a Cook County murder that put him on Death Row. The jury also held that one of the FBI agents also framed Manning in a Missouri kidnapping case. Manning spent 14 years in prison before both convictions were overturned and the prosecutions were dropped. Framed by FBI Wisconsin: The current DA in Winnebago County is conducting a secret John Doe investigation into the conduct of Vince Biskupic and his friend and mentor, Joe Paulus, when they controlled the prosecutor's offices in Winnebago and Outagamie Counties. He calls their actions in the cases they made against Mark Price "an abuse of the justice system of the worst kind."
More Bite Mark Baloney Jeffrey Moldowan, who spent 12 years in prison before winning a retrial and acquittal in a Warren rape case, has sued the victim, the police, a trial witness and Macomb County prosecutors. The witness is Dr. Alan Warnick, whose bogus bite mark testimony railroaded an innocent man. Gunshot Residue This evidence, used for years in thousands of investigations, is not as clear-cut as it has often been portrayed in court, or in the television crime dramas that have made forensics popular. Across the country it is under increasing scrutiny as defense attorneys, prosecutors and police officials evaluate how easily suspects' hands can be contaminated by other items already covered in gunshot residue: handcuffs, car seats, even police officers themselves. Digital Fingerprint Identification The Chicago Tribune has found that the same digital technology that has allowed the FBI to speed fingerprint checks so dramatically has created a new risk -- in an already subjective and non-scientific field -- of accusing the innocent.
False Allegations of Child Abuse Unfounded
Physical Abuse Allegations
The
Darke County, Ohio prosecutor has said
he is closing the homicide investigation into the death of 5-year-old
Daniel Crow Jr. because a rare genetic disease may be the cause of the
boy's death, not abuse. It's too late for the rest of the
family.
Their other children were seized by the state and adopted by other
families. Officially
Sanctioned AbuseRECOMMENDED READING
INNOCENCE PROJECTS
LINKS The links pages at Truth in Justice are frequently updated. Be sure to check them for resources, "must" reading, websites of inmates with compelling innocence claims and more. Start at http://truthinjustice.org/links.htm SITE SEARCH ENGINE There are now over 900 pages at Truth in Justice. The site search engine on the main page can make it faster and easier to find what you seek. And remember, YOU can make a difference! Sheila and Doug Berry Back to Top |
