Executed Man May Be Cleared in New Inquiry

[swag]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/19/national/19death.html?hp&ex=1121745600&en=d30009b78c025e1b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

(St. Louis MO)
. . .
After losing several appeals, Mr. Griffin was executed by lethal injection at age 40 in June 1995. But some doubts about Mr. Fitzgerald's testimony were raised in the appeals process.

A judge who dissented from a decision that upheld Mr. Griffin's conviction in 1983 noted that Mr. Fitzgerald had "a seriously flawed background, and his ability to observe and identify the gunman was also subject to question."

Mr. Fitzgerald changed his account at a hearing in 1993, saying that a detective had shown him only one photograph, declaring, "We happen to know who did it."
. . .

"Fitzgerald was the entire case and now there's very strong eyewitness evidence that Fitzgerald was not there, and what's more, Larry Griffin was not there," said Samuel Gross, a law professor at the University of Michigan who oversaw the NAACP group's investigation.
. . .

"It's hard to imagine why the victim's sister, a man who was shot at the same time himself, and a police officer - who live in three different states at this point and were interviewed separately - would all say, 'Actually, he wasn't there,' " Mr. Gross said.
. . .

[Miss Chybil]

1. Oh, YEAH for him.

I bet he's just doing backflips in his coffin. It must be such a relief.

[swag]

2. Recall a couple years ago when

13 death row inmates in Illinois were exonerated.

Is it likely that other innocent persons have been executed? Gee, I think so.

[Miss Chybil]

3. Ummmmm..... Well.....

Of course! And, I would venture to bet the majority of them were of a dark-skinned persuasion.

[zanne]

4. And living in Texas. n/t

[gratuitous]

7. One of the strongest talking points for death penalty advocates

Death penalty advocates like to point out that there's never been an exoneration of an executed person, and they use that as a strong talking point in favor of keeping the death penalty machinery from being questioned or tinkered with, and maintaining that the system works just fine as it is. Inmates exonerated before their execution are hailed by proponents as proof of how well the system works, as if everyone exonerated constitutes the entire universe of everyone who should have been exonerated.

Showing that someone was executed for a crime he didn't commit, however, bolsters the argument that our current system for administering the death penalty has some serious flaws, and needs to be fixed or done away with entirely. After all, no one that I know of, death penalty proponent or opponent, is in favor of executing the innocent.

Obviously, posthumous exoneration doesn’t accomplish anything for the person executed, but it knocks out a very strong pillar of the proponents’ argument, and along with the parallel track of the efforts by folks working on the Innocence Project, brings us closer to a sane discussion and examination of the only justice system in the developed world that still practices capital punishment.

[Miss Chybil]

12. The system is not only dangerous to the innocent, but those who are

required to carry out the sentences - even on the guilty. The damage to the souls and/or psyche of those who perform within the system, (judges, victims, jailers, executioners, lawyers, reporters) is irreversible. My grandfather was murdered by a heinous bastard. Our family did not request the death penalty - how could we be proponents of another murder? The guy even requested the death penalty for himself. Not out of remorse. It was actually a media grand-standing event. He couldn't stand not to be "running" things. We are satisfied he will spend the rest of his life in prison as opposed to being released to death. Actually, it's much harder to do time than to die.

I know some crimes are so incomprehensible as to wish the perpertrators dead. Heck, I do it everyday when I watch the news. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, after hearing another horror story, I wish I could kill some of these people myself. But, why stain myself with their evil? Why should the state stain it's employees with evil? Why should the state stain it's citizens with evil? The dealth penalty affects us all. It makes us all murderers and the chance we could kill one innocent is not a chance we should have to take. Barbarism breeds barbarism. Life should be held to a higher regard by the government - then its citizens may follow suit.

Isn't it funny how the "Culture of Life" people are so pro-death penalty? Another of life's ironies, I guess.

A Lesson Before Dying
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375702709/qid=1121797063/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9838769-7487923?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[punpirate]

13. "No one I know of... is in favor of executing the innocent...."

Except for bug-fuck Crazy Tony Scalia: "Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached."

Cheers.

[gratuitous]

14. Well, I don't know Mr. Scalia

And my guess is that Will Rogers never met him, either. But "bug-fuck Crazy" would be pretty close to my description for him, as well.

[lateo]

5. Freedom and Justice!

American style!

[MidwestTransplant]

6. There was a guy executed in Texas under nearly identical

circumstances in 99'. Single eyewitness from accross a dark parking lot. No physical evidence whatsoever. He said he was innocent the whole time.

[Bo]

9. I read about that on this web site below

www.justicedenied.org

[Psephos]

11. Thanks - great link n/t

[Orsino]

8. Freedom's on the march.

Freedom's on the march.

Freedom's on the march.

[Bo]

10. ...and let the eagle soar

AMEN