Innocent Gay Man Serves 22 Years in Jail

[drscott]

...and the prosecutor whose misconduct got him convicted is a sitting judge in Massachusetts. There is essentially no downside for prosecutorial misconduct -- Janet Reno sent a number of innocent men to prison on hyped-up child abuse charges, and it got her the job of Attorney General.

The details (casual homophobia and all) should make you angry.

One of my personal heroes, Dorothy Rabinowitz, was instrumental in turning the tide of hysteria in these cases.

Comments

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Infuriating!!!! AARRGH!

[mellowtigger]

I was under the impression that America had once operated its justice system on the principle that it's better for guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be unjustly imprisoned. Oh, for the days. *sigh*

[fuzzybearcub.livejournal.com]

i do so hate when wrong-doers get to say "oops, oh well," and aren't required to take responsibility for their actions.

in a very idealistic sense --- and i have *not* thought this through all that much --- people who are proven innocent after being wrongfully convicted of a crime should be paid the net wages they would have earned if they had not been in jail. and if it's proven that there was misconduct on the part of the prosecutor, then the prosecutor should be made to pay into settlement awarded to the innocent.

while i understand that an eye for eye *would* make the whole world blind, it's pretty awful when the transaction becomes an eye for an unpleasant glare at thirty paces.