View Full Version : What Would You Do If You Were Imprisoned for 18 Years for a Crime You Didn't Commit?
And to add insult to injury, once you were finally found innocent, the State refused to compensate you for your stolen life?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110216/ts_yblog_thelookout/texas-man-wrongly-put-away-for-decades-denied-compensation-after-legal-glitch
"Pissed" would be an understatement.
"Graves's lawyers are now pointing fingers at Burleson County District Attorney William Parham, who "declined to sign an order asking District Judge Reva Towslee Corbett to amend Graves' order of release to include the words 'actual innocence,"
As usual a lawyer screwed up.
Lysander
02-17-2011, 06:53 AM
And to add insult to injury, once you were finally found innocent, the State refused to compensate you for your stolen life?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110216/ts_yblog_thelookout/texas-man-wrongly-put-away-for-decades-denied-compensation-after-legal-glitch
"Pissed" would be an understatement.
Track you down and hand you a red wig and matching lipstick.
If you've got an hour to burn, read this 8-page report about his case:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/2010-10-01/feature2.php
Talk about the stars all aligning against you. All it takes is one convict's lying word to ruin your entire life, and a few unfortunate collaborators.
Makes you wonder how many people on Death Row really are innocent? It's shit like this that makes me question the Death Penalty. I mean, is it worth ending 100 scumbag murderers' lives if even one innocent person is wrongly put to death? How can you gamble with an innocent life? What price can you put on that? This is why I always cringe when I hear people say that the appeals process should be streamlined and Death Sentences carried out quickly. It took 18 fucking years to exonerate this guy. 18 years!
mriddick
02-17-2011, 07:15 AM
I think you have to consider how you got in that spot. I'd think you'd have to consider how a low life could lie and convince a jury you're rep is worse then him.
There are people who's philosophy is they would rather 1000 guilty people go free rather then wrongly convict one innocent person, my personal philosophy is probably along the lines of I'd rather the 1000 guilty in prison and it's a shame if one innocent person is convicted. If the guy is truly innocent they should compensate him, however I have known other "innocent" people and in knowing the background story I really don't consider any of them truly innocent.
IMO he did something to put himself in that situation, maybe not the crime (technically) but chances are good innocent people just walking down the street don't get railroaded.
From what I gather he was robbed of his freedom by the testimony of a lying convict and screwed out of restitution by a dumb ass lawyer.
It seems we ought to have more issues with convicts and lawyers than the system...
DeadPool
02-17-2011, 07:28 AM
Killing spree. If he was exonerated he deserves serious cash. Thats fucked up. I'd kill them all.
AKTexas
02-17-2011, 10:25 AM
Killing spree. If he was exonerated he deserves serious cash. Thats fucked up. I'd kill them all.
Sure you would...:whatever:
Goodman
02-17-2011, 11:16 AM
Makes you wonder how many people on Death Row really are innocent? It's shit like this that makes me question the Death Penalty. I mean, is it worth ending 100 scumbag murderers' lives if even one innocent person is wrongly put to death?
No shit, huh?
A friend of mine is in the Pen, convicted of a crime in Oregon when at the time he was at my house in Idaho. His Counsel was incompetent and when his appeal came up his location at the time was inadmissable as the lawyer didn't properly raise objections.
FunkyPertwee
02-17-2011, 11:49 AM
Killing spree. If he was exonerated he deserves serious cash. Thats fucked up. I'd kill them all.
Thats what I'd like to think, but 18 years in the hole might teach you just to look forward and shut up.
mriddick
02-17-2011, 12:12 PM
No shit, huh?
A friend of mine is in the Pen, convicted of a crime in Oregon when at the time he was at my house in Idaho. His Counsel was incompetent and when his appeal came up his location at the time was inadmissable as the lawyer didn't properly raise objections.
Come on really...are you serious you couldn't get him out of that one?
Goodman
02-17-2011, 12:18 PM
Come on really...are you serious you couldn't get him out of that one?
Legal procedure is a bitch. There's more to it but what I've written is the root of it. He's got new counsel and the new lawyer is PISSED at the first guy.
Goodman
02-17-2011, 12:19 PM
Bottom line, if you are being prosecuted look at like you are going to war. Spare no expense.
mriddick
02-17-2011, 01:00 PM
I bet there's a few of us who've been through the process so a few of us have first hand knowledge of the process. My experience (being guilty as sin but getting off) is that's it's rather tough to be guilty and serve jail time, let alone being innocent and serving time. I truly believe it's probably less then 1 in a 10,000 that is truly an innocent person wrongly convicted, in most cases it's always something technical that trips them up or their other crimes that catch up to the perp. Sure it sucks to be that one but I'm still convinced of 100 "innocent" people found in prison, maybe 1 or 2 would be what I consider truly innocent...
mriddick
02-17-2011, 01:03 PM
Bottom line, if you are being prosecuted look at like you are going to war. Spare no expense.
My first bit of advice is never take a plea. At the time my felony was fought on the cheap if you don't count a summer of my time spent in various courts. However now that I have money I would tend to agree with the sparing no expense, buy the best local lawyer you can and follow his/her advice.
BTW if you're wondering the great crime I committed was 3 reckless op tickets in 4 months that was tried as a repeat offender (felony) in the state of Ohio. While technically I'm sure I was guilty of the felony I thought the whole charge was over blown and more of a DA's attempt to pad his record with the swift of connviction of a young man. Some 40 years later the end result has been a lifetime of being that guy who doesn't speed for nothing :)
old Grump
02-17-2011, 03:47 PM
Killing spree. If he was exonerated he deserves serious cash. Thats fucked up. I'd kill them all.Ill give you a list...you can read can't you?
FunkyPertwee
02-17-2011, 04:04 PM
My first bit of advice is never take a plea. At the time my felony was fought on the cheap if you don't count a summer of my time spent in various courts. However now that I have money I would tend to agree with the sparing no expense, buy the best local lawyer you can and follow his/her advice.
BTW if you're wondering the great crime I committed was 3 reckless op tickets in 4 months that was tried as a repeat offender (felony) in the state of Ohio. While technically I'm sure I was guilty of the felony I thought the whole charge was over blown and more of a DA's attempt to pad his record with the swift of connviction of a young man. Some 40 years later the end result has been a lifetime of being that guy who doesn't speed for nothing :)
In an alternate time line, there is a Mriddick who hasn't had guns in 40 years.
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