# killer goes free- by mistake **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 3, 2000, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703 "2000-03-03T09:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Holly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/48db29/32.png) [@Holly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Holly)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/1 "2000-03-03T09:10:00Z")
What do y’all think of this? [link](http://amarillonet.com) Hopefully, the guy will have reformed his ways, be grateful for this second chance at life, and refrain from murdering anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/2 "2000-03-03T09:39:00Z")
They can still retry him, and given the publicity, I’d imagine they would. But then again, what do I know? * * * I am the user formerly known as puffington. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/3 "2000-03-03T15:17:00Z")
Holly, Your link doesn’t seem to provide any information about a killer going free. What am I missing? - Rick ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/4 "2000-03-03T21:30:00Z")
There’s a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000741.html) about it in the pit, Bricker. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/5 "2000-03-03T21:34:00Z")
Technically, he hasn’t “gone free” yet. The judge has ordered him released but no one has done so. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/6 "2000-03-03T21:51:00Z")
a) Why is everybody so sure the person was guilty of the crime for which he was convicted? b) From [a Washington Post article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-03/02/160l-030200-idx.html), > [@](#): > > After Hittner overturned Burdine’s conviction in September, he ordered a new trial to be held within 120 days. After prosecutors failed to meet that deadline, Hittner today ordered Burdine released from prison within five days, citing “the state’s failure to treat Burdine’s case with the seriousness it deserves.” So are the prosecutors at fault? Perhaps they did not have sufficient evidence to think a second trial would be successful? Does anyone have more information? ---
**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/7 "2000-03-03T21:57:00Z")
Isn’t it obvious, Arnold? Why would he have been tried i the first place if he wasn’t guilty? * * * - The best lack all conviction The worst are full of passionate intensity. \* ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/8 "2000-03-03T22:01:00Z")
Spiritus, you need to have a “sarcasm” disclaimer in your posts! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/9 "2000-03-03T22:35:00Z")
Oddly enough, I just finished reading the transcript of the Republican debate last night ,where the issue was brought up in connection with a question asked of Dubya. Evidently, among the reasons that the federal judge ordered the conviction overturned was the fact that the defense lawyer slept through parts of the trial. This doesn’t strike me as an example of the defendant having access to the process, although Dubya seemed to be insisting that he had. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/10 "2000-03-04T01:21:00Z")
Even if he really is a killer, and ever if he really does go free, that’s the way our criminal justice system is designed. On purpose. It’s a **justice** system – not a vengeance system, and not a make-us-safe-from-criminals system. One of the founding principles of the various states’ criminal justice system is that it’s far, far better if a guilty person goes free than if an innocent person is convicted and sentenced. Most of the people who decried the verdicts from the O.J. Simpson criminal trial and the Rodney King excessive-force trial as “miscarriages of justice” forgot about this. The criminal justice system will not protect you from someone who really is a killer. It wasn’t designed to do so. We presume that the local police and your own right to defend yourself will keep violent criminals at bay. Criminal prosecution is more of a remedy for non-violent crimes such as theft, where the stolen property or its dollar-value equivalent can be returned to the victim. Throwing somebody in jail is hardly a “remedy” for death or permanent injuries caused by a violent crime. * * * The truth, as always, is more complicated than that. ---
**Author:** ![Abner\_Normal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@Abner\_Normal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abner_Normal)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/11 "2000-03-04T03:36:00Z")
He’s not going to be released. [http://cnn.com/2000/US/03/03/texas.inmate/index.html](http://cnn.com/2000/US/03/03/texas.inmate/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Holly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/48db29/32.png) [@Holly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Holly)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/12 "2000-03-04T12:11:00Z")
Sorry for my lame OP; I should never post at 3am. An interesting point raised by some people is that when the prosecution makes a mistake, a murderer may go free. When the defense makes a mistake, an innocent man may be executed. Texas executes people right and left, yet the quality of the judicial system here may leave something to be desired. How was this man’s attorney allowed to sleep during the trial? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/13 "2000-03-04T12:24:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Holly: > \*\*Texas executes people right and left, yet the quality of the judicial system here may leave something to be desired. How was this man’s attorney allowed to sleep during the trial? \*\* “The Constitution says that everyone’s entitled to an attorney of their choice. But the Constitution does not say that the lawyer has to be awake.” – Judge Doug Shaver, Texas District Court * * * “Shut up! I’m having a rhetorical conversation!” ---
**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/14 "2000-03-04T20:58:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Spiritus, you need to have a “sarcasm” disclaimer in your posts! Sarcasm?? 😉 * * * - The best lack all conviction The worst are full of passionate intensity. \* ---
**Author:** ![nebuli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@nebuli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebuli)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2000, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/15 "2000-03-05T01:54:00Z")
> [@](#): > > “The Constitution says that everyone’s entitled to an attorney of their choice. But the Constitution does not say that the lawyer has to be awake.” > > – Judge Doug Shaver, Texas District Court I don’t believe the Constitution says the lawyer has to be alive either. You’d better hope your lawyer doesn’t get a heart attack if you being tried in Judge Shaver’s court. (Spiritus, can I borrow a sarcasm disclaimer?) ---
**Author:** ![nebuli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@nebuli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebuli)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2000, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/16 "2000-03-05T01:56:00Z")
And can I borrow a 're too? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EnigmaOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EnigmaOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnigmaOne)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2000, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/17 "2000-03-12T23:01:00Z")
## Thanks Holly, I found \the tortilla article\ to be informative. – **Kalél** _Common ¢ for all ages…_ “Well, there was that thing with the Cheese-Wiz…but I’m feeling **much** better now!” – John Astin, Night Court “If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic.” ---
**Author:** ![EnigmaOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EnigmaOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnigmaOne)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2000, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-goes-free-by-mistake/17703/18 "2000-03-12T23:03:00Z")
So much for using HTML…when will I learn? …and flood control has me waiting 60 seconds to post this too… tick-tock-tick-tock… * * * – **Kalél** _Common ¢ for all ages…_ “Well, there was that thing with the Cheese-Wiz…but I’m feeling **much** better now!” – John Astin, Night Court “If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic.”