To keep the heinous shit done by lawyers and judges separate from the heinous shit done by cops.
Although there will always be some overlap.
First up:
Pretty much everybody agrees that this guy did not commit the crime he has spent 4 decades in prison for.
Governor could pardon, but he passed on the latest attempt. Guess he cannot bring himself to free a black man. Cannot think of any other reason why would want to keep him locked up.
The only eyewitness has recanted, and her testimony was shaky to begin with. The actual killers have all confessed and said this guy was not involved in any way.
Additionally, a third suspect, who was never charged, said in 2019 that he knew there “couldn’t be a more innocent person than” Strickland, according to a Midwest Innocence Project investigator.
Although the governor is behaving like an asshole, is there a legal difference between pardon and find innocent? I know that if I were wrongfully convicted of a crime I didn’t do, I wouldn’t want to be “pardoned” - which has “you were guilty but we’ll let you go” connotations - but rather, outright declared innocent.
Although, of course, the governor should have been getting him out of prison ASAP once it became clear he was innocent, since prison sucks and every additional day spent there sucks.
“repeated, clearly improper conduct,” which included wrongfully jailing multiple people and failing to be impartial, was “blatant and inexcusable.”
How did this asshole become a judge??
Apparently, she was elected.
Pretty white gets probation for her role in a racist beating under color of authority and a cover up. And she didn’t even have to sell out her fellow criminals wearing badges.
As part of her sentence, Colletta must serve two consecutive weekends in jail and undertake 200 hours of community service, drug testing and counseling.
Poor delicate flower. That judge is a dick.
Aren’t there federal charges available for lying to the FBI and a federal grand jury? That’s usually a bad thing to admit to.
Also, this case being here dilutes the Controversial Encounters between Police and Civilians thread, I hope it is being noted over there too.
Prosecutors have called for the release of Kevin Strickland and Lamar Johnson, who have served a combined 70 years in prison for murders they did not commit. And yet, innocence has not earned them their freedom. So, what’s going on in the state of…
Gardner’s office created a conviction integrity unit five years ago to investigate cases like Johnson’s. “What we uncovered was devastating, not only to myself, but to the criminal justice system,” she said.
This broke my heart…
“Oh, today’s gonna be the day,” he said. “They’re gonna call me and tell me, ‘Pack your stuff up. You’re going home.’”
Strickland, sentenced to life without parole in 1979 for a triple murder, has waited a lifetime to hear those words.
Moriarty asked, “How old was your daughter when you came in here?”
“Seven weeks old,” he replied.
“So, you’ve missed watching her grow up?”
“Every bit of it.”
“How old is she now?”
“She just turned 43.”
But an apology, even from the prosecutor, is all he gets, Strickland is still in prison.
Wrongful convictions will happen. It sucks but that’s inevitable. No system is perfect. You can do what you can to get things as right as you can and try to compensate as best you can when you get it wrong.
But if someone is found innocent there is no excuse to leave them locked up. None.
Runnels and Trish Rojo Bushnell, Strickland’s lawyer, point out that, in both cases, the real killers pleaded guilty, and have already served their time for the murders.
Holy fucking shit. 
ETA: At what point are officials imprisoned for kidnapping?
Pulls a gun in a court of law and only a 7 day suspension?
Did they deny him dessert for those days also?
Typo_Negative: I just noticed your avatar. Of course I have that album!
But surely a jailhouse snitch who is hoping for good things to happen in exchange for his testimony about an unsolved murder can always be believed?
Cops and DAs care about convictions. If justice happens to occurs…that’s …fine.
Why? Because they are black and easy to convict.
The attorney general’s office also maintains Johnson, now 49, could have walked 3 miles to kill his friend and then walked back to his home in about five minutes.
He could walk six miles in 5 minutes.
It wasn’t until 1954 that an athlete broke the 4 minute mile. Running, full speed, for one mile in under four minutes.
Current record for one mile is 3:43, set in 1999. Even if he ran at full speed one way at a world-record pace, it would have taken double that amount of time.
It marks the third time that Jones, who took office in January 2021, has been indicted in criminal cases since 2019.
And still managed to get hisself elected.
Isn’t that Burn Gorman of Torchwood and The Expanse?
There really are only so many faces to go around. Some are just prettier than others.
This one is great. A death sentence in Texas was thrown out, 18 or so years after the conviction. It turns out that the prosecutor also worked as a clerk for the judge - and even wrote an order that denied the defendant his first appeal. A new DA found the evidence of this and brought it forward,
I think the Rittenhouse trial is a farce. It’s a done deal, already decided.
Funny. I can name one in Monmouth County, NJ that was Appointed.
And she’s just as much of a corrupt P.O.S.