# Miscarriage of Justice Omnibus Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 4, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643 "2021-06-04T20:52:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/382 "2025-09-18T20:11:41Z")
Forget it, Jake. It’s Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/383 "2025-09-18T20:44:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > This particular case was for a particularly stupid reason, but people spending that long in jail for crimes they didn’t commit is really, really common. Jail is primarily for holding suspects before their trial, and the right to a speedy trial is basically ignored by our justice system, I saw a Youtube short where a defendant was being ill-served by his public defender and the prosecutor kept delaying the trial and he stayed in jail. When he finally got a day in court on some preliminary hearing after a year he told the judge what was happening. The judge got angry at the defendant telling him how he should have notified the judge and if he knew what was going on he would never allow that to happen. The defendant said he had notified the court … numerous times. The judge said not my fault and somehow still tried to victim blame the defendant. Oh wait no. I saw that twice, same judge, different defendant. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/384 "2025-09-18T20:45:08Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Texas murder an obviously innocent man . . . and he’s not even Black! DEI at work? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/385 "2025-09-18T21:39:54Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > DEI at work? Well, it is promoting diversity I guess. Let’s wrongfully kill innocent people from all walks of life. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/386 "2025-09-18T23:27:07Z")
Just like, “I’m not racist because I have a black friend.” it’s “We’re not racist because we killed a white dude.” ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/387 "2025-09-23T03:50:10Z")
I contemplated putting this in the evil mofo thread or the stupid mofo thread. But the sentence clinched it for me. [This is definitely a miscarriage of justice.](https://www.aol.com/articles/rhode-island-high-school-coach-193610823.html) > [@](#): > > PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island judge on Monday sentenced a former high school basketball coach to a year of probation after he spent decades asking hundreds of male student-athletes if they were [“shy or not shy” before asking them to get naked](https://apnews.com/article/fat-pinching-teacher-rhode-island-adc5b98c71b0f797c31a7db862dc8fec) so he could check their body fat. > > Earlier this year, a jury found Aaron Thomas not guilty of second-degree child molestation and second-degree sexual assault in a case that scrutinized the so-called naked fat tests conducted by the once-beloved coach at North Kingstown High School. Instead, Thomas was found guilty of a lesser charge, two counts of misdemeanor battery. > > Superior Court Judge Melanie Wilk Thunburg handed down the sentence Monday. > > Throughout the nearly six-week trial, defense attorneys for Thomas argued the tests were wrong but not a crime. The defense said Thomas didn’t touch the boy athletes for sexual gratification or arousal, a key requirement under the charges he faced. > > Prosecutors maintained Thomas created and implemented a program that allowed him to have unfettered access to young naked boys for decades. > > Although Thomas performed the tests on multiple students over many years, the charges related to just two former students, including one who was under 14 at the time, in September 2000 and February 2002. Read the article for more mindboggling revelations. Come to think of it, this could even fit in the alternative to juries thread. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/388 "2025-11-24T22:29:37Z")
US Supreme Court rules that child-abuser should have been able to confront his 4-year-old daughter in court instead of her being behind a screen, because the original trial court didn’t make a _special finding_ that the screen was necessary, they just went ahead and provided it to save the girl further trauma. Lower court can still decide that conviction would have occurred nonetheless, but who knows what will happen? [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/24/supreme-court-screen-mississippi/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/24/supreme-court-screen-mississippi/) WaPo gift link: [https://wapo.st/48h7SVW](https://wapo.st/48h7SVW) > **[Supreme Court issues opinions on confrontation clause, post-conviction relief](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/supreme-court-issues-opinions-confrontation-162221980.html)** > > The Supreme Court on Monday morning sent the case of a Mississippi man convicted of abusing his daughter back to the state courts for another look. It also reversed, without \[…\] > The Supreme Court on Monday morning sent the case of a Mississippi man convicted of abusing his daughter back to the state courts for another look. > In the case of Jeffrey Pitts, his daughter testified at his trial – over Pitts’ objection but pursuant to a state law – from behind a screen. When Pitts was convicted, he appealed, arguing that the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause, which gives defendants in a criminal trial the right to confront the witnesses against them, required the trial court to find that the screen was necessary in his specific case. > The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled against him, but on Monday the Supreme Court reversed and sent the case back for a new look. The confrontation clause, it explained in a five-page, unsigned opinion, “tolerates screening in child-abuse cases only if a court ‘hear[s] evidence’ and issues a ‘case-specific’ finding of ‘[t]he requisite . . . necessity’” – something that did not happen in this case. > In February 2021, a Rankin County jury found Pitts guilty of sexual battery. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. But Pitts argues the trial court made no finding that the screen was needed. Instead, Pitts said, prosecutors invoked a Mississippi law that gives child witnesses the absolute right to a screen that allows them to testify without seeing the defendant. That violated his constitutional rights, necessitating a new trial, Pitts said. > Stuart Banner, Pitts’s attorney, was pleased with Monday’s order. “The Court corrected an egregious error that took place at Mr. Pitts’s trial,” Banner, who works with the UCLA School of Law Supreme Court Clinic, said in an email. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/389 "2025-11-24T22:56:05Z")
Was this 4 year old in a courtroom, on the stand, testifying about sexual abuse??? What the fuck world do I live in??? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/390 "2025-11-24T23:00:51Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > What the fuck world do I live in??? This has been the case since basically the founding of this country. It goes back to the Bill of Rights. > **[Can a Judge Order My Child to Testify in a Criminal Case?](https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defense/juvenile/can-a-judge-order-my-child-testify-a-criminal-case)** > > If your child is ordered to testify in court, don't ignore the subpoena. Learn what to do and how to help your child if they are a witness in a criminal case. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/391 "2025-11-24T23:01:22Z")
How is a friggin’ law passed by the legislature that requires screens not a finding that a screen is necessary? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/392 "2025-11-24T23:27:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > How is a friggin’ law passed by the legislature that requires screens not a finding that a screen is necessary? > [@needscoffee](#): > > > and issues a ‘case-specific’ finding of ‘[t]he requisite . . . necessity’” – something that did not happen in this case. And in which child-abuse cases is the requisite screen _not_ a necessity? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/393 "2026-01-24T19:29:25Z")
> **[Texas Black man exonerated nearly 70 years after execution in case marked by...](https://apnews.com/article/texas-execution-exoneration-racial-bias-154d937dbfbe75a0f21aecb928523c87)** > > Officials have declared that a Texas Black man executed nearly 70 years ago is innocent in a case prosecutors now say was based on false evidence and riddled with racial bias. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/394 "2026-03-12T22:16:14Z")
> [her lawyer] Greenwood immediately asked Lipps for her bank records. Once they were in hand, Fargo police met with him and Lipps at the Cass County jail on Dec. 19. She had already been in jail for more than five months. It was the first time police interviewed her. > > Her bank records showed she was more than 1,200 miles away, at home in Tennessee at the same time police claimed she was in Fargo committing fraud. > **[AI error jails innocent grandmother for months in North Dakota fraud case](https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/north-dakota/ai-error-jails-innocent-grandmother-for-months-in-north-dakota-fraud-case)** > > Angela Lipps spent nearly six months in jail in Tennessee and North Dakota after being misidentified by Fargo police through AI facial recognition in a bank fraud investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/395 "2026-03-12T22:21:29Z")
What she went through is frightening. I hope she is able to sue them for a whole lot. The article says, “Unable to pay her bills from jail, she lost her home, her car and even her dog.” How is facial recognition software enough to get someone jailed? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/396 "2026-03-12T22:34:22Z")
Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney issued a wishy-washy statement, “What I can say is that the issuance of an arrest warrant for Ms. Lipps indicates that a court determined probable cause existed for the charges. While the charges were later dismissed without prejudice, that procedural step simply means the charges may be re-filed if additional investigation supports doing so. The Fargo Police Department continues to actively investigate this matter and continues to follow the criminal justice process.” In short, “I deny nothing!” And in what I’m sure is _completely_ unrelated news, “Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski is retiring later this month. Mayor Tim Mahoney said he received a letter from Zibolski on Tuesday announcing his plans to retire after his last day on March 27th. Zibolski made the announcement to his officers during a shift change meeting later that day. In a statement released Wednesday, Zibolski thanked the community of Fargo and called it a privilege to work alongside the men and women of the department. He is retiring after a 41-year career in law enforcement to spend time with his wife, kids and grandkids.” ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/397 "2026-03-12T22:45:01Z")
I don’t see how using facial recognition software **alone** to make an arrest and detain someone is not unconstitutional. That is not due process. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney issued a wishy-washy statement, “What I can say is that the issuance of an arrest warrant for Ms. Lipps indicates that a court determined probable cause existed for the charges. While the charges were later dismissed without prejudice, that procedural step simply means the charges may be re-filed if additional investigation supports doing so. The Fargo Police Department continues to actively investigate this matter and continues to follow the criminal justice process.” It needs to be determined who authorized the warrant and why in the wake of this debacle. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/398 "2026-03-13T00:09:20Z")
So North Dakota police saw a supposed facial match of a random person in _Tennessee_ and had her arrested??? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/399 "2026-03-13T00:21:30Z")
Yup. Sent US Marshals to grab her and take her to North Dakota. Absolutely no evidence of her involvement aside from a facial recognition software match from what I’ve read. And she was in jail for months, with nobody in law enforcement even talking to her. I don’t see how you not only can get a warrant but detain someone for almost half a year based on nothing more than AI saying “gosh this looks a lot like this person”. That should be fucking terrifying for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/400 "2026-03-13T00:25:19Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I don’t see how you not only can get a warrant but detain someone for almost half a year based on nothing more than AI saying “gosh this looks a lot like this person”. I’ll bet nearly everybody has known two people who could almost be twins, sometimes even in the same city. But to think there couldn’t be two similar people in the entire country? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643/401 "2026-03-13T00:31:44Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > But to think there couldn’t be two similar people in the entire country? And note, she has never been in North Dakota. What eventually exonerated her was an ironclad alibi that she was over a thousand miles away when the crime happened. Something that took months to finally get her freed. After she was freed, she had nothing. They took her entire life away from her. The only reason why she wasn’t homeless on Christmas Day and was able to get back to Tennessee is because a charity organization helped her out. > Fargo police did not cover Angela’s expenses to get home after her release from jail. Local defense attorneys gave her money to pay for a hotel room and food on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. > > The day after Christmas, F5 Project founder Adam Martin drove Lipps to Chicago so she could get home to Tennessee. Fargo-based F5 Project is an organization providing services and resources to individuals struggling with incarceration, mental health and addiction. The other fucked up thing is that she was labeled a “fugitive”. And that is why she was denied bail. A fugitive because she evaded the North Dakota authorities though the canny and clever maneuver of having never set foot in the state. I hope someone takes up this cause for her and sues the shit out of the abusers in North Dakota. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miscarriage-of-justice-omnibus-thread/943643.md?page=21)