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Innocent man jailed in USA for 18 years denied compensation by Supreme Court

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by penda45, Mar 31, 2011.

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  1. penda45

    penda45 Member

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    This is in response to the people who were getting on me in the UAE thread when I said that innocent people get thrown in jail all the time and it happens in every country. I still don't condone what UAE did and I understand that the particular issue that was raised in the thread is a little different that this one, but this is what I meant when I said it happens in every country.

    http://gawker.com/#!5787152/supreme-court-no-one-should-pay-for-innocent-mans-18+year-incarceration

    John Thompson (pictured) was convicted of a 1984 armed robbery, and later of murder. He spent 18 years in prison, including 14 years on death row. Problem: the prosecutors who sent him to jail withheld some evidence—including eyewitness reports describing a perpetrator who looked nothing like Thompson, and a blood test that proved Thompson's innocence.

    So, after all those years, after facing seven execution warrants, when Thompson finally managed to get himself freed from prison after new trials, Thompson sued the New Orleans district attorney for not training his prosecutors to, you know, not send innocent people away for decades. He won a $14 million judgment from a jury. That was appealed, all the way to the Supreme Court. And yesterday, voila: John Thompson gets nothing. From the NYT:

    Justice Scalia, in a concurrence joined by Justice Alito, said the misconduct in the case was the work of a single "miscreant prosecutor," Gerry Deegan, who suppressed evidence "he believed to be exculpatory, in an effort to railroad Thompson." No amount of training, Justice Scalia wrote, would have countered such willful wrongdoing.

    In her dissent, Justice Ginsburg wrote that "no fewer than five prosecutors" were complicit in a violation of Mr. Thompson's constitutional rights. "They kept from him, year upon year, evidence vital to his defense."

    Here in America, all bad outcomes which reflect poorly on the current power structure are the result of a handful of Bad Apples. And you can't hold the people in charge accountable for the work of A Few Bad Apples. This principle applies to ill-conceived wars gone wrong, greed-induced collapse of financial systems, profit-driven corporate environmental destruction, and willful miscarriages of justice. And any future unforeseen disasters, to be determined at a later date.

    More detailed story at http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/03/us_supreme_court_rejects_14_mi.html
     
    #1 penda45, Mar 31, 2011
  2. thadeus

    thadeus Contributing Member

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    Scalia really, really needs to die.
     
    #2 thadeus, Mar 31, 2011
  3. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    what the **** is wrong with these people?
     
    #3 Rocketman95, Mar 31, 2011
  4. AroundTheWorld

    AroundTheWorld Insufferable 98er
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    That's a travesty of justice.
     
    #4 AroundTheWorld, Mar 31, 2011
  5. napalm06

    napalm06 Huge Flopping Fan

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    Disgusting story. That guy must be way beyond rage at the system.
     
    #5 napalm06, Mar 31, 2011
  6. mc mark

    mc mark Contributing Member

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    Isn't there a justifiable homicide law in TX?
     
    #6 mc mark, Mar 31, 2011
  7. Major

    Major Member

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    To be fair, this case is far more complicated than it appears on the surface. The legal issues of whether the district attorney's office is liable are more complicated than "they screwed up" - this is not the normal payment we give to people when we wrongly imprison them, but a specific civil case against the office. They evidence withheld was actually from a robbery trial rather than the murder trial, so nothing here really indicates whether he was innocent of the murder itself, though his trial certainly was impacted unfairly.

    Not taking a side here, but this isn't as simple as the idea that an innocent man was denied money he definitely should have gotten. There are a LOT of facts that we don't know.
     
    #7 Major, Mar 31, 2011
  8. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    If the case is narrowly around the argument that the DA's office didn't provide enough training, than I can't disagree with the opinion. Training would not have fixed this problem. If he was suing for the outright miscarriage of justice, I'd be with him.
     
    #8 JuanValdez, Mar 31, 2011
  9. thadeus

    thadeus Contributing Member

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    It's a shame that a lot of unknown facts didn't prevent the court from sending this guy to prison for 18 years.

    And the bull**** idea that this is somehow the work of an individual and not an indictment of the system. Without the system, this would not have been possible at all.
     
    #9 thadeus, Mar 31, 2011
  10. Major

    Major Member

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    True, but that's sort of irrelevant to this particular case. He has already presumably been separately compensated for the prison time as we do with everyone that we wrongly imprison.

    Here, the guy was personally filing a civil case over a very specific violation - it wasn't "you wrongly imprisoned me and owe me money for that" which would be the straightforward part, but doesn't generate a liability verdict for this civil case. The question is whether there was a pattern of behavior, what is needed to show evidence of a pattern, etc. None of the relevant facts or legal standards are really addressed in the article posted here.
     
    #10 Major, Mar 31, 2011
  11. AroundTheWorld

    AroundTheWorld Insufferable 98er
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    Thanks for the clarification. That lets it appear in a different light.
     
    #11 AroundTheWorld, Mar 31, 2011
  12. justtxyank

    justtxyank Contributing Member

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    You should not be allowed to post in here.

    Just today you have called for armed violence against the government and now the death of a US Supreme Court Justice.

    After all the outrage this forum feigned when that Congresswoman was shot and the blame this forum tried to put on Republicans for using a target, I'm disappointed that they let you get away with being the violent windbag that you are.

    What would my fellow BBSers say if Basso actively rooted for the death of Ginsburg? For violent overthrow of Obama?

    Hmmmm...
     
    #12 justtxyank, Mar 31, 2011
    2 people like this.
  13. justtxyank

    justtxyank Contributing Member

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    You propose the system that we can implement that makes it impossible for horrible human beings to do horrible things and I'll get behind it.

    Which legal system is it again that you support that would prevent corrupt people from doing corrupt things?
     
    #13 justtxyank, Mar 31, 2011
  14. CrazyDave

    CrazyDave Contributing Member

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    Apples to oranges. Travesty, to be sure (again, who knows the truth in the details) but this doesn't really equate... just like it didn't in the other thread.
     
    #14 CrazyDave, Mar 31, 2011
  15. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    QUESTION for me is. . . if this DA knowingly withheld evidence. . TO ME . .that should be a criminal offense and that DA should .. HIMSELF be facing charges and be in prison.

    Rocket River
     
    #15 Rocket River, Mar 31, 2011
  16. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    He should, but this site says he has died of cancer. It's not clear from that article, but I wouldn't be surprised if he confessed this sin because he knew he was going to die.
     
    #16 JuanValdez, Mar 31, 2011
  17. Major

    Major Member

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    I totally agree. If he knowingly withheld evidence to get a conviction, that should be a crime. I have no idea if it is, but it seems like something a criminal justice system has to punish, and not just with losing a job. But as JV noted, apparently he's already dead.
     
    #17 Major, Mar 31, 2011
  18. A_3PO

    A_3PO Member

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    Trash like this is why my brother, after a few years of practice, decided to get a PhD in international law and become a professor.
     
    #18 A_3PO, Mar 31, 2011
  19. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    you're right, except shouldn't be banned
     
    #19 pgabriel, Apr 1, 2011
  20. justtxyank

    justtxyank Contributing Member

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    I didn't say he should be banned, but he shouldn't be posting in here if he can't keep his violent vitriol to himself. It's not like yesterday was the first time Thadeus expressed that kind of opinion.

    Whether he is banned from the forum or not isn't my call. I'm not a moderator and I know how tough of a job that is. I just hope someone at least has a talk with him about his rhetoric.

    More than that though, I wish members of this BBS would police their own and not tolerate that kind of posting from him just because he's part of a BBS meme. ATW gets flack for his outrageous comments from almost everyone in here (including me) and I think it is wrong that Thadeus gets away with what I consider to be worse just because of his username.
     
    #20 justtxyank, Apr 1, 2011
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