[Sad] Texan who died in prison cleared of rape conviction

It's just ridiculous that prosecutors can still base their entire cases on eyewitness testimony and still win. Study after study has proven them to be unreliable (especially when a weapon was used by the perpetrator) yet juries still continue to treat them as infallible.

I took a class in college where the professor talked about the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. During her lecture, a man wearing a hat and holding a Nerf crossbow burst into the room, yelled "Nobody move!" and then proceeded to "shoot" my professor before running out. At the next class (two days later), a "lineup" was brought to the class and we had to pick out the "perp." Most of us picked the wrong person, including myself (I even knew the actual perp - he had TAd my Intro to Psych class - but was convinced it was someone else). That demonstration really opened my eyes, and I wish every juror had that same experience.

I don't blame the victim here (although I'm sure she's going to feel guilty about this for the rest of her life) but any cop or attorney involved in the investigation/prosecution of this case should have a black mark next to their name for the rest of their career. This is a failure of the court system (which is too often more about a prosecutor padding his conviction rates as it is about justice) and the city of Lubbock should be forced to pay Cole's family a huge wrongful imprisonment penalty..

 

Most crimes are black-on-black or white-on-white.

However, there seems to be a disproportionate number of such cases among black men with white victim, where the guy turns out to be innocent.

I can only think it's racism on the part of a judge and prosecutor who ignore evidence and confessions from the actual rapist/murder.

 

Here's the video link .

 

Well look what's been played....always the easy way out

 

Very interesting. Sounds like a good demonstration.

Yeah, hard to pin the blame on the rape victim -- I'm sure her head was pretty messed up after a traumatic incident. The blame belongs on the participants in the justice system -- defense attorney, prosecutors, and jury.

But let's keep in mind, incidents like this are rare. They will become even more rare as crime disappears now that Obama is in office and all wrongdoers have been brought together for a time of peace and love.

 

Sad, yes. Unfair, yes. Preventable? Not really. No system is perfect.

DNA evidence helps. But you don't have it in every case, and this case was before DNA evidence was prevalent. Also, most sex assault cases happen between people who know each other, which makes this case even more difficult to prosecute.

In the end, the man is a statistic. His death is sad, but no more meaningful than someone who dies in surgery, or someone who dies in a car accident, or someone who suffers any one of the thousands of unfair and sad deaths that happen every day. Accidents happen, and people die. Sad but true.

 

Yes, you're right, but in this particular case it seems that all the evidence for the man's innocence was there. There are some that happen and that always will be, but damn if the jury didn't pay attention to the evidence.

You bring up a point on stats. Those accidents happen, but we also do our best to prevent them i.e. seatbelts, airbags and various safety precautions. In trials, there is evidence to keep it from happening.

Also, who was this guy's defense lawyer? Court appointed? Its just frustating to see how this could have been avoided.

 

What if it was your brother we were talking about? I bet you'd be pointing fingers in all directions.

Poor guy probably couldnt afford a half-decent lawyer...

 

let it go