Posted on 03/19/2010 6:59:07 PM PDT by JoeProBono
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- The family of a Texas man who died while imprisoned for a rape he didn't commit cried and hugged at his graveside Friday with a framed copy of the state's first posthumous pardon - a document that finally proves his innocence.
Gov. Rick Perry granted Timothy Cole's pardon nearly three weeks ago. He gave Cole's relatives the pardon document earlier Friday at a Fort Worth hotel, completing their long-fought ordeal.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
” Timothy Cole’s family never stopped believing they would one day clear his name.
Not after he was convicted for the 1985 rape of a Texas Tech University student. Not after an asthma-induced heart attack killed him partially through his prison sentence 11 years ago. “He said, ‘I still believe in the justice system, even if the justice system doesn’t believe in me,’” Cole’s youngest brother Cory Session said. “He said that from behind bars.”
The decades-long fight Cole’s relatives waged finally ended Friday in a Fort Worth hotel as Texas Gov. Rick Perry presented them with the state’s first posthumous pardon and cleared Cole’s name.
“This is the day, and it is the day because the quest is over,” said Ruby Session, Cole’s mother. “
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031910dnmetpardon.1c3fa92f3.html
God bless this innocent young man and his family. What a tragedy that he didn’t live to see this day. God bless his family for continuing the fight to clear his name, and thank God for DNA testing that is clearing the innocent and helping to prosecute the guilty.
sad situation....one has to wonder why rape is an offense with a statue of limitations...
“the state’s first posthumous pardon - a document that finally proves his innocence.”
Though this is commonly believed, it’s completely wrong. Burdick v. United States shows that a pardon carries an ‘imputation of guilt’, and accepting a pardon is ‘an admission of guilt’.
Since the guy’s dead, he can neither accept nor reject the pardon. He also cannot appeal to have his sentence overturned, which is what we should do if he were still kicking.
Hopefully the pardon contained language stating he was innocent of the charges, not just “pardoned.”
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