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Exonerated Death Row Inmate Awarded $2.25 Million
http://articles.news.aol.com/ ^ | 5 5 06 | ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON

Posted on 05/06/2006 2:49:09 AM PDT by freepatriot32

click here to read article


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To: diallo
The Constitution guareentees you a fair trial not a perfect one.

Yes the constition garentees a fair trial and the jackboot cop insured he never got a fair trial. The deck was stacked against him before the jury was even picked. That alone should be worth the 2.5 mill then he should get an additional couple of mill for the 18 years of his life that the state stole from him that he will never get back

21 posted on 05/06/2006 4:25:58 AM PDT by freepatriot32 (Holding you head high & voting Libertarian is better then holding your nose and voting republican)
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To: diallo

Hello Diallo?

Where'd you go? ;)

LOL


22 posted on 05/06/2006 4:26:14 AM PDT by mkjessup (The Shah doesn't look so bad now, eh? But nooo, Jimmah said the Ayatollah was a 'godly' man.)
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To: DB; diverteach; muir_redwoods; Atlantic Bridge; MaDuce; backtothestreets; VOA; Revelation 911; ...



Earlier this year(2004), Virginia passed a law that compensates wrongly convicted people 90 percent of the state's annual per capita income -- or about $30,000 -- for up to 20 years. Alabama pays a minimum of $50,000 for every year of incarceration. New Jersey provides up to $20,000 per year, or twice the person's pre-prison salary, whichever is greater. Like Maryland, the District has a law that allows compensation but offers no specific guidelines.

The wrongfully convicted can sue states without compensation laws, but such cases are usually time-consuming and difficult to win, legal experts said. As for suing judges, juries, prosecutors and police who were involved in a wrongful conviction, a plaintiff would have to prove malicious misconduct, such as destroying or planting evidence or taking a bribe in return for a guilty verdict, said Michael Milleman, a law professor at the University of Maryland.

The other option is to get the state's legislature to pass an individual compensation bill. "But getting a private bill is a political process, and someone who deserves it might not get it," said Adele Bernhard, a law professor at Pace University who has studied compensation laws. "It depends on what senator you know."

When Virginia lawmakers took up the case of Marvin Lamont Anderson last year, they weren't sure what the state should pay.

He spent 15 years in prison before DNA evidence exonerated him of rape and sodomy charges in 2001. At the time of his arrest, he was 18 years old, with dreams of becoming a firefighter. He was sentenced to 210 years.

Other inmates "wanted to mess me up real bad," he said. "They'd threaten me, try to get me to initiate a fight, to start something to keep me from getting out. . . . You're always looking over your shoulder."

After hearing his story, some legislators thought that he should get as much as $1.5 million. Others said he merited a fraction of that. Finally, they arrived at a lump sum of $200,000 and about $2,000 a month for the rest of his life.

After Anderson's case, the Virginia legislature was accused of playing racial politics with the payouts. Anderson, who is black, and his family said that while the legislature dragged its feet on his case, it approved with little discussion $750,000 for a white man who had spent 11 years in prison -- four years less than Anderson.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4412-2004Oct3.html

States are passing these compensatuon laws to keep from being sued for wrongful convictions, knowing full well that juries are a lot more compassionate than to grant a person a paltry $20,000 per year of freedom lost.

Missouri - $36,500 per year of freedom lost.


23 posted on 05/06/2006 4:27:41 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for Sgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: traviskicks

ping


24 posted on 05/06/2006 4:29:51 AM PDT by freepatriot32 (Holding you head high & voting Libertarian is better then holding your nose and voting republican)
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To: diallo

Its a good thing this guy Washington is a nice guy, cause some sh*t head like me would figure: screw yer money, I did the time, now I GET TO DO THE CRIME!

Now where's that stupid detective hiding?


25 posted on 05/06/2006 5:10:40 AM PDT by Al Gator (Refusing to "stoop to your enemy's level", gets you cut off at the knees.)
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To: Al Gator
Now where's that stupid detective hiding?

In his grave.

26 posted on 05/06/2006 5:22:27 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for Sgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: stentorian conservative

on death row no less,min physical contact if any with family and loves ones, one wrongly convicted man lost both parents who never stopped believing in him; it was later found that a dishonest police detective who fabricated evidence and witnesses. The man's only regret was he could not say good bye to his parents at their funerals.


27 posted on 05/06/2006 5:26:34 AM PDT by dubyawhoiluv
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To: diallo
The Constitution guareentees you a fair trial not a perfect one. While it is ashamed that the gentleman was unjustly convicted, mistakes happen. Aslong as the trial was fair Mr. Washington shouldn't get a dime. It seems that the jury was voting with their hearts and not their heads.

Yep .....he got a 'fair' trial. Well, as fair as FABRICATED evidence can get you! Now, I agree the constitution says a citizen should get a fair trial, and that is one of the many things that make the United States a beautiful place to live, but pray tell me how a retarded man being sent to deathrow due to fabricated evidence is a fair trial?

28 posted on 05/06/2006 7:04:31 AM PDT by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
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To: diallo

BS.

The man spent 18 years in prison for something he did not commit. Give him 18 years of lost wages plus interest.


29 posted on 05/06/2006 7:10:04 AM PDT by aft_lizard (....)
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To: freepatriot32; Abram; albertp; AlexandriaDuke; Allosaurs_r_us; Americanwolf; ...
Hopefully these sorts of things are abberations... He deserves his $$$.





Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
30 posted on 05/06/2006 9:05:56 AM PDT by traviskicks (http://www.neoperspectives.com/gasoline_and_government.htm)
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Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

To: freepatriot32
The parties responsible for this travesty should bear the consequences and cost in full. It is a capital offense to frame someone for murder. They let him rot for 18 years knowing he was innocent. Close to a week before this innocent man was to be executed, the guilty parties still remained silent.

There are other costs to consider as well, such as providing ammunition to critics of the death penalty who wish to get rid of it entirely.

Expect these problems whenever someone is shielded from full responsibility for their actions. They had no disincentive against framing and convicting an innocent person. They personally suffer little cost. And, like the cowards they are, they chose someone, who because of his disability, was less able to defend himself.

32 posted on 05/06/2006 9:43:04 AM PDT by M203M4
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To: diallo

I disagree. 18 years of his life was stolen. If I was on the jury, I would have awarded him a lot more. Also, those who framed him should be executed.


33 posted on 05/06/2006 11:28:43 AM PDT by lesser_satan
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To: lesser_satan
Also, those who framed him should be executed.

Execution would be stiff, but a long imprisonment would be justified. These cases where false evidence is purposely and knowingly introduced that convicts an innocent person of capital offenses should be viewed as an attempted murder. If the innocent person is executed under these circumstances, then the person(s) responsible did commit murder and should face execution.
34 posted on 05/06/2006 4:51:09 PM PDT by backtothestreets
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To: jabotinsky
you would do well in iran or 1930s germany.

what scares me is that he is right here and now......and votes

eeee - gads !

35 posted on 05/06/2006 5:19:25 PM PDT by Revelation 911 (God is love, Love endures forever, Love God, Love your neighbor,)
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