[rface]

...he said "Sometimes, you have to be evil even though you don't want to be. That's how prison is."

A great injustice - I hope he can get his life on-track

Ashland, Missouri

[Clara Lou]

I can't blame him-- 18 years gone.

[cardinal4]

Johnson is a former Marine who was paroled in 1982 after serving about half of a 15-year sentence in the rape, robbery and assault of the wife of a Marine staff sergeant while stationed in Japan.

???

[general_re]

I'm torn about this. Yes, what happened to him was an awful injustice, but I can't see compensating him unless there was real wrongdoing on the part of someone in the system - the police, the prosecutor, the judge, or maybe the jury. If everyone did their job the way they were supposed to, and nobody made any egregiously stupid mistakes or intentionally framed him, I have to file this one under the heading of "tough luck". I know that sounds sh*tty, but where do you draw the line? Sometimes bad things happen and it's nobody's fault - that's life.

If, on the other hand, it turns out that he really was framed, or someone did something so obscenely stupid as to be culpable for his conviction, then I say more power to him - I hope he collects a boatload of money for the time he lost. But otherwise, them's the breaks...

[Area51]

What would be poetic Justice is that he receives a huge payout from the State for his wrongful conviction.

Then His Victim of the Rape he committed back in the 70's sues his sorry ass for everything he gets from the State and a couple of Million more, just in case he sells his story to a Made for TV special.

Now that would be justice.

[OBAFGKM]

If the state had done the right thing and just fried the convicted rapist, we wouldn't be having this embarassment. The problem is really that our criminal justice system is just too lenient. If he had been executed, his death could serve as a deterrent for other would-be rapists. Instead, he costs a bundle of tax dollars in prison and now he's whining about being on some sort of welfare for the rest of his life. He should be grateful to be alive!

[NC_Libertarian]

Johnson is a former Marine who was paroled in 1982 after serving about half of a 15-year sentence in the rape, robbery and assault of the wife of a Marine staff sergeant while stationed in Japan.

Um, I was deeply sympathetic untill I read this line. Please, if the guy commited a previous rape, and robbery and assault then he should be in prison for life as far as I'm concerned.

[weikel]

He should get a lot of money and everything the woman who claimed rape owns. In addition she should be executed over several days. False accusations of sex crimes should rank up with mass murder.

[weikel]

Oh wait never mind he did it before thats diffrent.