quote:Originally posted by DixieChik:
SEveral years ago the talk was all about "truth in sentencing" and holding criminals accountable for their crimes. THere is no such thing in America anymore and the criminals know it. I think we should go with let the punishment fit the crime ... you kill, you get killed (with or without appeals is optional to me)...you steal you get your hand cut off...you rape, you get your pecker cut off and if you are a woman who rapes we'll figure out something...I'm so sick of criminals getting out and doing it over and over and over and when they get tired of trying to make ends meet they commit an offense to get sent back...it is ludicrus...
That sounds good on paper, until it is an innocent person getting their hand cut off for a simple crime they didn't commit, or a man getting his pecker cut off because some woman lies about a rape that never occurred.
You have got to have appeals. Do you realize the number of innocent people on death row? Have you seen the statistics of the number of people DNA evidence has cleared after having spent years in prison?
I think a bigger problem is with the police and prosecutors who latch onto a theory just in order to punish someone -- anyone, even if the evidence is weak. This happens quite often.
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You know most cops are honest. But is this one that just pulled you over one of the honest ones, or a cop that is no better than the crooks he arrests, and worse than the people he frames. We like to think police and prosecutors are upstanding, honest public servants. Your faith will be shattered in such, however, should you be on the receiving end of "justice" such as is recounted below.
Utica Police Officers Caught on Tape on 02-11-2011
Planting drugs; watch the officer pull a bag out of his back pocket, then exit the door as if drugs have been “discovered” inside the vehicle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7oenshcwPk
Cops Plant Drugs On Suspect video
Pulls bag out of his right shirt pocket and “discovers” on the suspect.
Well now that we know what the hand signal for planting false evidence is, EVERYONE who examines these video's should be looking for additional hand signals as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAhHd6M2Sjg&feature=related
Even if you have a bogus charge with planted evidence by corrupt cops, that “evidence” is supposed to be reviewed by the district attorney, if not before the preliminary hearing, certainly before trial. However, many D.A.s are as corrupt as the cops.
EDITORIAL
Justice and Prosecutorial Misconduct
December 28, 2011
Michael Morton was exonerated by DNA evidence this month after being wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and serving nearly 25 years in prison in Texas. In seeking to prove Mr. Morton’s innocence, his lawyers found in recently unsealed court records evidence that the prosecutor in the original trial, Ken Anderson, had withheld critical evidence that may have helped Mr. Morton.
Prosecutors have enormous power in determining who is subjected to criminal punishment because they have broad discretion in deciding criminal charges. The Brady rule, established by the Supreme Court in 1963, is supposed to be an important check on that power. It requires prosecutors to disclose evidence favorable to the defendant. But their failure to comply is rarely discovered, and, even then, prosecutors are almost never punished.
The Supreme Court, in an outrageous decision earlier this year, further weakened the ability of wronged defendants to make prosecutors’ offices liable by giving them nearly absolute immunity against civil suits. Justice Clarence Thomas justified the ruling, noting that an “attorney who violates his or her ethical obligations is subject to professional discipline, including sanctions, suspension, and disbarment.” But bar associations hardly ever punish this behavior; judges seldom discipline prosecutors for such violations; and criminal sanctions are rarely imposed against prosecutors.
This is why the Morton inquiry is crucial. The Innocence Project report found that Mr. Anderson willfully failed to disclose police notes that another man committed the murder, concealed from the trial judge that he did not provide the full police report and advised his successor as prosecutor “to oppose all of Mr. Morton’s postconviction motions for DNA testing.” If a court confirms these findings, it must hold Mr. Anderson accountable — or it will send a message to prosecutors in Texas and elsewhere that the criminal justice system is incapable of deterring or punishing this conduct.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12...rial-misconduct.html
Congress Must Act to End Prosecutorial Misconduct
04/11/2012
When federal prosecutors charged the late Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) with failing to report more than $250,000 in illegal gifts and home renovations, they knew the stakes were sky high. Stevens, after all, was only the 11th senator in history to be indicted while in office. In 2008, the prosecutions succeeded in convincing a Washington, DC jury to convict Stevens. A month later, Stevens, the longest serving Republican senator in history, was defeated in his bid for re-election by fewer than 4,000 votes; most observers think the conviction helped to sway the election. Stevens died two years later in a plane crash.
Thanks to a two-and-a-half year independent investigation ordered by the judge in the case, Emmet Sullivan, and finally released several weeks ago, we now know how prosecutors won Stevens' conviction: they cheated. They violated his constitutional rights by intentionally concealing evidence that they knew would have supported Stevens' claim that he intended to pay for all work performed on his house. They hid documents and they allowed a cooperating witness to testify falsely to the jury. The investigators' 514-page report is a chilling reminder that not even the most powerful leaders in the nation are safe when federal prosecutors ignore their duty to seek justice, and instead pursue victory at any cost.
Sadly, the Ted Stevens case was not an isolated incident. Although the failure to disclose evidence is a constitutional violation that by its very nature often goes undiscovered (anything that the government chooses not to disclose to the defense generally remains unknown), we still know it occurs with disturbing frequency. For example, a 2010 USA Today investigation documented 86 cases since 1997 in which judges found that federal prosecutors had failed to turn over evidence that they were legally required to disclose. A number of organizations have reached similar conclusions about the frequency of these violations.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...-end-_b_1415695.html
Congress reacts to prosecutorial misconduct findings
http://www.adn.com/2012/03/15/...o-prosecutorial.html