In my previous post, It’s Even Harder for Innocent Defendants Now, I pointed to an article from a Houston defense attorney about how difficult the situation has become for innocent individuals who have been accused of sex crimes, especially those against children, now that Texas has adopted two Federal rules of evidence (413 and 414).
In Aggravated, and earlier in this blog, I argued that two other Texas rules (Rule of Evidence 606(b) and Rule of Appellate Procedure 21.3) didn’t work the way they should (I believe that one nullifies the other).
Lara Bazelon, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law and Director of two law clinics there, pointed to what I believe should be considered to be another flaw in the American legal system. After conviction, it apparently doesn’t matter to the courts whether you’re innocent or not. As Dr. Bazelon said in a March 2015 article in Slate Magazine:
“If you are a wrongfully convicted man or woman in this country, it is extremely difficult—if not outright impossible—to win your case by advancing the simple argument that you are innocent. Sounds crazy, right? But it’s true. The Supreme Court has repeatedly declined to hold that the federal Constitution allows for so-called freestanding claims of innocence, that is, the right to be let out of prison simply because you didn’t do it, without any other ‘technical’ violation to back up your argument. In the United States, the inmate who raises a compelling case of innocence after a constitutionally proper trial may well be doomed.”
Dr. Bazelon goes on to describe the Supreme Court’s judgment in a 1993 case, Herrera v. Collins. The court was trying to decide (based on this single case) whether all defendants who had found new evidence of their innocence could put forward an argument that their convictions were “obtained in violation of the constitutional guarantees of due process and protection against cruel and unusual punishment.”
SCOTUS voted against Herrera, saying it wasn’t something they should deal with, that it was an issue that should be left up to the governor of each state (to grant clemency or not); and also said that entertaining actual innocence claims was disruptive and unfair to the courts. Bazelon’s interesting article goes into deeper detail on other cases, and makes a number of valid points. You can read it here.
Have you had any similar experiences with the law? Let me know below.
Thanks,
Michael
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I was in the middle of a flse accusation case where a messed up unauthorized voice recording was made of my child. Then reported to police. Police came in strong spoke with my 12yo child h then put her in their cop suv & told me they were taking her to family advocacy center (i could follow or wait). She has medical issues that need monitoring (type 1 diabetic who is insulin dependent) i said im going. Another male father figure we live with was accused & arrested. Treated like crap because he refused to speak with cops without an atty.maxed out his bail & held him like 4 days before they got him to a bail hearing. He has type 2 disbetes, disabled vet & has neuropathy. We spent 6.5mths fighting this false accusation. Atty was expensive & my 11yo even signed affidavits he did nothing. Found out much much later that even woth then interviewing her alone she said he never touched me; yes i know what isnt ok places to touch; when asked if she had people she trusted to tell if something happened; she said yes, my mom, dad, [the name of the person they are saying did something]… he wore an ankle monitor & was only allowed to go to work, va, atty or his parents. We lived in his house & he wasnt allowed here. He had to find alternate routes to work & everything so he didnt come near the house or her school… you book “accused” helped me understand how screwed up our system is. I hope steve can be set free soon if he isnt already. I do wish him the best. Ty again for the book & telling his story. I was molested at a young age so i know what its like as well as what it sounds like. Steves story & our story was very similar. My story for myself was much different & never changed. I had a stroke @ an early age so my memory is spotty@ best but those things i remember & havent changed. No changes in what i was wearing or what happened… the changes tell me its false. How can investigators just totally ignore the truth?
Hi, Wende —
I’m so sorry for everything you’ve been through. My brother did finally get paroled. He served over half his sentence before he got out. Even after you reach the halfway point, it can take another year or more of red tape before you can get a parole hearing. Steve wasn’t allowed to be there, but I and Steve’s son, Beau, and his daughter, Marri, drove to Austin for the hearing.
Steve had hired a parole attorney, and she had us gather a great deal of information to present, along with a lot of letters attesting to Steve’s character. I also gave a copy of the book to the board member we met with. After listening to us, the board met electronically and voted, and approved his release. The only advice I could give you is to document every bit of evidence you can get, and get a parole attorney to work with you before the parole date arrives.
As far as the investigators are concerned, I’m sure there are some good ones, but I think (especially in cases where there is no physical evidence to help convince them one way or the other) many of them seem to lock onto one thought and then try to prove it, instead of collecting evidence that proves the truth before they reach a conclusion.
Hope everything goes well for you,
Michael