The Innocence Protection Act
is a comprehensive package of criminal justice reforms aimed
at reducing the risk that innocent persons may be executed. Most urgently, the
bill would:
(1) Ensure that convicted offenders are afforded an opportunity to prove their
innocence
through DNA testing (2) Help States to provide competent legal services at
every stage of a
death penalty prosecution (3) Enable those who can prove their innocence to
recover some
measure of compensation for their unjust incarceration and (4) Provide the
public with more
reliable and detailed information regarding the administration of the nation's
capital
punishment laws.
(2)
Many public defenders are not competent and many work for the prosecutor who
has a lot to do if they get the
work. Court appointed attorneys in many cases are doing something they do
not want to do. They are not
making the money with these cases that they do with their regular clients and
give less attention to these cases.
Many public defenders and court appointed attorneys do not bring forth
witnesses that will help the defendants
and do not question the prosecution witnesses.
(3)
What is being done about the corruption in the system? The corrupt
prosecutors police, judges and attorneys
must be prosecuted. The corruption is obvious in most cases.
(4)
No comment.
I have a big problem. What about the many
people in prison who are not on death row. They should have the same
protections as those on death row. A life sentence is a death sentence.
More has to be done for the thousands of people who
are falsely imprisoned. There should be a special court for the
innocent. It should have no connection with the judiciary. The
investigators should have no connection to the prosecutors
or police. Lab work must be done by independent labs with no connection
to the law enforcement labs.
There should be forensic experts who have no connection
with law enforcement.
Let’s face it, in many cases the prosecutor,
police and/or judge know that the person is innocent and many times know
who the guilty person is. They hide evidence that would help the
defendant’s case and in many cases they fabricate
evidence.
Eye witnesses are not dependable. Three people
can see the same thing and have three different descriptions. There
is too much dependence on the testimony of eye witnesses. The attorneys in many
cases do not try hard enough to get
the truth out of the witnesses which in many cases is that they do not know
what they saw. They are coached by the prosecutors and in many case lie
about what they saw because they prosecutors make them think that if they do
not say
want the prosecutor wants something bad will happen to them.
Jailhouse snitches are the worst witnesses there
are. In most cases they are saying what the prosecutor wants so they
can get out of jail or get a lower sentence. Many commit crimes and make
a deal with the prosecutor where they are
put in the defendant’s cell. The prosecutor tells them what to say
or they say what they know the prosecutor wants them
to say. They are then released to do another crime and be a snitch again.
Snitches in most cases are habitual liars. If I
was on a jury and a jailhouse snitch testified I would have to vote for
acquittal because the use of a snitch give you the reasonable doubt. Most
cases where they are used are last ditch efforts
to get a conviction with no regard to innocence or guilt.
It is the prosecutor’s job to see that justice
is served and that the guilty are convicted. It is not to get a
conviction if the
person is innocent. If he gets a conviction of an innocent person he is
not doing his job and if he thinks the person may be innocent he is obstructing
justice.
The innocent people who are convicted can not afford
a defense. Unscrupulous prosecutors and police take advantage
of this too get convictions with no regard to justice. Most people in
prison are not there because of a crime they
committed but because they are poor. There is no such thing as equality
in our system.
If there is any evidence pointing towards the
innocence of a person convicted of a crime their case must be investigated
by an independent investigator paid by the government. The system for the
innocent prisoners should be a part of the
legislative branch because the conviction was under the executive and judicial
branch of government.
Please, write you state and federal legislators,
your governor and your president. Add to that list the president of the
American Bar Association and anyone else you think may help. Send a copy
of this web page too.
Lee Gaylord
© Copyright 2004 Lee W. Gaylord
Petition to
Investigate wrongful convictions
The act has become law
One of the
most comprehensive articles (in this case series of articles) about the
Innocent Protection Act is linked below
My problem
is that it is not enough. It only affects capital cases. When
you consider all of the innocent cases and the treatment and killings of
the other innocent people something has to be done for them all.
The present
judicial system and with the innocent protection act added
will not help most of the innocent. The biggest part of the act is
DNA testing. DNA testing is not involved in most cases
The act
also does not consider the fact that the judicial system is stacked against the
innocent. A separate system is needed. A corrupted system can not
be used to right its own wrongs.
The act
does have restitution. ($5,000 to $50,000/yr non-capital; $100,000/yr
capital) The restitution should be based on the security level the person was
subjected to and their treatment while in prison.
Please
write your senators and congresspersons and thank them for the act.
Diplomatically let them know that there are thousands of innocent people who will
not be helped by the act. We can not forget them because even though are
not looking at the lethal injection they are looking at the guards and other
prisoners who may kill them. ALl of the innocent in prison are in danger
of losing their lives to the system.
Anti-Crime
Legislation Passes Congress! From
The Justice Project