When Law Enforcement becomes the Criminal

Recent readings of the cases discussed at The Innocence Project website , and others, has enhanced our curiosity with respect to seeing the violators pay for their deliberate efforts to deny fairness and civil rights to defendants who are being wrongly convicted of crimes. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld should be repeatedly applauded for their work in getting the innocent out of jail, but who is taking this bull by the horns to see that those who violated law along the way are being held accountable?

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Please visit sites that are concerned about protecting the civil rights of those being wrongfully prosecuted and convicted and remember that as long as we turn a blind eye toward justice we are opening the potential that the next person prosecuted wrongly for a felony could be YOU! As proven by Cam Brown, all it takes is a very unfortunate accident and investigators willing to lie and cover up exculpatory evidence in order to make someone pay.

Investigators, under the cover of a badge, have been given the right to lie in order to encourage statements from witnesses. There is nothing wrong (according to law) with the investigators saying that they have undeniable PROOF that someone committed a heinous crime and they desperately need the help of others in order to present it to the court. The question that should be asked is, "If your proof is so good, why are you bothering me? I've got no evidence!"

Suddenly the scream of a seagull (which has been heard often and repeatedly) becomes the scream of a child. Suddenly a child bending over to pick up rocks becomes a child crawling along on all fours! Suddenly the statements of a defendant are forgotten and replaced by "I believe..." this or that may have happened... in an effort to create an illusion rather than facts. Suddenly expert testimony that holes in the ground can NOT be footprints are ignored in favor of statements that someone thought they "looked" like they could be footprints. Suddenly the truth of the matter no longer matters as prosecutors cleverly conspire with others to create an illusion and pass it off as facts.

Our current laws which allow law enforcement to lie to witnesses and the courts and then be protected by immunity lay the foundation for corruption in our system. All you need to do is go to the Innocence Project, Truth in Justice or any of the other sites around the internet to see how justice has been manipulated in order to find innocent people guilty of crimes they did not commit. Our justice system is supposed to prevent that from happening, but under the current methods it encourages it.

While none of us wants to see a guilty person walk away from their crimes, all of us have a responsibility to make sure justice is administered fairly, swiftly and accurately. A sobering reminder from the Innocence Project:

Innocence Project Case Profiles

There have been 218 post-conviction DNA exonerations in United States history. These stories are becoming more familiar as more innocent people gain their freedom through postconviction testing. They are not proof, however, that our system is righting itself.

The common themes that run through these cases — from global problems like poverty and racial issues to criminal justice issues like eyewitness misidentification, corrupt scientists, overzealous police and prosecutors and inept defense counsel — cannot be ignored and continue to plague our criminal justice system.

* Sixteen people had been sentenced to death before DNA proved their innocence and led to their release.
* The average sentence served by DNA exonerees has been 12 years.
* About 70 percent of those exonerated by DNA testing are members of minority groups.
* In over 35 percent of the cases profiled here, the actual perpetrator has been identified by DNA testing.
* Exonerations have been won in 32 states and Washington, D.C.

Please visit their site and take an interest in protecting the integrity of our criminal justice system. Please help in any way you can to make sure no other person is held to pay for a crime they didn't commit.