Think the Missouri story was bad?

[KabeRinnaul]

Courtesy Fark.

A man in Texas has his murder conviction overturned in 1980, and a retrial was ordered in 1983. He's finally getting one, after sitting in prison for about 30 years.

http://news.yahoo.com/texas-holding-...060500679.html

[s_stabeler]

good grief. I can understand refusing bail for murder. I can even understand how this happened. ( basically, the governor was in the process of commuting his original death sentence when the appeal succeeded, and the officials at the prison thought ( I'm assuming incompetence, not malice- while it is definitely criminal incompetence, it is slightly better if it is incompetence, not malice) that the life sentence was as a result of a new trial. His lawyer didn't mention that, hey, he actually didn't get a retrial (I would reccommend he finds a new lawyer)) What I cannot undersatnd is that this guy was eligible for parole in 2003. Why was it not granted then?

what i find ridiculous is that the judge that ruled there was no speedy-trial case accepted a claim that the situation was created by the defendant? WTF? They claim the guy WANTED to be imprisoned for 33 years? way to make a mockery of the legal system, texas.

[Rageaholic]

You win Kabe. The guy in Missouri is at least getting a retrial.

I'm wondering if this is the same guy I heard about yesterday. In that case, he didn't commit the murder, but the POS cops withheld the evidence that would exonerate him.

[s_stabeler]

You win Kabe. The guy in Missouri is at least getting a retrial.

I'm wondering if this is the same guy I heard about yesterday. In that case, he didn't commit the murder, but the POS cops withheld the evidence that would exonerate him.

I wouldn't be surprised.

[Kristev]

For Texas, that's no big surprise.

[Panacea]

My brain just broke

[Titi]

You win Kabe. The guy in Missouri is at least getting a retrial.

I'm wondering if this is the same guy I heard about yesterday. In that case, he didn't commit the murder, but the POS cops withheld the evidence that would exonerate him.

Nope, that was a guy in NY. He gave his ticket stubs from Disney World and hotel stubs for the week he was there (the week the murder happened) and was told he had time to fly back to NY kill his former business partner and fly back to Orlando on the same day just to set up his alibi.

Also it wasn't the cops that withheld the evidence and said that, it was the DA who followed through on the charges, the cop held onto his pieces of evidence and had them to show at the ready. He also kept them in other cases this DA was all about getting a conviction not getting the person responsible for the crime.

[HYHYBT]

Florida to New York, murder someone, and return to FL all in a day you also went to Disney World? Technically possible, but air travel leaves easily-obtained evidence.

[Greenday]

Florida to New York, murder someone, and return to FL all in a day you also went to Disney World? Technically possible, but air travel leaves easily-obtained evidence.

Also a paper trail unless he somehow managed to get tickets under a fake name with good enough fake ID to get through the system also.

[HYHYBT]

Also a paper trail unless he somehow managed to get tickets under a fake name with good enough fake ID to get through the system also.

Exactly. So how do you get a conviction?

[Kristev]

By scaring the jury and by having a woefully inadaquete defense lawyer.

[s_stabeler]

epically incompetant, actually- I can think of TWO things the defense lawyer didn't do that would be pretty basic i a case like that- 1) why did he not point out the lack of proof the prosecution had about the plane flight? Remember, it is the prosecution's job to prove he took the flight, not the defence's job to prove he didn't. 2) if the cop had the evidence with him, then he clearly wasn't cross-examined by the defence. Again, this is basic stuff.