The wrong Carlos: how Texas sent an innocent man to his death

[anitram]

Great article from The Guardian:

The wrong Carlos: how Texas sent an innocent man to his death | World news | The Guardian

A few years ago, Antonin Scalia, one of the nine justices on the US supreme court, made a bold statement. There has not been, he said, "a single case – not one – in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred … the innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops."

Scalia may have to eat his words. It is now clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit, and his name – Carlos DeLuna – is being shouted from the rooftops of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. The august journal has cleared its entire spring edition, doubling its normal size to 436 pages, to carry an extraordinary investigation by a Columbia law school professor and his students.

The book sets out in precise and shocking detail how an innocent man was sent to his death on 8 December 1989, courtesy of the state of Texas. Los Tocayos Carlos: An Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution, is based on six years of intensive detective work by Professor James Liebman and 12 students.

Starting in 2004, they meticulously chased down every possible lead in the case, interviewing more than 100 witnesses, perusing about 900 pieces of source material and poring over crime scene photographs and legal documents that, when stacked, stand over 10ft high.

What they discovered stunned even Liebman, who, as an expert in America's use of capital punishment, was well versed in its flaws. "It was a house of cards. We found that everything that could go wrong did go wrong," he says.

...

The groundbreaking work that the Columbia law school has done comes at an important juncture for the death penalty in America. Connecticut last month became the fifth state in as many years to repeal the ultimate punishment and support for abolition is gathering steam.

...

Carlos DeLuna commented on his own ending in a television interview a couple of years before his execution. "Maybe one day the truth will come out," he said from behind reinforced glass. "I'm hoping it will. If I end up getting executed for this, I don't think it's right."

You can read the entire book here:

Los Tocayos Carlos

It's beyond time that the death penalty was abolished.

 

[BVS]

When will we learn?

 

[Irvine511]

wait, Texas has executed innocent people?

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

A few years ago, Antonin Scalia, one of the nine justices on the US supreme court, made a bold statement. There has not been, he said, "a single case – not one – in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred … the innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops."

...seriously?

How deluded is this guy?

Yeah. Good job, Texas ! I'll definitely check out that book at some point.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

as long as the death penalty exists, innocent people will be killed. it's just a fact. there's never any guarantee that every person executed was actually guilty. even people serving life in prison, there's innocent people behind bars convicted of crimes they didn't commit. a person can say they did it and then recant. sometimes it's because they want attention or who knows what, sometimes it's because they were pressured into confessing in the first place and are now desperate to prove their innocence.

being locked up for the rest of your life knowing you're innocent is bad enough, but to die is just horrific.

 

[Vincent Vega]

I remember many years back in school, we discussed the death sentence. It was either in German class, or "Religion". I remarked that sometimes a person gets sentenced and executed wrongly and my teacher's reply: "Yes, but that doesn't happen often."

 

[ladyfreckles]

In America, our jury system pretty much sets us up for inaccurate convictions. I'm not anti-death penalty, but I have a hard time approving of it given the current condition of our justice system.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I remember many years back in school, we discussed the death sentence. It was either in German class, or "Religion". I remarked that sometimes a person gets sentenced and executed wrongly and my teacher's reply: "Yes, but that doesn't happen often."

I always find responses like that strange. Even if it only happens one time, it's still one time too many, isn't it? That's a pretty big "Ooopsie!".

I understand the loved ones who've lost someone to a violent crime having anger and moments of wanting revenge. It's a human reaction, if someone had killed a person I loved, yeah, I'd probably have a "So help me, if I ever get my hands on them..." moment. There are indeed some total scumbags I'm not exactly sorry have left this earth.

But ultimately, I'm still strongly against the death penalty and always will be, and this sort of story is the biggest reason why. Hell, I watch true crime shows every so often, and within a week's time you'll be guaranteed to find at least two or three stories somewhere about someone either very narrowly avoiding execution or being sent to jail and there's still lingering questions as to whether they actually committed the crime or that sort of thing. It's just too scary and risky a situation, and I'd like to think we've advanced enough as a country to find other ways to handle such situations. If it's been proven you've committed a horrible crime, you absolutely should be punished for it. But the death penalty isn't the method I'd use to do so.

 

[ladyfreckles]

Wasn't there some statistic that showed that a large number of criminals walk free?

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

it wouldn't surprise me. get the right defense lawyer (or the wrong prosecuting lawyer) and you've got yourself a guaranteed not guilty verdict.

 

[Liesje]

Even if we *never* killed an innocent person, the death penalty is still expensive and does not deter murder.

 

[PhilsFan]

The death penalty is the worst thing in American politics and justice. That is not an opinion, that is a fact.

 

[ladyfreckles]

Technically our entire prison system is ridiculously expensive and ineffective, with or without the death penalty.

I can't find the other link, but essentially we have the harshest prison sentences, the highest incarceration rate, and yet our crime rate is still the highest out of the first world countries.

Statistics:
http://www.webcitation.org/5xRCN8YmR

Article on this:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/01/30/120130crat_atlarge_gopnik

 

[PhilsFan]

Because we picked drugs as the battle instead of Wall Street fraud.

 

[ladyfreckles]

Could also have something to do with the fact that whether or not you end up in prison depends entirely on how expensive/good your lawyer is. It's a money play.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

exactly. are there even any other first-world countries that still use the death penalty?

 

[Vincent Vega]

Japan, very rarely.

 

[ladyfreckles]

Capital punishment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Even Iraq executes less people than us. And they're supposed to be an oppressive muslim nation according to certain news stations.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Iraq is picking up: Iraq: 65 Executions in First 40 Days of 2012 | Human Rights Watch

 

[ladyfreckles]

Iraq is picking up: Iraq: 65 Executions in First 40 Days of 2012 | Human Rights Watch

2012 is a busy year for killing people.

 

[digitize]

exactly. are there even any other first-world countries that still use the death penalty?

Singapore does, and to an absurd degree.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Singapore is a dictatorial regime with way too much money. If you compare democratic societies, there's only the US (though not all states) and Japan that are still killing their people "for justice".

 

[deep]

on that list of 23 countries that execute,

U S is towards the bottom, 17 of 23, and that is with Singapore and Vietnam not reporting, my guess that they both execute more per capita, than the U S.

 

[Vincent Vega]

But is this a contest now? "Hey, this country executes more than us!"
This list reads like the "axis of evil". Don't know if countries like the US, Japan or even Belarus really want to be on that.

 

[INDY500]

The death penalty is the worst thing in American politics and justice. That is not an opinion, that is a fact.

Ok Journalism major, if that is indeed a fact rather than an opinion you'll kindly provide some quantitative data to support the fact that the death penalty is "worse" in American politics and justice than say:

The Citizens United decision and the corruption of money on U.S. politics
or
Incivility and partisanship in U.S. politics
or
The Bush tax cuts and income inequality
or
The injustice of this generation passing on a $16 trillion debt to the next generation
or
Fighting a War of Drugs rather than Wall St fraud.

You only have to pick one.

Go.

 

[Angela Harlem]

Ok Journalism major, if that is indeed a fact rather than an opinion you'll kindly provide some quantitative data to support the fact that the death penalty is "worse" in American politics and justice than say:

The Citizens United decision and the corruption of money on U.S. politics
or
Incivility and partisanship in U.S. politics
or
The Bush tax cuts and income inequality
or
The injustice of this generation passing on a $16 trillion debt to the next generation
or
Fighting a War of Drugs rather than Wall St fraud.

You only have to pick one.

Go.

Really? really? holy shit.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

All of those things are indeed bad, but the government-sanctioned killing of people who may not be guilty of the crimes they're accused of based on some weird notion of "justice" is pretty damn horrific.

 

[PhilsFan]

Ok Journalism major, if that is indeed a fact rather than an opinion you'll kindly provide some quantitative data to support the fact that the death penalty is "worse" in American politics and justice than say:

The Citizens United decision and the corruption of money on U.S. politics
or
Incivility and partisanship in U.S. politics
or
The Bush tax cuts and income inequality
or
The injustice of this generation passing on a $16 trillion debt to the next generation
or
Fighting a War of Drugs rather than Wall St fraud.

You only have to pick one.

Go.

The government is using more money and resources solely for the purpose of being bloodthirsty and vindictive. My tax dollars are going towards bloodlust.

Of cases that have reached finality, about one in nine resulted in exoneration. Add to that the number of innocents executed (basically an unknown because cases like this are almost never investigated after the inmate is executed), and you are approaching close to 15 percent on death row being innocent.

Very simply, the government killing people it is not sure are even guilty is the worst thing this country does. I don't have to back off my stances on Wall Street fraud, debt or income inequality to say this. Those are issues with terrible moral consequences, but they are at least somewhat reasonably complicated. This issue is not.

In my state, we have executed as many death row inmates as we have exonerated.

 

[ladyfreckles]

Ok Journalism major, if that is indeed a fact rather than an opinion you'll kindly provide some quantitative data to support the fact that the death penalty is "worse" in American politics and justice than say:

The Citizens United decision and the corruption of money on U.S. politics
or
Incivility and partisanship in U.S. politics
or
The Bush tax cuts and income inequality
or
The injustice of this generation passing on a $16 trillion debt to the next generation
or
Fighting a War of Drugs rather than Wall St fraud.

You only have to pick one.

Go.

All the stuff wrong with our government and that's what you come up with?

 

[BonosSaint]

Really? really? holy shit.

Holy Fucking Shit. You're back.