Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 25, 2006 0:36:05 GMT -5
Bill could help put an end to wrongful convictions
In an important move toward improving the criminal justice system in
Pennsylvania, the state Senate in April unanimously passed The Innocence
Commission Act.
The legislation (Senate Bill 1069), introduced by Sen. Stewart Greenleaf,
R-Montgomery, with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors, would establish the
commission to study the reasons why innocent people are convicted of
crimes.
SB 1069 now awaits action in the House Judiciary Committee. Several
representatives from south-central Pennsylvania are members of that
committee, and I strongly urge them to ensure that the bill finds its way
out of the committee and to the full House for a vote.
A wrongful conviction is a nightmare for the innocent person, the crime's
victim, and for our society. I should know. I spent 10 years in an Arizona
prison for a crime someone else committed. My incarceration included
nearly 3 years on Arizona's death row.
I am a Pennsylvanian who was wrongly convicted in another state, but this
problem is not unique to Arizona. Thomas Doswell, Vince Moto, Nicholas
Yarris and Barry Laughman are all Pennsylvanians who were wrongly
convicted.
Among them, these four men spent nearly 70 years in Pennsylvania prisons,
and they were all locked up while they were in their 20s, in their prime,
a time when they were trying to establish their personal and working
lives.
The Innocence Commission would examine how these tragedies occur. My case
included some of the typical problems with the justice system.
When Kim Ancona was killed in 1991, a friend of hers mentioned someone
named Ray to investigators, and the police focused on me as their only
suspect.
In fact, investigators were so focused on me that they ignored evidence
exonerating me, including a footprint from the scene that did not match my
size. In addition, I owned no shoes that matched the tread.
Because I trusted the justice system, I did not bother to hire a private
attorney and accepted court-appointed counsel. My attorney's resources
were woefully inadequate. A bite mark was the one piece of evidence that
led to my conviction, but my lawyer could not afford to hire a bite mark
expert. He relied on a family dentist as our expert.
At trial, my roommate testified on my behalf, stating that I was at home
sleeping when Kim was killed, but the prosecuting attorney attacked his
credibility. The prosecutor claimed that my roommate would lie on my
behalf because I had taken him in during a rough period in his life.
I was luckier than most, though. My family and friends came to my aid. My
mother took out a second mortgage on her house and spent her retirement
savings to help. High school friends held fundraisers for my legal
defense.
My cousin, Jim Rix, whom I had never met before I went to jail, heard my
story and offered to finance my appeals. My family and friends spent
hundreds of thousands of dollars to help free me.
A wrongful conviction is not just about the unlucky person who goes to
jail. It's also about the victims and the safety of society.
We must not forget the simple and obvious truth that when we get it wrong,
a guilty person goes free. 20 days after Kim was killed, Kenneth Phillips,
the man whose DNA matched the evidence from the crime scene, assaulted a
young girl, a crime for which he was incarcerated at the time of the DNA
test that freed me.
In fact, had investigators broadened their list of suspects, they might
have found Phillips soon after the death of Kim Ancona. He lived just a
few hundred yards from the bar where the crime occurred, and was on
probation at the time for breaking into a neighbor's house and assaulting
her.
I lost 10 years of my life in jail, but I choose not to be bitter. Rather
than focus on the 10 years I lost, I've made a conscious decision to focus
on the next 10. By talking about my experience, I hope to impact
significant change toward making our criminal justice system truly just.
Sen. Greenleaf's Innocence Commission Act would move Pennsylvania in that
direction. The House Judiciary Committee and the entire House of
Representatives can help by supporting SB 1069.
(2ource : The Patriot-News -- RAY KRONE of York County was the 100th
person since 1976 to be exonerated after being on death row. He is the
director of communications and training for Witness to Innocence (www.
witnesstoinnocence. org))
In an important move toward improving the criminal justice system in
Pennsylvania, the state Senate in April unanimously passed The Innocence
Commission Act.
The legislation (Senate Bill 1069), introduced by Sen. Stewart Greenleaf,
R-Montgomery, with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors, would establish the
commission to study the reasons why innocent people are convicted of
crimes.
SB 1069 now awaits action in the House Judiciary Committee. Several
representatives from south-central Pennsylvania are members of that
committee, and I strongly urge them to ensure that the bill finds its way
out of the committee and to the full House for a vote.
A wrongful conviction is a nightmare for the innocent person, the crime's
victim, and for our society. I should know. I spent 10 years in an Arizona
prison for a crime someone else committed. My incarceration included
nearly 3 years on Arizona's death row.
I am a Pennsylvanian who was wrongly convicted in another state, but this
problem is not unique to Arizona. Thomas Doswell, Vince Moto, Nicholas
Yarris and Barry Laughman are all Pennsylvanians who were wrongly
convicted.
Among them, these four men spent nearly 70 years in Pennsylvania prisons,
and they were all locked up while they were in their 20s, in their prime,
a time when they were trying to establish their personal and working
lives.
The Innocence Commission would examine how these tragedies occur. My case
included some of the typical problems with the justice system.
When Kim Ancona was killed in 1991, a friend of hers mentioned someone
named Ray to investigators, and the police focused on me as their only
suspect.
In fact, investigators were so focused on me that they ignored evidence
exonerating me, including a footprint from the scene that did not match my
size. In addition, I owned no shoes that matched the tread.
Because I trusted the justice system, I did not bother to hire a private
attorney and accepted court-appointed counsel. My attorney's resources
were woefully inadequate. A bite mark was the one piece of evidence that
led to my conviction, but my lawyer could not afford to hire a bite mark
expert. He relied on a family dentist as our expert.
At trial, my roommate testified on my behalf, stating that I was at home
sleeping when Kim was killed, but the prosecuting attorney attacked his
credibility. The prosecutor claimed that my roommate would lie on my
behalf because I had taken him in during a rough period in his life.
I was luckier than most, though. My family and friends came to my aid. My
mother took out a second mortgage on her house and spent her retirement
savings to help. High school friends held fundraisers for my legal
defense.
My cousin, Jim Rix, whom I had never met before I went to jail, heard my
story and offered to finance my appeals. My family and friends spent
hundreds of thousands of dollars to help free me.
A wrongful conviction is not just about the unlucky person who goes to
jail. It's also about the victims and the safety of society.
We must not forget the simple and obvious truth that when we get it wrong,
a guilty person goes free. 20 days after Kim was killed, Kenneth Phillips,
the man whose DNA matched the evidence from the crime scene, assaulted a
young girl, a crime for which he was incarcerated at the time of the DNA
test that freed me.
In fact, had investigators broadened their list of suspects, they might
have found Phillips soon after the death of Kim Ancona. He lived just a
few hundred yards from the bar where the crime occurred, and was on
probation at the time for breaking into a neighbor's house and assaulting
her.
I lost 10 years of my life in jail, but I choose not to be bitter. Rather
than focus on the 10 years I lost, I've made a conscious decision to focus
on the next 10. By talking about my experience, I hope to impact
significant change toward making our criminal justice system truly just.
Sen. Greenleaf's Innocence Commission Act would move Pennsylvania in that
direction. The House Judiciary Committee and the entire House of
Representatives can help by supporting SB 1069.
(2ource : The Patriot-News -- RAY KRONE of York County was the 100th
person since 1976 to be exonerated after being on death row. He is the
director of communications and training for Witness to Innocence (www.
witnesstoinnocence. org))