On Tuesday, Adnan Syed was set free. He had been detained since 1999, when he was arrested as a 17-year-old in connection with the killing of Hae Min Lee, his ex-girlfriend. Syed was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping, and false imprisonment on February 25, 2000. His sentence was life in prison plus 30 years.
It just goes on and on and on. And yes, we can vote and work toward a safer, fairer world. But in the meantime, the same groups of people get run over and brutalized over and over and over. Thank you for giving us important information, Judd. As Rachel Maddow apparently wants us to “gets from her Ultra podcast, it takes us public members to persuade and keep chipping away at the terribly destructive beliefs of the people of so many who continue the harm, like the members of our Supreme Court.
As someone who worked in the courts for over a decade, I am sure many of the innocent people convicted of crimes were advised to take a plea deal. Public defenders use pleas to cut down on their workload and save the state money. Defendants are told that going to trial risks a longer sentence or even, in some cases, the death penalty. And it takes money to pay a good lawyer, while most criminal defendants are poor.
Thank you Judd. You continue to do a stellar job of helping the members of this community stay informed on matters of great importance. You are truly appreciated sir.
Can't let a post about unjust incarceration go by without acknowledging Leonard Peltier. Longest serving political prisoner in the US, framed by the FBI for his involvement at Wounded Knee.
"Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark used blunt words to describe Peltier’s trial and conviction: “There was no evidence that he did it, except fabricated, circumstantial evidence, overwhelmingly misused, concealed and perverted.”
Clark said in a speech in 1997 that Peltier “should have never been in there in the first place — never. While Leonard Peltier is in prison, we all are.” (tinyurl.com/y32wm9ju)" -
You missed out mentioningthe excellent Undisclosed Podcast which has highlighted the cases of 27 wrongful convictions, of which relief has been granted in 17 of these, including Adnans. Susan Simpson of Undisclosed is the one who found the missing fax coversheet saying the call records were inaccurate for location for incoming calls, and also the 'tap tap tap' the police were doing during interviews to redirect Jay's testimony (Jay was threatened by police with the death penalty if he didn't help them convict Adnan. Jay's story changed half a dozen times but he was the key witness leading to Adnan's conviction). Another Supreme Court case from May 2022 that has made it even harder for people wrongfully convicted is a 6-3 decision that a federal court may not consider new evidence outside the state-court record in deciding whether the state violated a person’s Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel at trial in death penalty cases. So if your trial counsel is ineffective and your appeal counsel is also ineffective, you're screwed. Sotomayor's dissent: It is “perverse” and “illogical” to hold that a “petitioner cannot logically be faultless for not bringing a claim because of postconviction counsel’s ineffectiveness, yet at fault for not developing its evidentiary basis for exactly the same reason,”
Naw. With modern DNA evidence, this woke meme of the social justice tribe isn't really a thing any more. But law enforcement and judicial sensationalism is a hard habit to break when tribal identity demands.
The prosecutors today are not saying Adnan is innocent. They stopped short of exonerating. Instead they’re saying that ‘back in 1999, they didn’t investigate this case thoroughly enough. They relied on evidence we shouldn’t have and They broke the rules when they prosecuted. That was so 1999.
good article, it's an embarassment and injustice on democracy that this has been happening for hundreds of years in America. It's institutionalized racism, police abuse & incompetence by prosecutors & the entire legal system.
It just goes on and on and on. And yes, we can vote and work toward a safer, fairer world. But in the meantime, the same groups of people get run over and brutalized over and over and over. Thank you for giving us important information, Judd. As Rachel Maddow apparently wants us to “gets from her Ultra podcast, it takes us public members to persuade and keep chipping away at the terribly destructive beliefs of the people of so many who continue the harm, like the members of our Supreme Court.
Excellent report. The Supremes have much to answer for, as does the entire judicial system.
As someone who worked in the courts for over a decade, I am sure many of the innocent people convicted of crimes were advised to take a plea deal. Public defenders use pleas to cut down on their workload and save the state money. Defendants are told that going to trial risks a longer sentence or even, in some cases, the death penalty. And it takes money to pay a good lawyer, while most criminal defendants are poor.
Thank you Judd. You continue to do a stellar job of helping the members of this community stay informed on matters of great importance. You are truly appreciated sir.
Can't let a post about unjust incarceration go by without acknowledging Leonard Peltier. Longest serving political prisoner in the US, framed by the FBI for his involvement at Wounded Knee.
"Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark used blunt words to describe Peltier’s trial and conviction: “There was no evidence that he did it, except fabricated, circumstantial evidence, overwhelmingly misused, concealed and perverted.”
Clark said in a speech in 1997 that Peltier “should have never been in there in the first place — never. While Leonard Peltier is in prison, we all are.” (tinyurl.com/y32wm9ju)" -
https://www.workers.org/2022/10/67128/
Ahhh more racism from the south and the far right supreme court. How perfectly on brand for the right.
You missed out mentioningthe excellent Undisclosed Podcast which has highlighted the cases of 27 wrongful convictions, of which relief has been granted in 17 of these, including Adnans. Susan Simpson of Undisclosed is the one who found the missing fax coversheet saying the call records were inaccurate for location for incoming calls, and also the 'tap tap tap' the police were doing during interviews to redirect Jay's testimony (Jay was threatened by police with the death penalty if he didn't help them convict Adnan. Jay's story changed half a dozen times but he was the key witness leading to Adnan's conviction). Another Supreme Court case from May 2022 that has made it even harder for people wrongfully convicted is a 6-3 decision that a federal court may not consider new evidence outside the state-court record in deciding whether the state violated a person’s Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel at trial in death penalty cases. So if your trial counsel is ineffective and your appeal counsel is also ineffective, you're screwed. Sotomayor's dissent: It is “perverse” and “illogical” to hold that a “petitioner cannot logically be faultless for not bringing a claim because of postconviction counsel’s ineffectiveness, yet at fault for not developing its evidentiary basis for exactly the same reason,”
A crime has been committed, and someone must pay,
Who actually pays is, unfortunately at times, of almost no consequence.
I'm sure Frank Lee will have some tremendous justification for this.
Naw. With modern DNA evidence, this woke meme of the social justice tribe isn't really a thing any more. But law enforcement and judicial sensationalism is a hard habit to break when tribal identity demands.
The prosecutors today are not saying Adnan is innocent. They stopped short of exonerating. Instead they’re saying that ‘back in 1999, they didn’t investigate this case thoroughly enough. They relied on evidence we shouldn’t have and They broke the rules when they prosecuted. That was so 1999.
Excellent reporting.
good article, it's an embarassment and injustice on democracy that this has been happening for hundreds of years in America. It's institutionalized racism, police abuse & incompetence by prosecutors & the entire legal system.