Dallas man freed after DNA evidence cleared him

[nofurylike]

By Danny Robbins
May 12, 2011

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110512/ap_o...ring_texas

DALLAS – A courtroom packed with family and friends burst into applause Thursday when a judge freed a Dallas man who spent 27 years in prison for aggravated sexual assault before DNA evidence cleared him.

Johnny Pinchback, the 22nd person to be exonerated through DNA testing in Dallas County since 2001, was found to have been wrongly convicted of raping two teenage girls in a Dallas field in 1984.

-snip-

After the hearing, Watkins implored the Texas Legislature to pass two pending bills that would standardize the storage of evidence and improve witness identification. He said the Pinchback case illustrates the need for new legislation.

-snip-

Charles Chatman, who was exonerated of a similar crime in 2008, said he and Pinchback became friends while in prison together for more than a decade. Officials with the Innocence Project said Chatman's lobbying was one of the reasons they pursued Pinchback's case.

-snip-

###

[Born_A_Truman]

I wish there were faster testing methods and enough labs that all DNA evidence could be tested, but many of the older cases may not have preserved the evidence or may not have DNA evidence to test.

[nofurylike]

(05-13-2011 06:21 AM)Born_A_Truman Wrote:  I wish there were faster testing methods and enough labs that all DNA evidence could be tested, but many of the older cases may not have preserved the evidence or may not have DNA evidence to test.

me too, Pat.
yes, many do not preserve evidence. that particular prosecutor, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, is a whole new kind of prosecutor. he wants to convict only the actually guilty. so he is fighting for that law on storing evidence. i hope that viewpoint will spread!!

thank you!

[SeattleGirl]

(05-14-2011 02:48 AM)nofurylike Wrote:  

(05-13-2011 06:21 AM)Born_A_Truman Wrote:  I wish there were faster testing methods and enough labs that all DNA evidence could be tested, but many of the older cases may not have preserved the evidence or may not have DNA evidence to test.

me too, Pat.
yes, many do not preserve evidence. that particular prosecutor, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, is a whole new kind of prosecutor. he wants to convict only the actually guilty. so he is fighting for that law on storing evidence. i hope that viewpoint will spread!!

thank you!

There was a show on A&E or Discovery ID or one of those channels for a while that featured Craig Watkins and his team. He really is a different kind of prosecutor. And a damned good one.

[nofurylike]

(05-14-2011 11:05 PM)Punky Wrote:  

(05-14-2011 02:48 AM)nofurylike Wrote:  

(05-13-2011 06:21 AM)Born_A_Truman Wrote:  I wish there were faster testing methods and enough labs that all DNA evidence could be tested, but many of the older cases may not have preserved the evidence or may not have DNA evidence to test.

me too, Pat.
yes, many do not preserve evidence. that particular prosecutor, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, is a whole new kind of prosecutor. he wants to convict only the actually guilty. so he is fighting for that law on storing evidence. i hope that viewpoint will spread!!

thank you!

There was a show on A&E or Discovery ID or one of those channels for a while that featured Craig Watkins and his team. He really is a different kind of prosecutor. And a damned good one.

that is great, Punky, thank you! i didn't know that. i'll watch for it. when he first came into office, he made a statement of his intentions that made me weep, it was so frustratingly rare from a prosecutor.
in the long run, when his convictions stand up more often than others' do, and he costs the state less in the long run, i hope it will result in his way catching on.

[SeattleGirl]

(05-14-2011 11:30 PM)nofurylike Wrote:  

(05-14-2011 11:05 PM)Punky Wrote:  

(05-14-2011 02:48 AM)nofurylike Wrote:  

(05-13-2011 06:21 AM)Born_A_Truman Wrote:  I wish there were faster testing methods and enough labs that all DNA evidence could be tested, but many of the older cases may not have preserved the evidence or may not have DNA evidence to test.

me too, Pat.
yes, many do not preserve evidence. that particular prosecutor, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, is a whole new kind of prosecutor. he wants to convict only the actually guilty. so he is fighting for that law on storing evidence. i hope that viewpoint will spread!!

thank you!

There was a show on A&E or Discovery ID or one of those channels for a while that featured Craig Watkins and his team. He really is a different kind of prosecutor. And a damned good one.

that is great, Punky, thank you! i didn't know that. i'll watch for it. when he first came into office, he made a statement of his intentions that made me weep, it was so frustratingly rare from a prosecutor.
in the long run, when his convictions stand up more often than others' do, and he costs the state less in the long run, i hope it will result in his way catching on.

I don't think it's on anymore, which is too bad because it was a good show.

[nofurylike]

(05-15-2011 11:02 PM)Punky Wrote:  I don't think it's on anymore, which is too bad because it was a good show.

ah, well, i am even more glad you told me about it, then, Punky.
thank you!

[NJMaverick]

innocent people behind bars?

[RoyGBiv]

(05-13-2011 07:19 AM)NJMaverick Wrote:  innocent people behind bars?

There have been 270 (271 now, I suppose) post-conviction exonerations based on DNA evidence in 34 states. Forty-two (43) of those have happened in Texas. Thirty-one came from Illinois, another 27 from New York.

Some states, like Texas, Illinois, and New York, have active organizations operating in them to try to identify wrongly convicted individuals and have managed to help pass laws that allow it. Other states do not have such an organization and have no laws that help in identifying past wrongful convictions. Several states have passed laws requiring video taping of any confession, which helps some in mitigating the number one reason behind wrongful convictions, but it does little to correct past errors.

While Texas certainly does have its share of problems with its criminal justice system that need to be addressed, implicitly labeling wrongful convictions as a "Texas thing" isn't helpful.

[nofurylike]

(05-13-2011 07:19 AM)NJMaverick Wrote:  innocent people behind bars?

we have only just begun to learn how many are where. many rights activists are focused on Texas right now, but that is spreading. i keep hoping that DA Watkins will inspire other prosecutors, by example, and his practices will become the standard. here's hoping!!

thanks, NJMaverick.

[suzie]

I think John Grisham explains that pretty well in "The Confession."

[nofurylike]

(05-13-2011 03:09 PM)suzie Wrote:  I think John Grisham explains that pretty well in "The Confession."

will you say more about that, suzie?

by the way, thanks to looking into your comment, i just learned that Grisham is on the the Board of Directors of the Innocence Project in New York and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Innocence Project at the U. of Miss.!

thank you!

[suzie]

http://www.jgrisham.com/the-confession/

Here's the blurb on The Confession. Basically, it's an indictment of the Texas Justice and political systems that, in this hypothetical case, allow an innocent young African American man in a small Northeast Texas town to be tried and put to death for a crime he didn't commit. It features everything corrupt, slimy, ugly about the Texas justice system that has come out in the past few years.

And I'm sorry, but I don't think it's unfair to label the problems with the Texas justice system as a "Texas thing". As far as I've seen, no other state has done it so wrongly for so long AND been so proud of that fact. At a social event today, an acquaintance who has dealt with the court system from a mental health standpoint said that he's always impressed by it, because there are so many people who "are really trying to do the right thing". He contrasted that with other areas where people are more, in his words, "self-serving".

I think he's correct--and I've lived in states around Texas and elsewhere in the South. Texans are loathe to ever collectively admit that they're wrong and they've seem set on proving to everyone else in the country how proud they are to execute people--doing it their way. It has long seemed shameful to me--and I'm a native Texan.

But, as one who was nervous about stopping for gas in the Vidor area with an Obama sticker on my car, I don't think I'd be spending a lot of time in Texas if I were John Grisham.

[nofurylike]

(05-14-2011 04:53 PM)suzie Wrote:  http://www.jgrisham.com/the-confession/

Here's the blurb on The Confession. Basically, it's an indictment of the Texas Justice and political systems that, in this hypothetical case, allow an innocent young African American man in a small Northeast Texas town to be tried and put to death for a crime he didn't commit. It features everything corrupt, slimy, ugly about the Texas justice system that has come out in the past few years.

And I'm sorry, but I don't think it's unfair to label the problems with the Texas justice system as a "Texas thing". As far as I've seen, no other state has done it so wrongly for so long AND been so proud of that fact. At a social event today, an acquaintance who has dealt with the court system from a mental health standpoint said that he's always impressed by it, because there are so many people who "are really trying to do the right thing". He contrasted that with other areas where people are more, in his words, "self-serving".

I think he's correct--and I've lived in states around Texas and elsewhere in the South. Texans are loathe to ever collectively admit that they're wrong and they've seem set on proving to everyone else in the country how proud they are to execute people--doing it their way. It has long seemed shameful to me--and I'm a native Texan.

But, as one who was nervous about stopping for gas in the Vidor area with an Obama sticker on my car, I don't think I'd be spending a lot of time in Texas if I were John Grisham.

thank you so much suzie! that is a fascinating book. i must read it. sounds heartbreakingly familiar ....

it is true that Texas is especially reprehensible on this. and since you are a Texan, such observations are even more fair coming from you. it's just that it can be difficult to talk in degrees of despicable. i do often find myself attempting to explain (to people overseas) the U.S. addiction to executions as a cowboy thing, among other cultural references, such as good ol' white boys, and so on.

i am sorry it is scary for progressives. i have deep admiration for those who work to drag red states kicking and screaming into the progressive world.
hard enough in blue states!

thanks again!