On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence.
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Florida: After 35 Years and DNA James Bain Is Free
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The United States legal system has a long and distinguished history that derives many of its legal traditions from English law, and English law traces its roots back to the Magna Carta written in 1215.
But the jurisprudence evolutionary process over the centuries has yet to yield a perfect system, nor will it ever. The legal profession is as ripe with imperfections as any other social science.
This is hardly a revelation, but certain mistakes within our legal system can alter an individual's life forever.
In 1974, James Bain (pictured) convicted was of kidnapping and raping a 9-year-old boy. He was given a life sentence.
Bain was 19 when the crime was committed; he has spent every day since his conviction behind bars in a Florida prison. But after 35 years, Bain was recently set free when DNA tests revealed he did not commit the crime.
The ease in which someone could be wrongly convicted, given our flawed system, is understandable; the time that it takes to exonerate them given our technological advances is not.
Bain was convicted on what continues to be the most convincing while perhaps the most unreliable method: eyewitness testimony. A jury will often hear eyewitness testimony unaware of the factors that can compromise the accuracy of an individual's statement.
Jurors may be unaware of the factors that can interfere with eyewitness perception such as any aspects of the event in question that could obstruct an individual's memory or prejudice their perspective.
Another favored method of prosecutors to obtain convictions is the use of testimony from those already in-custody also referred as "jailhouse snitches." In theory, witnesses with special knowledge of criminal activity would enable authorities to apprehend and prosecute suspects.
Since the primary motivation often includes a deal of some sort, it increases the likelihood that an informant would fabricate testimony.
Bain's conviction was based in large part on the eye witnessed testimony of the victim. According to the Innocence Project, the organization that helped Bain win his freedom, the victim described the perpetrator and the victim's uncle said the description sounded like James Bain. The victim then viewed a photo lineup and identified Bain as the perpetrator. He would later say in a deposition that he had been asked to "pick out Jimmie Bain."
Bain sought DNA testing several times on appeal, but was denied in 2001, 2003 and 2006. The Innocence Project of Florida took on his case and obtained DNA testing on evidence from the crime scene. The results
confirmed that Bain was not the perpetrator.
But DNA testing is hardly a panacea for the inherent flaws embedded within our legal system. It can only be administered in approximately 10 percent of cases. That means 90 % of the cases are still subject to the flaws of eyewitness testimony, jailhouse snitches, along with poor legal representation as the leading factors that put innocent people behind bars.
A small consolation, but Florida is one of 27 states that compensate for wrongful convictions. At $50,000 a year per year served, Bain will receive roughly $1.7 million. Hardly adequate given what Bain has endured, but certainly better than the 23 states that have yet to reach the enlightenment to pass similar legislation.
Why doesn't every state compensate wrongful convictions?
Moreover, Bain becomes the latest example as to why the death penalty must be abolished. Supporters of the capital punishment emphasize the perpetrator of the crime to justify their position, while those who oppose the death penalty place emphasis on the innocent.
In a flawed legal system, the death penalty once it is carried out simply offers no recourse for the innocent. It is impossible to support the death penalty and not overtly or covertly support an error percentage higher than zero.
Bain, who has the distinction of serving longer than anyone who has been exonerated by DNA testing, calmly stated in his first few moments of freedom, "I'm not angry."
A truly astonishing statement when you consider that Bain was incarcerated several months before Richard Nixon resigned, 1 year before the movie Jaws premiered, 30 years before the Red Sox would win their 1st World Series since 1918, and 35 years before DNA testing would free him.
On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence.
Today is the 9th anniversary of the deaths of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, executed by firing squad in Indonesia, alongside 6 other people. We remember them, along with every person who has died at the hands of a retributive state, and the families and friends left mourning them. May they rest in peace.
According to the Iranian state-media reports, at dawn on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, a young woman named Shahnaz was hanged in Qezel-Hesar prison in Karaj. Shahnaz had been held in prison for three years. She is the fifth woman hanged in Iran in 2024.
Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.
SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah requested on Tuesday that a man who’s been on death row for almost 25 years be executed. Taberon Honie was convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s mother in 1999. In the death warrant application, the state’s lawyers said Honie used up his appeals and there is no longer any legal reason to stop Honie’s execution.
Aware that only the use of terror and force keeps it in power, the Cuban regime makes it clear that if necessary, it will not hesitate to kill. HAVANA TIMES – Inflation, misery, the lack of medicine, and power outages, which were the triggers for previous demonstrations, are worsening daily in Cuba. Given the possibility that these protests may occur again, the regime has threatened the death penalty for those who participate in demonstrations considered “illegal.”
On the morning of Tuesday, April 30, 2024, four prisoners, including a woman, were executed in Birjand prison. The identity of the executed woman has not been determined. The other three prisoners were Mahmoud Gergij, Mohammad Shah Bakhsh and Mehdi Eshterak, from Sistan and Baluchistan province.
Iraq has passed a sweeping anti-LGBT law that criminalises same-sex relationships and could see gay people sentenced to up to 15 years in prison if convicted The law, which was passed by Iraq’s parliament on Saturday, purports to “protect Iraqi society from moral depravity and the calls for homosexuality that have overtaken the world”.
A group of high profile political prisoners in Iran have denounced the death sentence handed down to dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi, calling it a sign of Iran's "inhuman nature and deep corruption." Earlier this week, an Iranian revolutionary court sentenced the outspoken artist to death for his songs supporting the nationwide protests of 2022, charges that his lawyer, Amir Raeisian, claims he had previously been acquitted of.
Four people including a woman and a possible juvenile offender were executed for murder charges in Karaj. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj on 24 April. His identity has been established as Pejman Azizi who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.