|
Remember that line when a prosecutor says he would
rather have 100 guilty people be acquitted then have
one innocent person go to prison?
Well it's 100 percent bullsh*t!
The prison system is full of innocent people who
were railroaded by corrupt and often racist cops, prosecutors and judges.
According to this article these 5 men were framed by the Chicago cops and falsely spend 80 years in prison between them for crimes they did not commit.
Convictions vacated in '91 rape, slaying of Dixmoor girl By Steve Mills and Andrew Grimm Tribune reporters 10:47 a.m. CDT, November 3, 2011 Cook County prosecutors today vacated the rape and murder convictions of three of five men sent to prison for the slaying of 14-year-old girl in 1991, after DNA testing earlier this year connected a convicted rapist to the crime. The prosecutors plan to dismiss the convictions of two other men who already served their sentences, officials said. The move comes months after prosecutors, arguing against new trials for the men, said in court the DNA match to the convicted rapist did not amount to new evidence. Prosecutors argued that because the men were excluded by DNA at trial, the fact that tests now identified the source of the DNA as a convicted rapist did not exonerate them. The convicted rapist has not been charged with the crime, but he remains under investigation. The five men were convicted of the rape and murder of Cateresa Matthews , who disappeared after leaving her grandmother's home in Dixmoor on Nov. 19, 1991. Almost three weeks later, she was found dead from a single gunshot to her mouth in a field near Interstate Highway 57. The five men were arrested after the crime went unsolved for about a year. At the time, three of them were 14, the other two 16. Three of the teens confessed and implicated the other two in the murder. But the confessions, lawyers said, were marked by inconsistencies. What's more, DNA tests on semen evidence did not match any of the five. However, two of the suspects, Robert Lee Veal and Shainnie Sharp, agreed to plead guilty and testify against the other three in exchange for reduced 20-year prison sentences. Each served about 10 years in prison, according to records. Their testimony was crucial in convicting the other three teens, Robert Taylor, Jonathan Barr and James Harden. Taylor and Harden each were sentenced to 80 years in prison; Barr received an 85-year sentence. Harden turned to hug his attorney after Assistant State's Attorney Mark Ertler entered a motion to withdraw the convictions and drop all charges in the case. Seated in the front row of the small courtroom gallery, a gasp went up from Barr's relatives. As he was led out of the courtroom, Barr smiled to his supporters and beamed out from behind blocky spectacles. “I'll see you all soon,” he said. Last year, central figures in the case recanted their testimony. Veal told defense lawyers that, during his interrogation, he repeatedly told the police he was not involved in the murder but signed a confession because he believed it contained those denials. Veal had severe learning disabilities, according to his attorney, Stuart Chanen. In a new round of DNA tests last month, a lab was able to isolate a single genetic profile from the swabs taken at the time of the rape and murder. When the Illinois State Police uploaded it into a database, it matched the DNA profile of a man who was 33 at the time of the 1991 murder – much older than those five teens. At the time, he had already been convicted of a sexual assault and recently paroled near where Matthews lived. smmills@tribune.com agrimm@tribune.com |