Exonerated

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Ill. man exonerated after 30 years in prison for murder

Happy for him. I find it extremely disturbing that 30 of the best years of his life were spent behind bars for a crime he didn't commit.

 

[Blairg]

Ill. man exonerated after 30 years in prison for murder

Happy for him. I find it extremely disturbing that 30 of the best years of his life were spent behind bars for a crime he didn't commit.

Yea seems like he's entitled to about a million a year like 30 million that would help him sleep better

 

[Netskimmer]

"According to trial testimony, Davis — who was 19 at the time — was visiting his father in Rantoul. He spent the day the girl died drinking at the home where she was eventually found with the two brothers who lived there. At some point the brothers left, leaving Davis there alone."

"An acquaintance of Davis told police that Davis said he'd killed "a woman" at the home."

Yeah, it may not be his DNA but that doesn't mean he wasn't involved.

 

[unpopular]

yes, that may be the case, but an accomplice doesn't get 30 years in jail. Even if they tried him for that crime, I'm pretty sure his prison term would be negotiated by the time he spent in jail for the crime murder didn't commit - that is provided that the statue of limitation hasn't already expired.

The testimony of the friend really has no weight without physical evidence.

 

[IByte]

"According to trial testimony, Davis — who was 19 at the time — was visiting his father in Rantoul. He spent the day the girl died drinking at the home where she was eventually found with the two brothers who lived there. At some point the brothers left, leaving Davis there alone."

"An acquaintance of Davis told police that Davis said he'd killed "a woman" at the home."

Yeah, it may not be his DNA but that doesn't mean he wasn't involved.

Regardless he was convicted as the actual murderer based on a person saying he was there.

 

[Netskimmer]

yes, that may be the case, but an accomplice doesn't get 30 years in jail. Even if they tried him for that crime, I'm pretty sure his prison term would be negotiated by the time he spent in jail for the crime murder didn't commit - that is provided that the statue of limitation hasn't already expired.

The testimony of the friend really has no weight without physical evidence.

Just because it wasn't his DNA doesn't mean he was just an accomplace, and he could be completely innocent for all I know. Remember that they didn't have DNA testing back then so it was the other evidence that put him in jail. I just saying that one new piece of evidence that didn't prove he was there is hardly conclusive. And even if he was only an accomplace (assuming he was guilty at all) 30 years for raping and murdering a 3yo girl is getting off light IMHO.

 

[unpopular]

First of all you can't prove he wasn't there, you can only prove that he was there.

It really depends on the circumstances of the original trial and if the new evidence conflicts with the original testimonies and evidence. Simply having new evidence in your favor does not necessarily exonerate, you must also prove that if the evidence were available at the time of trial it would have had a substantial impact on the outcome. Most appeals never make it to court.

 

[Netskimmer]

First of all you can't prove he wasn't there, you can only prove that he was there.

It really depends on the circumstances of the original trial and if the new evidence conflicts with the original testimonies and evidence. Simply having new evidence in your favor does not necessarily exonerate, you must also prove that if the evidence were available at the time of trial it would have had a substantial impact on the outcome. Most appeals never make it to court.

That's what I mean. The evidence that put him in jail didn't change. They just added a new piece and all it accomplished was to not corroborate the existing evidence. The DA didn't say she thought he was innocent, just that the evidence was too old and it had been too long for the witnesses to be viable to go through another trial. If he is innocent than it is a great tragedy that he was imprisoned for so long.

 

[IByte]

That's what I mean. The evidence that put him in jail didn't change. They just added a new piece and all it accomplished was to not corroborate the existing evidence. The DA didn't say she thought he was innocent, just that the evidence was too old and it had been too long for the witnesses to be viable to go through another trial. If he is innocent than it is a great tragedy that he was imprisoned for so long.

But to put anyone away for 30 years on circumstantial evidence is very wrong.

 

[Overread]

*racist comments removed*

I've also been forced to remove the train of conversation that followed to retain some order to the thread itself, even though some following comments were not racist in content and were observations/points. Return to the debate if you will, but any attempt to escalate into racist comments and the thread will be closed.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

This is routine procedure down here in Texas. My state specializes in sending innocent people to jail. In fact, I am almost sure that Texas has executed an innocent person seeing as how we like to execute people by the boatloads down here. The justice system in my state is a joke, albeit a deadly one. Thanks to The Innocence Project, some of the unfortunate victims, namely the wrongly accused and wrongly imprisoned, are finding light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Blairg]

This is routine procedure down here in Texas. My state specializes in sending innocent people to jail. In fact, I am almost sure that Texas has executed an innocent person seeing as how we like to execute people by the boatloads down here. The justice system in my state is a joke, albeit a deadly one. Thanks to The Innocence Project, some of the unfortunate victims, namely the wrongly accused and wrongly imprisoned, are finding light at the end of the tunnel.

I do know Texas will light somebody up in a quick hurry I hope they get the right ones we need some of these killers shocked