Saturday, May 09, 2009

More media focus on Tim Cole's posthumous exoneration

CBS Evening News will air a story on Timothy Cole's false conviction and posthumous exoneration tonight, Saturday, May 9th, at 5:30pm CST. Check local listings on your CBS local station. (UPDATE: Here's the link.)

See also a Mother's Day themed editorial in the San Antonio Express News on the Tim Cole case, in which the author writes
, "Texans ought to be outraged enough by what happened to Cole to take a hard look at the state's criminal justice system and take tangible steps to assure that justice, not convenient convictions, is sought at every turn."

RELATED: When Dallas DNA exoneree Johnnie Lindsey appeared last week on the daytime TV show The View, he said he and his fiance' weren't getting married yet because he couldn't find a job. The Dallas News' Crime Blog reports that since then he's received three different job offers. Congratultions, Johnnie!

AND MORE: Rounding out the current media flurry regarding false convictions in Texas, Radley Balko at Reason reviews the new movie, American Violet, and discusses the TV series Dallas DNA.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did 60 min. come go Lubbock to interview the peeps responsible for this injustice?

Anonymous said...

why hasn't anyone responsible GONE TO JAIL yet?

We need to strip away the protections afforded those in pawer, so when they screw up, they are just as liable as the person they wrongfully accused.

Anonymous said...

pawer = power.. damn...

Steve said...

The prosecutors, police, witnesses and everyone else who LIED to convict this guy should be ARRESTED, charged and sent to prison. I have never lived in a state with more known LIARS in the justice system than Texas. This is an outrage. Why doesn't anyone care? I cannot believe the people of Texas have not shut down the justice system and demanded reform. The problems are statewide!

123txpublicdefender123 said...

Nobody lied to put Tim Cole in prison. It would be nice if it were that simple. No, instead of lying, it was just bad police work, bad prosecutorial decision-making, bad judicial decisions at trial, and poor decision-making by the jury. People seem to think that these things only happen when police, prosecutors, and/or witnesses outright lie. But, the fact is that, more often than not, what leads to false convictions is bad practices, bad investigation, and a tunnel vision in the investigators that leads them to hone in on their prime suspect, ignore everything that points away from him, and interpret as incriminating even innocent coincidences. The prosecutors then adopt the police findings of guilt, and pursue a conviction with the same singular focus, once again failing to recognize the weaknesses in the case as reasons to question the guilt of the accused, as opposed to just an obstacle to conviction that they must overcome.

As long as people continue to act like the solution is to just jail the liars and cheats, we will never fix this problem.

Steve said...

Interesting points 123 but I cannot escape the fact that he was wrongly identified (HE WAS THE WRONG MAN) from the start, yet everyone involved proceeded with prosecuting him to the fullest extent of the law. Yes, the ignored certain FACTS that would have cleared him. That means the evidence that was presented against him was LIES...he didn't do it.

I agree the system needs fixed but Texas has a HUGE problem with integrity in the system and that comes from having allowed false identifications and folks who would or will LIE in order to convict.

If they folks didn't lie to convict Tim Cole, how in the hell did he get convicted, it certainly wasn't with the truth.

123txpublicdefender123 said...

Well, my definition of a lie is an intentional falsehood. The victim in the case was not lying when she identified him; she was mistaken. Of course, she was mistaken because the police used crappy-ass methods to get him as a suspect in the first place, and then used crappy identification procedures that led her to pick him, and then reinforced to her that she had picked the right guy, which only increased her confidence that she had picked the right person.

People want to think that there have to be evil liars involved to get false convictions, but that is usually not the problem. The problem is the systemic failures--the lack of scientifically based ID procedures, the tunnel-vision investigation and prosecution once they zeroed in on a suspect, the exclusion from the trial of the evidence pointing to the other suspect. Those things are what led to Tim Cole's conviction--not some evil person who set out to lie to intentionally convict an innocent person. That's why it is the systemic failures that need to be addressed if we want to prevent these things from happening in the future.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Bingo, 123! You nailed it.

Informed Citizen said...

--- "CONVENIENT CONVICTIONS" ---
123 - you have been sold and bought the PROPAGANDA used to EXCUSE those who commit CRIMINAL ACTS while doing so with a salary and benefits paid by US. Obviously, the San Antonio Express wisely disagrees.
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YES - They most certainly DID lie. And YES; the SOLUTION most certainly is to JAIL the liars and cheats who are employed at public expense. BUT FIRST they must be charged. Do NOT allow them to shift the blame to "the system" or to "faulty science". They have a DUTY to KNOW the system and KNOW the science. They chose to MANIPULATE the system and the science. Their "tunnel vision" is NO EXCUSE. They have a DUTY to be objective.
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Those of us who pay the taxes they live off of, by working in the PRIVATE sector of our economy get FIRED for not knowing the duties, obligations, and responsibilities we have assumed in exchange for a paycheck. WHY do YOU, and others, allow those who are paid by US to have unlimited job security for the the worst crimes possible. That is - CRIME committed from UNDER THE COVER of a position of public service !!!!
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DO THIS, fire them and charge them for their crimes. THAT will do far more to "prevent this from happening in the future" than all the feel good statutes that might be had by sucking up to the Legislators and those whose livelyhood is at public expense.
What we saw this session was a lot of LET'S PRETEND WE CARE legislation while SHIFTING the blame away from those responsible. Let's BLAME BAD SCIENCE for what GOOD SCIENCE has revealed.
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I attended the "actual innocence" conference. WHAT A FARCE. Now that MALFEASANCE by public servants at every level has been EXPOSED by DNA science, they cleverly put on a "conference" to BLAME science to divert attention away from the LACK of ethics, and INTENTIONAL incompetence, that is DESTROYING the people that live on the land of Texas, as well as our Nation and our Country.

Informed Citizen said...

Grits - THANK YOU for honoring me with a response to my comments -
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What we have is a FACT QUESTION for the Trier of Facts (a jury). What was done to Tim Cole and his family and the people of Texas was a CRIME.
There is NO QUESTION about it. It was a violation of our Texas Penal Code, Acts of Congress, and "against the peace and dignity of THE STATE OF TEXAS".
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You and I have seen the SAME evidence, in news reports, at legislative hearings, and - for me - at the 'Actual Innocence Conference'. From this you believe there is no criminal culpability based on what you consider a lack of intentionally or knowingly committing an offense. I SEE intent, and a DUTY to know, or at the very minimum "reckless indifference" rising to criminal culpability.
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The only way to settle the FACT question of our difference is with a TRIAL by an impartial Judge and an impartial Jury. PROBABLE CAUSE for arrest warrents are not subject to any reasonable dispute.
WHY NO ARRESTS?
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WHY do criminals get a pass if they are employed at public expense? This is particularly true when they are employed in positions that REQUIREs they KNOW criminal law. HOW is it possible that those who are employed under the pretense they KNOW the law are allowed to claim IGNORANCE of the Law as an excuse for their violations of it?
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Can someone enlighten me? WHERE is the error in my logic / reasoning?

Anonymous said...

you going to seen the jury to jail too.SAY NO TO DRUGS!

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Informed. I don't blame the victim for an honest error and that was the critical evidence that convicted Tim Cole. Police culture and decades of court precedent made eyewitness IDs "gold standard" testimony that until recently was rarely questioned, but the folks making such assumptions were likely acting in good faith.

The prosecutors in the Cole case discounted exculpatory evidence and jumped to conclusions because of tunnel vision, but they probably did so with honorable intentions (albeit, the type with which the road to hell is paved). IMO this case was caused by human error, official negligence, failure to use high-quality investigative techniques, but most of all an honest mistake by the crime victim - not an overt intent to set up an innocent person.

There is occasionally, as you put it, "intentional incompetence," but much more common is the unintentional, organic variety of incompetence. That's why I agree with 123 that focusing on intentional malfeasance ignores the bigger-picture "systemic failures" that actually are a more important concern.

Steve said...

To me this all goes hand in hand. To discount liars in the system is to say these people are above reproach. Hardly. Someone looked at and was told about the chain smoking and CHOSE TO IGNORE IT! That's not a "problem with the system" it's an IDIOT.

I can respect the fact the there are systematic problems but to blame the "system" is is a farce. The system is PEOPLE, DA's, police, defense attorneys, judges and the like. It might be a machine but it is a machine of PEOPLE are some are LIARS AND CHEATS.

Matt said...

How about Ricardo Rachelle in Houston? I suppose that was an "honest mistake". Police culture, DA culture, Texas courthouse culture IS the problem. I don't believe the courts have the "best intentions" in mind when coercing people during line-ups, or witnesses, police and DA's who have to know a lie when they hear one.

How exactly did someone mis-identify Ricardo? HOW? It really doesn't matter because the police and DA jumped on board and skewered this guy. Since he DIDNT DO IT, then how could they NO KNOW he was innocent?

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Steve, I'm not discounting liars in the system. I just believe, with 123, that if you define the problem thusly you underestimate the scope of the system's flaws. The bigger problems involve law enforcment culture and training, antiquated systems based on folklore and pseudoscience, and laws that simply don't require a measure of proof that's truly "beyond a reasonable doubt" in order to convict, particularly in sexual assault cases where an uncorroborated victim-witness' testimony can easily convict.

There are liars, in other words, but if you rid the system of all of them, right now, IMO it would continue to convict innocent people and that wouldn't stop MOST of the innocence cases.

Matt, on Rachell - that's a good example of bad systems and culture combining with human error to cause a problem. How could they not know he was innocent? Because he was identified by a victim! He had a record. Cops jumped into tunnel vision mode, failed to consider other suspects, and didn't look for (or take into account) exculpatory evidence. But they couldn't ignore the victim ID, and I don't believe the child in that case was trying to falsely accuse him.

Eyewitness IDs are simply inherently unreliable and until recently were rarely questioned in court. In most of these cases (though not all) there is at least one honest mistake by somebody (a witness, cop, etc.) acting in good faith. So reforms have to go beyond punishing those with bad intentions or the problem can't be solved.

Mark#1 said...

To the posters who want criminal charges against persons involved in the false convictions: by focusing on individuals involved with the convictions, you are giving the criminal justice system an "out" to avoid rectifying structural errors in the system itself. Suppose for a moment that intent could be proven and charges were brought. The powers-that-be can point to the "bad guys" involved and say that those isolated individuals were responsible for the miscarriage of justice and that the system itself works just fine. The real problems are thus never addressed.

Informed Citizen said...

Are the Reporters of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE telling lies? I don't think so. Based on the FACTS reported by them:

PROBABLE CAUSE is beyond question.

RACHEL is the victim of a CRIME. So, too, are the people of Texas and THE STATE OF TEXAS.
Acting against "the peace and dignity of THE STATE OF TEXAS, one or more employed at public expense assaulted, kidnapped, unlawfully prosecuted a Citizen of Texas.

SHIFT THE BLAME - The perpetrators try to HIDE behind the testimony of a nine (9) year old.
(1) It is WELL ESTABLISHED, and has been for a LONG TIME, that testimony of a child under 12 should NOT be used as 'evidence'.
(2) The perps had FACT evidence of Rachells innocence but kept it from the jury.

This is a THEFT and a FRAUD upon the taxpayers of THE STATE OF TEXAS perpetrated with the motive of political and bureacratic advancement.

"CULTURE" is NOT an valid, cognizable, excuse. BEFORE admittance to the profession, the applicants have a DUTY to KNOW their job is "not to convict, but to see that justice is done". SEE CHAPTER 2, titled DUTIES OF OFFICERS, Texas Law codified in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The ONLY reason these criminals are not being subject to prosecution is because their CRIMINAL GANG has threatened and intimidated the lawfully constituted authorities of our Land of Texas.

WRITE to the US Department of Justice and the FBI to request they do their duty to confront the criminals hiding under a license to practice law or a law enforcement license and a position of public service as a COVER for their crimes.

If these insurgents and rebels are not charged and prosecuted for their crimes - then YOU will be.

Our Texas has become a Land where laws that do not exist are enforced on Facts that do not exist while Laws that do exist are NOT enforced on Facts that DO exist, if the perp is employed at the expense of the public / people of Texas.

Informed Citizen said...

MARK#1 -
You know that is a FALSE ARGUMENT. Prosecuting the perps does NOT preclude utilizing the new developments of forensic science.

As for our STRUCTURE and SYSTEM. Well, I still believe ours is the BEST ever designed. But it is the SERVANTS employed IN our system who have gone astray.

They are destroying our Social Structure and our System of Laws. They will continue to do so until STOPPED.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Informed, you're the only one making it either-or. Nobody thinks fraud by law enforcement should go unpunished, just that "fraud" is not the primary cause of false convictions.

Your faith in the system as the "best ever designed" and the resulting tendency to blame false convictions on individuals is misplaced and IMO exactly backward. He's right - you're letting them off the hook as far as real reforms by emphasizing those arguments over systemic critiques. All the extra CAPS in the world won't change that.

Steve said...

Grits is right. The Texas system is flawed to the point of not working. It really is. The system needs fixed just as bad as the criminals working in it need to be weeded out. The depth and latitude of the corrupt working of the Texas injustice system are mammoth and will require a thorough examination and over-haul.

Matt said...

Hey Grits, the eyewitness had to LIE about Ricardo Rachelle. He is disfigured. How do you pick someone disfigured when you are the eyewitness. This is not a simple case of "thinking" you have the right guy. There is NO WAY she had the right guy.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Matt, I disagree that the victim necessarily lied. People simply don't remember faces well. See here and here for how that can happen, especially with juvenile testimony.

Matt said...

Grits, that certainly does shed some interesting light on this subject. I stand "educated" somewhat on this now and see your point. I am still not ready to issue a "hall pass" to all those involved but I do see a need for a greater reform of the system with a keen eye out for those who lie and coerce.

Mark#1 said...

As for testimony of witnesses under 12 not being used as evidence: We are way beyond anything written in a seventy-five year old evidence treatise (I think I remember Wigmore discussing child witnesses). There are people convicted every day on nothing more than the words of a kindergartner.

Informed Citizen said...

Mark#1 -
What is done in practice, and what is LEGAL, are two differnt things. It is time to STOP the illegal practices. [see my blog, the lay of the law]
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Do you remember the case from Idaho about 15 years ago? It went to the US Supreme Court. An entire family as owners of, along with co-workers in, a Child Care Center were rail roaded with coached testimony from children. National media (60 min., etc.) did some research and discovered similar cases in other States.
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YOU ARE CORRECT - It has been ILLEGAL and UNETHICAL for 75 years or more.

So WHY are you trying to justify and excuse it ??? Are you employed at public expense as a prosecutor for the State?