Congratulations to James Williams and Raymond Jackson, Texas' two latest DNA exonerees out of Dallas who were liberated yesterday after a nearly unimaginable 29+ years inside based on false accusations of rape and kidnapping. Reported a local TV station, "Their biggest hurt? Relatives, including their mothers, died believing they were criminals."
As an aside, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram coverage mentioned that "Dallas County has now exonerated 32 people since 2001, most of them during Watkins' tenure. Most of the cases -- including Monday's -- involved faulty eyewitness identifications." But it should be mentioned that that figure only includes DNA exonerations and a handful of non-DNA exoneratoins under Craig Watkins. There was also the infamous Dallas fake-drug scandal from 2001, where police officers collaborated with a corrupt informant to set up two dozen innocent, mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants on false drug charges. Adding in those alone gets you at least 56 over that time span. Most counts you see of exonerations include only DNA exonerees, not the large coterie of drug war cases like those in Dallas, Hearne, and Tulia.
Serendipitously, Mr. Williams "has re-connected with his childhood sweetheart, and she says they're now engaged to be married," while Mr. Jackson has reconnected with his family. Grits wishes both of them all the best.
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1 comment:
no telling how many Mexicans were deported with 5 year deferreds under their belts for selling chalk dust un Bill Hill's reign.
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