A reader recently posted a comment about our article The Wrongfully Convicted Sex Offender that struck me as being representative of the hideous situation faced by the wrongfully convicted sex offender. So I thought it deserved “front page” status.
This from “Deborah:”
“Make sure if you are on the registry you cross your tees and dot your i’s. My husband recently was arrested after the swat team surrounded our home and took him away. Reason was he neglected to register his Facebook account. Class 3 felony. 4 days in jail, five thousand dollars bail. Now waiting for court hearing. $4500 for an attorney. Happened twenty years ago and was falsely accused by step daughter who has admitted that he never touched her. What a society we live in.”
Wrongful Convictions Blog 
It’s easy to break the law in this country. In fact., it’s almost impossible to not break the law at some point during your day. http://www.amazon.com/One-Nation-Under-Arrest-
Prosecutors/dp/0891951342/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1SN5E07MEE2N0VQ7S75S&dpID=517NrV7ujEL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_
Excellent article! In my opinion, this is the sad reality, most people would not be aware of, except for politicians/lawmakers, the devious and the special interests, who drive this “BILLIONS of $$$’s” child abuse industry – incentivized for endless financial and political gain.
How bad it is In Arizona? Lawmakers wrote broad-brushing laws, that technically make “changing a baby’s diaper” child molest. Criminalizing generic words like “touching” – turning the word into 17 years per “touch”? A state, that maintains draconian mandatory minimum sentencing (against the will of the people), as a “weapon” for easy plea bargains = “easy” convictions = $$$”s? A state, where a non-violent, first offender is sentenced to 75 years in prison – a defacto-life sentence for non-sexual “touching” in a public pool?
Poorly written laws impact ALL, while enriching the profiteers in this “war on the people” which will replace the failed “war on drugs” to perpetuate the broken criminal justice system and mass industrial prison complex America has become – #1 jailer in the world. A shameful statistic in America “land of the free” (a myth?).
If you think this is not about you, think again. Your lives and society are either shredded with the SOR – “lifetime sub-class” category of citizens – or you are paying for the wasteful use of our tax dollars in the destruction of non-violent people, who present no harm to society. Worse than murder?
Think about this. With the help of the government and 24/7 cable TV, the AWA (Adam Walsh Act) was created, that turned John Walsh into a TV star. A former “convict at all costs” NY prosecutor, Jeanine Pirro, into a Fox TV faux “judge”? See “Pull Pirro show for my jail hell” (the Jeffrey Deskovic story) NY Daily News 9/25/08 http://nydn.us/1Zlik5j
Is this what we have allowed these self-serving people to create, to enrich themselves? For fame and fortune, at our society’s expense? Prosecutors and politicians, who have found an “easy” way to extract a family’s assets and turn them into a permanent sub-class citizen category.
When will this madness end in the self-destruction of America, “land of the free” (a myth)? What leader is going to step forward and right these wrongs?
“Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent” by Harvey Silverglate, Alan M. Dershowitz (2009) http://amzn.to/1ezWhgs
Average professionals are facing three felonies a day, and do not know it. This book was written in 2009. And where are we today six years later?
A partial list: Militarized “Peace” officers, shooting to kill rather than tasing a suspect; turning all people into “suspects” with no presumption of innocence; convictions-at-all-costs by prosecutors to move up the career ladder; judges who are former prosecutors protecting the precedents they set over the years; the nonexistent appeals process – overloaded Appeals courts in name only, as cases are ‘rubber-stamped” “denied” and never read, as innocence cases languish in the courts for years; prosecutors turning misdemeanors into felonies; using draconian mandatory minimum sentencing that explodes the prison population – a bottomless pit – with no objective view of the overall destructive impact on families, communities, taxpayers and society? This has created a crisis that must be acknowledged in the states, as well, demanding immediate meaningful reform.
Under the guise of “keeping the public safe” (a trite, overused buzzword) is built on a lie. It is all about money and power used against its own people, who are paying these politicians’ salaries and pensions. This sick game being played on the people must end, or our children and grandchildren are doomed to fail in a society and nation that has been incentivized to destroy them and their future. An American tragedy unfolding before our eyes.
Restore presumption of innocence and due process. Restore fair and equal justice under the law.
How is this accomplished? As the mother of a wrongfully convicted son, who was facing 106 years to life, went to trial, with copious amounts of discovery withheld from defense, how does anyone fight back? The court decides what can be presented, what questions can be asked. The “victims” description of the suspect was black, clearly my son is not, this information was never turned over to defense. Two judges withheld evidence in our case. Witnesses were allowed to abscound, refusing to testify, with no repercusstions. Now at the appellate level, the same judge has withheld the transcripts and motions that had been filed, in a sworn declaration from the court, they claim they are “unable to locate”. My son was 19 years old, he received 45 years to life. Who will fight for him if we run out of money, or are no longer here?
“Who will fight for him if we run out of money, or are no longer here?”
This is the most important question that every parent asks when they find their lives thrown into America’s shredding machine – the justice system – that has been ignored and cast aside. They don’t want to have to think about what they just did when they knowingly withheld evidence from a defendant.
It is during this period of time, the officials responsible for the “convictions at all costs” for political and financial gain, ‘move on and up the career ladder’ and the legal system extracts a families’ hard-earned assets – as the loved ones are “silenced” behind the prison walls for decades.
The destruction is incalculable as families are destroyed. No different than a war on the people. They win, the people lose. The have all the money, resources and power, with the laws they created, on their side.
When those responsible for a wrongful conviction – withholding evidence favorable to the defense – are charged with a felony and prison time – then we will see a change.
correction: The destruction is incalculable, as families are destroyed. No different than a war on the people. They win, the people lose. They have an endless stream of money, resources , media and power, along with the laws they created to favor the prosecution, all stacked on their side – against the defendant. This takes us back to the beginning of our nation – the slaveholders and the slaves. What has changed? The fight for freedom never ends.
My husband is serviing a 40 year sentence for a wrongful conviction. We will both be 103 years old when he is released. He does not qualify for parole because they require that he confess. He was offered a 1 year sentence but refused to confess to something he did not do-so he gets 40. He could have killed 2 people and gottn less time. We had a man here that raped and killed to women. He served 11 years. We need help !