The state of Arkansas murdered a man.

[sinkingfeeling]

Link to tweet

Tests reveal DNA evidence in executed Arkansas inmate's case

https://katv.com/amp/news/local/tests-reveal-dna-evidence-in-executed-arkansas-inmates-case?__twitter_impression=true

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Innocence Project on Friday released summaries of the testing of evidence from the 1993 murder of Debra Reese. Ledell Lee, who was convicted of her murder, was one of four inmates executed by Arkansas in 2017.

The city of Jacksonville last year agreed to allow new tests on fingerprints and DNA evidence after the groups had sued. Lee was the first of four inmates Arkansas executed in April 2017 before its supply of a lethal injection drug expired.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Finally! We all know there have been "mistakes" made, but prosecutors and counties have...

been loathe to allow investigations because they prefer not to know for sure.

[AZLD4Candidate]

21. They want convictions, truth be damned

They move up the food chain on conviction percentage, not truth finding.

[USAFRetired_Liberal]

2. And this is why I don't like the death penalty

For one, I don’t think it’s proportionally applied to all races that have committed similar offenses....and two if we aren’t 100% certain that we have the right guy then no one should be put to death....I don’t care if you have 100 people and 99 are truly guilty and only one is innocent, if 99 get to stay alive so that the 1 lives then that’s how it should be

[tymorial]

3. Yes, one is too many. Nt

[USAFRetired_Liberal]

8. Yeah

You would think that the “pro life” and “all lives matter” crowd would understand this

[Probatim]

19. You'd think - and you'd be wrong.

They are only pro life when it comes to wedge issues and riling up their base. Kids are starving or living in the street - tough shit is what you'll hear.

See an opportunity to dump on minorities and filthy liberals and your lives don't matter much to them.

Point out their hypocrisy to them and you'll probably get punched.

[USAFRetired_Liberal]

20. Yes I agree with your assessment

I was being sarcastic with my post

[Probatim]

25. I did get the sarcasm - I wanted to drive the point home about these miserable pricks.

[walkingman]

4. The thing about local, state, and federal governments is that

they never admit they made a mistake. It really doesn't matter the issue, even someone's life - or lives when it come to war.

[spanone]

5. Why wasn't this test done before he was murdered?

State sanctioned murder is no different than any other murder.

[Ms. Toad]

14. The death serum was expiring. Had to sick it in a vein fast,

Or they couldn't use it anymore.

[spanone]

16. That appears to be a true statement.

[USAFRetired_Liberal]

6. I just read more about this case

I don’t even know why he was convicted in the first place....seems like the prosecution had no evidence other than someone saying that they saw him near the victim’s house...like WTF, that’s all the evidence and this person not only gets convicted, but gets the death penalty

[FBaggins]

15. Perhaps read a bit farther

Her blood was found on his shoes and he passed a $100 bill stolen from her wallet just hours after the murder. He hadn't just been seen near the victim's house... he was seen coming out of the house and reported by other women in the neighborhood as knocking on their door and asking if their husband was home so he could borrow a tool. An M.O. that fit at least one prior rape conviction. His DNA was also connected with a second homicide and two additional rapes

There's significantly more reason to believe that he was the murderer than to believe otherwise. The question that the new data forces is whether there was enough reason to support an execution... not whether he might be some entirely innocent citizen merely caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[USAFRetired_Liberal]

18. Thanks

What I googled and what the search came up with was stuff that really vague (even Wikipedia didn’t say much; it did mention the other rapes though)....I knew it had to be more than what I was reading/finding...the more I see now, the more it looks like he probably did it, but agree that this new evidence doesn’t support an execution

[USALiberal]

7. Some DUers love the death penalty! Disgusting! Nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. Abolish the death penalty.

[RegularJam]

10. The state murdered him regardless of the DNA test.

I'm talking about my beliefs outside of legal construct. Lets change legal construct.

[NNadir]

11. Will the death penalty be applied to the prosecutor, judge and jury?

Asking for a friend.

[FBaggins]

12. No. They didn't

At least, this doesn't come close to demonstrating that they did.

Some unknown male's DNA was found on the murder weapon. There was also some that was "not inconsistent" with Lee.

There was plenty of other evidence pointing to Lee as the murderer (and likely serial murderer and rapist). He wasn't just identified as leaving the house, the victim's blood was on his shoes and he spent cash that had been stolen from her wallet. The M.O. of knocking on the door and asking if the husband is home so he could borrow a tool matched what three rape victims (one resulting in his conviction) reported.

There is enough to question whether the state's death penalty and execution practices satisfy an appropriate "due process", but nothing close to enough to call his execution a murder.

[Elessar Zappa]

13. Well, I consider

ALL executions murder. They may not be "legally" wrong but it's barbaric that a developed country still kills people. Thank God I live in a state where the death penalty is banned. I think Biden will try and get rid of the federal death penalty too.

[spanone]

17. yet, he wasn't 'the guy'

[stillcool]

24. so many articles...and none state what you write...

How can that be?

Ledell Lee Archives - Arkansas Times
https://arktimes.com/tag/ledell-lee

Ledell Lee Never Had A Chance
He was the first man executed by Arkansas in
nearly 12 years. Jurors never heard his story.
ELIZABETH VARTKESSIAN
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/04/27/ledell-lee-never-had-a-chance


Flawed Evidence and Hasty Execution Leads to ACLU and Innocence Project Lawsuit against Arkansas

https://www.davisvanguard.org/2020/01/flawed-evidence-and-hasty-execution-leads-to-aclu-and-innocence-project-lawsuit-against-arkansas/

[FBaggins]

26. How can that be? Perhaps because your selection of articles is biased

(whether intentionally or not). The real question would be what would make you question it? Do you think some long-time DU poster just makes that stuff up?

The current reporting is obviously driven by the fight over getting access to this DNA evidence and the claims that it calls his conviction into question. We're obviously not going to hear the ACLU tell us that there's plenty of reason to belive that he was guilty anyway.

Your first source is presented as though it's an archive of relevant stories, but it just goes back to his execution (over two decades after the crime was committed). They're almost exclusively blog posts and you have to subscribe in order to read them... so we don't really know what they do or don't say.

Just as a hint for future "research". When you want to evaluate the facts of a case... there are better sources than articles 20+ years later that are really just about the death penalty. Some quick results:


https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ar-supreme-court/1322909.html

https://law.justia.com/cases/arkansas/supreme-court/1996/cr96-590.html

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/354/846/576014/

[stillcool]

27. Oh no...my goodness...I did no research

I was just looking for the "plenty of reason he was guilty anyway".

[AZLD4Candidate]

22. The state should not be able allowed to take from a person something it does not have the power

to give back.

All that I can think of is Blackstone right now.

[BobTheSubgenius]

23. The obvious and compelling case against capital punishment.

Imagine the fear and intense turmoil that poor man had to endure...for 24 years.

On a much more trivial note....what's going on in that photo?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

28. I'm adding this, without taking sides.

The judge in his case was having an affair with the assistant prosecutor and his original defense attorney was drunk in court.

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