Wrongly accused finally cleared after dying in prison

[ccharles000]

AUSTIN — Twenty-two years ago, Ruby Session listened in disbelief as a Lubbock jury convicted her son, Timothy Cole, of rape. She promised herself that one day she would make sure this injustice was corrected.

"I always had faith and I just believed that it would one day happen," Session said.

That day finally came Tuesday when, after years of efforts by Cole’s family and a relentless group of supporters, state District Judge Charles Baird issued the first posthumous DNA exoneration in Texas history.

"The evidence is crystal clear that Timothy Cole died in prison an innocent man and I find to 100 percent moral, legal and actual certainty that he did not commit the crime that he was convicted of," Baird said.

Cole was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in 1986, after Michele Mallin identified him as the man who attacked her near Texas Tech University. Cole had always maintained his innocence.

In 1995, Jerry Wayne Johnson, who was serving two consecutive life sentences in prison for sexual assaults in Lubbock, admitted raping Mallin. Authorities ignored his confession until the Innocence Project of Texas took up the case in 2007. DNA tests in 2008 confirmed that Johnson was Mallin’s attacker.

Cole died in prison in 1999 at age 38 from complications of asthma.

And it's frightening to think that this is the same justice system that puts people on death row.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/4/8/717903/-Wrongly-accused-finally-cleared-after-dying-in-prison

[droidamus2]

1. Typical of Texas

I know I have read quotes from people in the Texas judicial system that basically state (this was in reference to death penalty cases but still applies) that once you have been found guilty by a jury of your peers and had your allotted number of appeals they don't really care if you have evidence that proves you were never guilty in the first place. Their focus is on process. Their view is if the process has run its course and you have not been able to prove your innocence its just too bad and too late for you.

[SeattleGirl]

2. One of the main reasons I am against the death penalty.

How many innocent people have been executed in this country? I don't know the number, but I'm willing to bet it's been more than a few.

[lazer47]

4. Even if it is only one,, that is too many and unacceptable

[Control-Z]

9. Can you imagine

how the innocent death row prisoner feels? It is the source of nightmares for me. Has been since early childhood, maybe age 7, when I first recognized the mistakes that could be made.

[Democracyinkind]

3. "Better late than never" used to make more sense before reading this

[malaise]

5. Frightening is an understatement

And I knew Timothy Cole was African-American in an instant. Here's his family's take.

http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/063008/loc_297531088.shtml

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Big time understatement

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. 100 percent moral, legal and actual certainty that he did not commit the crime that he was convicted

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100 percent moral, legal and actual certainty that he did not commit the crime that he was convicted of

sorta makes ya wonder about the USA's idea of "justice"

ask the poor

ask the homeless

ask Iraq

ask Afghanistan

ask any of another 100 countries around the World about their opinions of USAmerican so-called "justice"

I think we know what the results would be.

Take away the USA's War-machine . .

They got NOTHING!!

nothing . . . .

ponder that

[Democracyinkind]

7. I think they haven't got much even with the war machine.

People are learning that the emperor wears no clothes.

Great to read a post like yours! peace!

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. You are correct. Many don't realize the significance of the "superpower" losing in small countries

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Myself, I think the "shock and awe" thing was just target practice for the PNAC and BFEE, and Iraq was a convenient victim.

Iraq never got ONE plane in the air, while the USA bombed them from the Gulf and the Mediterranean

read that again

From the Gulf and the Mediterranean - target shooting with "smart bombs"

Wiping out whole towns, divisions of soldiers, etc., while we watched live on CNN

Not even a boot on the ground until AFTER they had killed thousands from many miles away, never seeing the face of those they killed . .

How many generations of Iraqis are gonna remember this?

ALL OF THEM.

USA flexing its muscle on a defenseless country.

The World will not forget.

Especially the Iraqis;

Count on it.

[malaise]

8. The really sad part is that much of the foreign policy is based

on their treatment of minorities.