Executed Man's Case Re-opened

[wellst0nev0ter]

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AP) -- Citing grave concerns that Missouri executed an innocent man, a coalition that includes a congressman, high-profile lawyers and even the victim's family pointed to evidence Tuesday that they said could clear Larry Griffin's name.

Prosecutors have decided to reopen the case of Griffin, who was convicted in 1981 in the murder of Quintin Moss, a 19-year-old drug dealer who was shot to death. Griffin maintained his innocence to the end, but was put to death in 1995.

<snip>

The news conference followed a report compiled by a University of Michigan Law School professor who discovered new information on the case in the last year. The report suggests that:

• The first police officer at the scene of the 1980 shooting, Michael Ruggeri, now says that the story told by the supposed eyewitness was false, even though Ruggeri's own testimony at trial supported what the witness said.
  
  
  
• A second victim of the shooting, Wallace Conners, has said he was never contacted by the defense or the prosecution. Conners, now 52, who was wounded in the attack, said the supposed eyewitness was not present at the shooting.

"I tell all you all, Larry Griffin did not commit this crime," Conners told reporters. "Larry Griffin definitely wasn't in the car."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/12/execution.investigation.ap/index.html

[wellst0nev0ter]

1. And Based On The Man's Picture

Is anyone really surprised he was convicted on such spotty evidence?

[Dogmudgeon]

7. About that photograph ...

... you know ... I think that the color's off just a little.

:evilgrin: because it hurts too much to laugh.

And it would be funny, too, if it didn't involve killing a man who may well have been innocent.

--p!

[liberal N proud]

2. Close the barn door after the horse got out?

So if they find someone else guilty, do they kill him too?
This is one reason to be against the death penalty.
I have many others, but this one is a biggie.

[wellst0nev0ter]

4. Bigger Question

If the state kills an innocent man, do we execute the state? :shrug:

[liberal N proud]

5. Not a bad idea, maybe?

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Somebody's head certainly should roll...

But whose?:shrug:

[sojourner]

10. nah...law and order is exempt from punishment

except if they go out and do a regular crime. incompetence, no matter who gets hurt, is covered by an "investigation" and maybe forced resignation and at worst with suspension of retirement (am I remembering right?)

[Rhiannon12866]

19. You're right. That's how it will go down.

Even if it's proven that an innocent man was executed. And there won't even be the usual outrage that this kind of incompetence provokes, because it's faded from the consciousness of everyone but those who were close to him.:-(

[sojourner]

9. I had same question...hey! they can round up and kill ALL the people they

want. just find them guilty and kill them...then re-open the case so they can find the right guy, and kill him. Imagine if they did this for ALL the capital cases! Law and order would surely prevail! LOL ('cept it's not funny, dammit)

[PurityOfEssence]

3. If people didn't believe in heaven and hell, would they execute so freely?

What a comfort it'll be to the dead man's friends and family to know that his name is cleared.

Morally, I actually see the point of capital punishment: if someone's got a killing jones, they'll find a way to kill; offing them is a societal version of self-defense. Having said that, though, the deep economic, social and racial unfairness of our legal system makes it impossible to fairly try and sentence people. More than anything, the irreversibility of a death sentence that's been carried out should end the question.

On a deeper level, one has to question why so many people want to kill the "bad". Since the bulk of these people are believers, one has to ask whether they are jealous of god and want to have the right of life-and-death decision-making over their fellow inferiors.

It's not like these sorts of cases are rare, you know...

[moggie]

11. Do "so many people want to kill the 'bad'"?

Sure, it's easy to talk tough when you're not involved in the case; among men, at least, it often seems like vocal support for the death penalty is tied into their sense of masculinity. But, over here in the UK, one of the reasons we abolished the death penalty is that juries were reluctant to convict in capital cases. I've served on a couple of juries, and it's damned hard to make a decision which will deprive someone of their freedom when the evidence is not 100%. Imagine how hard it must be when your decision will send someone to their death! So, too many (probable) violent criminals were going free, thanks to the death penalty.

[northzax]

13. I see the point in capital punishment

if you are in a place where confinement is a: better than life on the outside, b: unsustainable for the term acceptable or c: unsustainable by the community for economic reasons.

That means: a: in wartime, an immediate response to an act of disloyalty or similar situation. b: a frontier town that has no jail. c: a small community that cannot reasonably sustain a prisoner in a reasonable state.

It should only occur when confinement for life is simply not a reasonable option. but we can, in this society, confine people for life, in fact we do it all the time, for lesser charges, so it's no problem to commit the thousand people on death row into the prison population of 2.5 million, is it?

If we are going to have the death penalty for first degree murder, then we reasonably should make it the default penalty. it is assumed that you will be executed, if you are convicted of a homicide, you have to argue against the execution if there are mitigating circumstances. Let's make it a real threat, that applies to everyone who kills someone, not a random lottery scenario, like it is now. THAT is deterrence. You amy recall that is wasn't "Mutually theorticial, if you do something really, really, bad we might respond Destruction, it was Mututally ASSURED Destruction.

[FredScuttle]

15. Kill, Kill, Kill!

So you would have a woman who kills her rapist pleading for her life, eh?

[northzax]

17. didn't really read it, did you?

paging Jonathan Swift, Dr. Swift, Please pick up the white courtesy phone.

and in case that was too, well subtle self defense isn't homicide, now is it?

[arwalden]

8. It's Not Capital Punishment... It's Capital REVENGE.

[speedingbullet]

12. Vindicating Dead People

I have some mixed feelings about this effort. Showing the potential for executing the wrong people is very important. I just hope that equal or greater efforts are being made on behalf of people who still have a chance to be saved from execution. Proving that someone was wrongly executed is a pretty hollow victory

[gratuitous]

16. There are efforts on behalf of folks still on death row

However, one of the talking points for death penalty advocates is that there haven't been any cases where someone executed was innocent of the crime. Josh Marquis, who is the Clatsop County DA here in Oregon and president of the national association of district attorneys, often uses this very point in regard to his support for the death penalty.

I think in this case, it's an effort to take that argument away from the pro-death penalty advocates. But you're right, it's a mostly hollow victory for the particular person who was executed in this case. I think the folks involved in this effort are looking at a larger picture.

[0rganism]

18. If the convicted was innocent, the real killer could still be running free

There is a legitimate public safety justification for reviewing every such case for as long as it takes to establish certainty. Furthermore, it serves as a cautionary tale to those eligible for jury duty.

[Rich Hunt]

14. I wouldn't be surprised...

And yet, far too many people assume that if they "read in the paper" that someone did something, and if they "were arrested" for something, etc. etc. that they are GUILTY.

What's more, they get really excited about labeling people GUILTY.

I guess it's too disturbing for them to admit that they were wrong.

[thinkingwoman]

20. this is why I'm against the death penalty

It's irreversible.