8 years in a Louisiana jail, but he never went to trial

[Eugene]

Posted 8/29/2005 12:47 AM

8 years in a Louisiana jail, but he never went to trial

By Laura Parker, USA TODAY

When he was charged with murder in 1996, James Thomas, an
impoverished day laborer in Baton Rouge, became like many other
criminal defendants: With no money to hire a lawyer, he had to rely
on the government to provide him with one.

He then spent the next 8½ years in jail, waiting for his case to go
to trial. It never did.

Last spring, a Louisiana state appeals court ruled that prosecutors
had waited too long to try him, and it threw the charge out. By then,
Thomas was 34, his alibi witness for the night of the murder had died
of kidney disease, and his case had become a symbol of the increasing
problems within the nation's public defender system. "I can't think of
any reason why he would have so completely fallen off their radar
screen except to suggest (public defenders) were so busy and so
understaffed and underfunded, they allowed his case to slip," says
Chris Alexander, Thomas' new private lawyer. Alexander got the charge
dismissed after Thomas' mother scraped together $500 to hire him.

More than 40 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that every
person charged with a crime is entitled to legal representation —
provided by the government, if necessary — the promise is an empty
one for many low-income defendants.

More: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-29-cover-indigents_x.htm

[jody]

1. Ken Lay is still free. n/t

[DIKB]

2. Why is it that these people are always

forgotten or ignored, yet trials of celebrities are fodder for the media ? Why don't I hear huge news stories about the "vengeance" style of justice we have that sends many innocent people to jail ? Or the disparity of treatment in cases, the fact that though african americans are only 12% of the population, a much higher percentage of African Americans are on death row ?

[nosmokes]

3. OFFS!

8 1/2 years? to hell with trying to lay the blame on the public defenders office. there was some fucking legal eagle in the DA's office that knew what the hell was going on too, and un like the PD office, i'm pretty sure they make certain the prosecutor's office has money in louisiana. i hope thomas gets millions. i know he won't, but i can hope. i wouldn't mind seeing one or more of the asshole DAs do a year or two behind bars either.

[wli]

4. welcome to the military prison security industrial complex n/t

[MountainLaurel]

5. Let me guess

Person of color, right? I didn't see a photo with the article, but how much you wanna bet . . .