Innocent Man spends 18 years in prison and he is - finally free......

[dogday]

What would be the first very first thing that you would want to do if it were you?

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pittsburgh/s_359366.html

Innocence found


Thirty minutes after an Allegheny County judge called his wrongful 1986 rape conviction a "tragedy," Thomas A. Doswell walked out of jail a free man Monday after 18 years in prison.
"I'm thankful. God is good," said a beaming Doswell, who was cleared of the rape by DNA tests last month.

"I'm not bitter. I'm not angry, even if I have the right to be," Doswell, 46, of Homewood, said later in the day. "I'm just thankful for the justice system. I'm living proof that it can work."

Common Pleas Judge John A. Zottola yesterday ordered Doswell's release after the district attorney's office officially withdrew the charges it filed in 1986. It is the first time in Allegheny County that a conviction has been overturned by DNA testing.

[Horse with no Name]

1. Hmmmm

"thankful the justice system can work"?
Oh no..you lock me up unjustly for 18 years...someone gonna pay,lol.

[dogday]

3. Isn't there like a dollar limit they set for

false imprisonment? A set amount like a few million or something? Seems like I have heard of something to that effect....

[BamaLefty]

2. And This Is Exactly

why I am against the death penalty. What if he had been on death row and this had never been discovered? I can't even trust the government to get my mail to me on time, much less run a trillion volts of electricity through a person's body without 100% undeniable proof that they are guilty-- which is an impossible feat within itself.

Thank God the truth set this man free.

[FreedomAngel82]

7. Me too

I don't like it because so many people have innocently been killed because of whatever reason. Plus Jesus didn't teach "an eye for an eye".

[smbolisnch]

8. That's the first thing I thought of as well.

It is frightening to think how many innocent people have been executed.

[BamaLefty]

16. And Many More To Come...

Just think, there are innocent people on death row as we type.

[SlipperySlope]

4. The first thing I would do...

Sue everybody involved for wrongful imprisonment. Sue the judge, the bailiff, the prosecutors, every single prison guard, the warden, the governor, everybody. Every single person who was involved in holding this man, for even a moment, must be personally punished harshly.

The criminal justice system has failed this man. I would prefer that no rapist is ever imprisoned again, over the chance that a single innocent man could spend a day in prison.

[pitohui]

5. get a gun and get me some liars

what would anyone do

the so-called victim and the co-worker who lied to put me in prison should not walk free

i'm amazed at the forgiveness in people, of course, it just encourages the pathological liars to continue on with their games since there are no consequences

if you don't know what you saw, don't claim you did under oath, that is perjury

[Sparkman]

9. small caliber recommended, 22-25cal, up close & personal, with explanation

AND if OJ is any clue, DON'T scrimp on the lawyer should you get caught! jus kiddin'!

[FreedomAngel82]

6. Why did it take eighteen years?

[pitohui]

11. huge backlog of these cases

a man in my area was cleared of rape after 15 yrs but there are many more cases still awaiting tests

in some jurisdictions the judges can and do refuse to allow dna tests, if person is already convicted of the crime

by law if you are convicted, even if you are factually innocent, you are guilty of the crime and don't have same rights as you did before conviction

[dogday]

19. Because they don't give a

rat's ass about you once you are incarcerated, you are property of the state. It is a crying shame that he had to spend all that time to find out he was innocent...

[Beaver Tail]

10. The Jusice system FAILED

It was science that set the record strait.

[OneTwentyoNine]

12. Good thing he wasn't in Texas,Bush would have had him fried years ago...nt

[Kraklen]

13. Of course he was a black man.

Just another victim of institutionalized racism.

[no_to_war_economy]

14. that is the definition of strength

no anger after all those years, shocking

[spinbaby]

15. The worst part of this story...

Is that he could have been paroled four times if he had just admitted it and said he was sorry.

[FloridaPat]

17. USA Today's story said he was given 13-23 years. He was up

for parole 3 times but turned down because he wouldn't own up to the crime.

[A Simple Game]

18. I, I, I can't.

A man of Convictions.

I,m sorry, I had to.

[mnmoderatedem]

20. "I'm living proof it can work." ?!?

Yeah, except for the 18 years he spent in prison for something he did not do.

Maybe we should have just executed him.

[Wizard777]

21. The Prosecutor should have to serve every day of 18 years.

An innocent person need never fear jail. But that is not how the system is working. You would probably do better facing a lynch mob than most american prosecutors. For the longest time America's justice system has been about anything but Justice. It's about prosecutors winning cases. It's about finding someone anyone to pay for a crime to pacify the community.
Now you can live in fear agonizing over wheather the jury will believe that the tag that cannot be removed under penalty of law really did just fall off the matress. Then the police bust through your door to arrest you for mass murder and the brutal rape of several children durring a bank robbery that was to fund your terrorist cell. Oh my God! What is your church group going to think? Will they allow your funeral to be held in the church after your execution?
If we continue to allow prosecutors to put innocent people in jail. Then what is the point of being a law abiding citizen? Why not shoot that SOB that just got on your last nerve? At least then they will put you in jail for a crime you did commit. If you confess.... These cases are the bells whistles and air raid sirens that the Justice system is being failed by it's trustees.
Prosecutors can now walk into courtrooms with trumped up and unreliable evidence. Then use jurist profiling and jury psychologists to make a jury believe that an innocent man is guilty. To hell with beyond a shadow of a doubt! I'm betting this person did it. Why not? I have nothing to lose if I'm wrong. That needs to stop yesterday! We need to start jailing prosecutors for jailing innocent people.