Too Many Cases Being Railroaded The System Is Broken Prosecutorial Abuse Threatens The Innocent.

“The man walked in, grabbed the microphone, and looked us dead in the face and said, `Y’all are about to execute an innocent man, and some day you’ll have to answer for this’. Man, I will carry this to my grave.”

That was Howard Marsellus, a former chairman of the Louisiana pardon board, telling Atlantic Monthly writer Alan Berlow that he was responding to pressure from the governor when he voted in 1984 to execute a man he believes was probably innocent.

The recent news about overturned murder convictions is not surprising to anyone who has read Berlow’s death penalty indictment (November edition, or www.theatlantic.com). Nor is it news to those familiar with the Chicago Tribune’s series about 13 innocent men sent to death row.

Two of the many assumptions crushed by these investigations are:

Overturned convictions prove the system works. So, one time through the system is fair. Then kill them. Anthony Porter, who spent 16 years in prison, had an IQ of 51. During a two-week reprieve to determine whether he was mentally competent to be executed, college journalism students produced a videotaped confession from the real killer. Had Porter’s IQ been 50 points higher, the state of Illinois would’ve already killed him.

In 12 years, Rolando Cruz went through the Illinois legal system three times before a police officer admitted to lying under oath. DNA evidence at the third trial pointed to the culprit - a man who had confessed 10 years earlier.

Prosecutors are committed to the truth. The Tribune discovered that since 1963, at least 381 homicide convictions nationwide had been overturned because the prosecution suppressed exculpatory evidence or knowingly presented false evidence.

Many prosecutors are reluctant to turn over evidence, such as DNA samples, for post-conviction study. Before this year, 48 states left that decision up to prosecutors. Many states don’t even require that such evidence be preserved. Time after time prosecutors have fought lawsuits before finally turning over exculpatory evidence.

Another problem is the underfunding of public defenders offices, which has virtually eliminated the adversarial nature of the system for those who cannot afford private counsel.

For every eight people executed nationwide, one is exonerated. More than 80 innocent people have been sent to death row. It’s time to unplug the chairs, put away the needles and find out why.