11 ms·
This is what it's like for an innocent man to spend thirty years in jail
- jarin 16y agoIt's scary that something like this could theoretically happen to any of us.
- jbooth 16y agoWell, most of us are white. So not really.
- jarin 16y agoWell, in an ideal world this would happen to all races equally. Wait, that doesn't quite sound right.
- xiaoma 16y agoMany white men have also been falsely accused, imprisoned for over a decade and then released on DNA evidence. If there's anyone that's somewhat protected from overzealous law enforcement officers, DAs and judges, it probably wouldn't be a racial group. It would be women.
- cellis 16y agoAnd rich people.
- dgabriel 16y agoNot entirely: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/26/48hours/main570187.shtml http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/26/48hours/main570187... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/19/60II/main612675.shtml http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/19/60II/main612675.sh... http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Did-these-women-molest-two-girls-908873.php http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Did-thes... I'm sure I can find more evidence, but I'm procrastinating and need to get back to work.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- xiaoma 16y agoThe plural of anecdote is not data. Look for statistics relating to conviction/acquittal rates or rates of DAs deciding not to press charges for various crimes. The very worst thing for your odds of getting let go without prosecution or getting acquitted is being male. Next are being young or black. Being poor, foreign or unattractive(!) also hurt, but to a lesser degree and less uniformly. Obviously a middle-adged white female can be falsely prosecuted, but it's much rarer than for a random member of the population.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- extension 16y agoBut most of us are "hackers" so yes, really.
- bugsy 16y agoI am not white myself and have never committed anything anyone sane would consider a crime. Yet I have been picked up and thrown in jail several times. Last time was because I was walking my dog at the park without a leash. I have never heard of a white person arrested for this. If someone was raped in the park the week I was walking my dog there, I know I would have been the primary suspect because that's how this works.
- AndyKelley 16y agoWhere do you live? I can't even conceive of something like that happening here in Phoenix, AZ. Seriously, until I started reading stories like this on the Internet, I thought people were needlessly indulging in fake drama when they talked about racism.
- Natsu 16y ago> I can't even conceive of something like that happening here in Phoenix, AZ. Have you ever read Phoenix news as reported by out-of-state newspapers? I'm guessing that you haven't.
- AndyKelley 16y agoI must admit that I don't read much news at all. What's our reputation?
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- wvoq 16y agoYou're aware that you live in a state where the police can stop you and ask for your papers if you're brown and speaking Spanish, right?
- AndyKelley 16y agoIt is my understanding that police must first have a "reasonable suspicion" in order to stop you, and only then under the new law, if they have "reason to suspect" that you are an illegal immigrant, that they are then required to ask for papers.
- nitrogen 16y agoThough racial discrimination is one of the most visible and widespread forms of discrimination, prejudices can apply to many other, sometimes unprotected classes in which some of us find ourselves. These include age, wealth (against both rich and poor), gender, occupation or interests, the color or make of your car, being a geek, or any other difference. Yes, it really could happen to you.
- stcredzero 16y ago"Something like this" happens all the time. Often, you find yourself in a situation where you're surrounded by people who view reality differently than you. If this comes to everyone's attention, then group social dynamics can come into play, where individual views of reality can be challenged by the pressure of a mob. Most of the time, people just shrug it off, go home or back to their usual community and dismiss this as an aberration. If you are in jail for a crime you did not commit, you face this every day. Racial prejudice is still a pressure like this. People who live in cosmopolitan areas can go home and shrug it off. People who are isolated and marked as different cannot, so they can see it more clearly. In either case, such prejudices are still with us, but since they've been driven underground, it's hard to know how to deal with them.
- timmyd 16y agoIn the worlds of William Blackstone "Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstones_formulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstones_formulation
- nazgulnarsil 16y agowhat about 11?
- pjscott 16y agoThe general form -- and I forget who first said this -- is "Better that n guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. Solve for n."
- AndyKelley 16y agoThis isn't a joke guys. It's an insightful comment to which pjscott responded appropriately.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- Bud 16y agoThis link doesn't load unless you include the apostrophe in "Blackstone's", but HN seemingly does not allow posting of URLs which include an apostrophe (well, a single-quote, that is). Bug?
- philbo 16y agohttps://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Blackstone%27s_formulation https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Blackstone%27...
- extension 16y agoIt's such an obvious principle yet so few appreciate it. Assuming the punishment is about as bad as the crime, then punishing the innocent is as bad as committing the crime. So, what's worse: allowing a crime to go unpunished or committing an equally bad crime yourself? Additionally, a crime committed by the very institution that is supposed to enforce justice is worse than one committed by an autonomous citizen, all other things equal.
- cleverjake 16y agoOn a sadly similar note, there is a really well made documentary called Witch Hunt (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1196112/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1196112/) in which during the 1970s in California, multiple children were coerced into accusing their parents of molestation.
- Duff 16y agoThe Salem Witch trials are another great example of this phenomena.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- maeon3 16y agoIn cases like these, _all_ of the people responsible for: A. convicting him on insufficient evidence. B. failing to free him on sufficient evidence Need to be brought in and asked for a reason for why this happened. If they can't come up with a solid reason justifying each action for why this has occurred, and if they do find a reason, remedies for the failure, then they have to serve the victims sentence. When an airliner goes down, bosses and leaders scramble to find a reason to prevent it from happening again to appease the public, but in a case like this, a fate far worse than getting injured in an airplane crash, they just shrug it off and make a vow to be more careful with this kind of thing. Better 100 guilty men go free than for an innocent man be jailed. The guys who incarcerated this innocent man better beef up their security systems. Injustice like this needs to be dealt with, and sadly, never will be. the end.
- zdw 16y agoThe problem is our legal system is full of perverse rewards - for example, the DA's office and police force probably gets compensated depending on how much "crime" they "control". Thus, putting away people unjustly is rewarded, and they've externalized the negative consequences. They also get to see a parade of people who actually committed the crimes they're accused of, so making the generalization that "everyone who is accused is guilty" is fairly easy. Plus, the problem with trying to go after all those people is that, in cases like this, many are probably not in the same line of work, have retired or died. Imagine if you took a job where, 30 years after you quit, someone could come after you because of something that might not have been your fault. That's not fair either. I don't see a good solution to this, other than maybe additional separation of powers - for example, forcing the police and legal system to work further apart and not be rewarded perversely.
- MichaelSalib 16y agoImagine if you took a job where, 30 years after you quit, someone could come after you because of something that might not have been your fault. If you railroaded an innocent man, tainted evidence, or otherwise brought about a false conviction with massive incompetence, I don't see any problem with people coming after you 30 years later.
- mdaniel 16y agoThank you, thank you, for posting the print view. One swift backtick and it was ready to read.
- wisty 16y agoThey should ban that line "Can you identify the man who did this?" Original witness statements are the only things that are reliable. After the victim has identified the "perpetrator" from a line-up, they forget the original face, and their memories become re-written to include the face they think is responsible. A friend of mine studying to be a cop knows this (all cops should know this) but they still persist in using testimony that they know is unreliable. Can you blame them though? If they didn't use the line, it would be much harder to get a conviction. Courts should just read a description, one that was made before the victim (or interviewing officer) has seen the suspect they dragged in. Or the police should get a sketch (or computer sketch) of the assailant before anyone involved has seen any possible suspects.
- citricsquid 16y agoThe entire damn process should be changed, I sincerely hope these are not actual quotes because some of these questions are so incredibly leading, it's ridiculous that they're allowed especially with children involved. You get a child to admit to anything with the right words and authority, surely everyone knows this!
- baguasquirrel 16y agoThe same language used by lawyers and prosecutors are the same words they hear on TV when the ads roll. Are you surprised?
- alphakappa 16y agoVery relevant story this week on 'This American Life' about a guy who spent decades in prison because a teenager randomly identified him from a stack of photos just to get the cops off his back. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/282/diy http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/282/d...
- 46Bit 16y agoI think it's as simple as this: witnesses aren't reliable. When you think about how often you turn out to remember little details wrong, it's clear that more often than not you'll pick out the wrong man in a lineup - especially when so traumatised. Lineups should be replaced by facial reconstruction - get the victim to sort out what the face looked like, then see if it looks like the suspect.
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y agoSimilar stories: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2067768 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2067768 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2067884 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2067884 Miscarriages of justice happen. The real crime is that there seems to be no follow-up, no detailed reports, no proposals for making sure the same mistakes don't happen again. That's the tragedy beyond the individual cases. It will happen again, in exactly the same way, for exactly the same reasons.
- ugh 16y agoWhat gets me about this case is that there was little interest in looking at new evidence as it became available, even active attempts from the prosecution to stop the new evidence from being used. It wouldn’t even be hard for politicians to frame the question of whether DNA evidence should be tested as often as possible in harsh law and order terms: For every innocent person in prison, the real perpetrator is running around free. We want to be damn sure that we locked up the right people!
- nazgulnarsil 16y agoone of the problems with the justice system that I rarely see mentioned: the literacy level of the public has declined to what? an 8th grade level? You can not tell me that the logic employed in building court cases is at that level. 12 angry men? In real life there is no juror #8.
- pjscott 16y agoWas the literacy level of the public higher in the past? I couldn't find statistics.
- nazgulnarsil 16y agoI had seen a 12th grade level cited, but I don't think the methodology was rigorous.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
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- edw519 16y ago[Disclaimer: aerospace industry veteran] When a plane crashes, it is standard procedure to determine exactly what went wrong, what weaknesses in the "system" enabled what went wrong to go wrong, what prescription is needed to fix that system, and for the system to be fixed. This was a plane crash. I know this article was about one man, but there's no mention of anything about fixing what must have been broken in the first place. Sadly, I fear, because it doesn't exist.
- axiom 16y agoWell, the change that prevents this from happening again is DNA evidence. Definitely the human factors that caused this will still complicate things, but at least the most egregious kinds of cases can be prevented.
- quattrofan 16y agoDon't be sure that having DNA evidence will mean there will never be a miscarriage of justice. So many reasons that can still happen.
- foljs 16y agoHow about DNA evidence being present and found evidence enough, while the guy it belongs to is innocent? For example, one person could have had sex with a murdered woman earlier --and left his DNA--, but someone else killed her. The D.A. though, will have a field day on him...
- bugsy 16y agoThe DNA got him released in the end but it's not the problem with the system since there are cases with no DNA evidence in which people are wrongfully convicted the exact same way he was. Here is a summary of what happened. He is a black. All blacks look alike and are criminals. Therefore he is guilty. This is what went wrong and needs to be fixed, just as with an airplane that leaks fuel and isn't detected because of a faulty fuel readout, the answer isn't to carry more fuel. Here are some things that are broken. 1. There is a presumption of guilt. 2. Prosecutors are interested in their kill ratio, not justice. 3. Judges are interested in arbitrary exercise of power, not justice. 4. It is very rare to find a public defender who diligently defends the interest of the defense. Public defenders work with the prosecution to get the case through the system. 5. In some jurisdictions elected judges don't need to have law backgrounds, or have demonstrated any competence or knowledge of the law. 6. The prison system is about punishment and exercise of power, not rehabilitation.
- bwb 16y agoWow powerful story, glad to see DNA testing making a difference in a system that will always be hit by bias and other problems. I recommend Truth Machine (book) too, basically a Sci Fi look at if someone invented a machine that can tell if a person is lieing and how it affects society... http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Machine-James-Halperin/dp/0345412885 http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Machine-James-Halperin/dp/034541...
- elptacek 16y agoI read a story about Cameron Willingham in the New Yorker a while back: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?printable=true http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_... There's also an article about him on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham
- spacemanaki 16y agoThat story was incredibly chilling, thank you for reminding me of it. I knew the feeling I got reading this one on Ray Towler was familiar.
- TheSOB88 16y agoI'd love to know the information that's being presented here, but it's presented in such a lousy and verbose way that I just don't feel like reading it. Why is it so common for journalism to be faux novelism?
- michael_dorfman 16y agoI feel sorry for you, if you think only about "information" and not the presentation of the content. This was a beautifully written piece, and there was nothing "lousy" or "verbose" about it. In my opinion, this was an excellent piece of journalism, and I'm glad that the "long form" piece hasn't completely disappeared.
- BrandonM 16y agoThe guy spent almost 30 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. You can't spend 5 minutes reading his story. Interesting.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- TheSOB88 16y agoI know it sounds deliciously ironic, but I already know the system is fucked up. But the article didn't really draw me in or give me any clues about why what it has to say about the subject is relevant to me. I mean, we all know that dictators are killing people right now. Does that mean we need to read the stories of their victims' families, and how sad it is? Every time something like that happens?
- nazgulnarsil 16y agofor the facts just jump to the wikipedia page. this is a narrative to take you through the story from the point of view of the participants.
- starpilot 16y agoI wonder if the (now 41 year old) victim is aware of all this.
- corin_ 16y agoI would think it would be impossible for her (and the then-boy) to not be aware, unless they are now dead.
- corin_ 16y agoEsquire's not a magazine I'm particularly proud to be a subscriber to, but articles like this one are what makes it worth while. They may be a trashy lads mag, masquerading as a high-brow product for upper class gentlemen, but for stories like this, few publications tell them better.
- zavulon 16y agoCouldn't disagree more. They are so far above Maxim, FHM, Men's Fitness and other trashy magazines that it's not even funny. A lot of times their writing is absolutely spectacular. In particular, works by Tom Junod, A.J. Jacobs, David Granger, Chris Jones are always worth checking out. Here's a link to some of their best stuff: http://www.esquire.com/features/page-75/greatest-stories http://www.esquire.com/features/page-75/greatest-stories And the best thing is, they haven't lost any of their greatness over the last 75+ years - this was one of the best magazine stories I've ever read: http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310 http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310
- corin_ 16y agoI think perhaps I explained my view badly. Spectacular writing, completely agree, that was the point I tried to make with "but for stories like this, few publications tell them better", and that's why I do subscribe to Esquire (both print, UK edition, and iPad, US edition). However, there is a lot to Esquire magazine that I really don't like, and that is really very comparable to Maxim, FHM and so on. A few examples: - 'Women We Love' (an excuse to show semi-naked pictures) - The 'How To...' guides in the middle of the magazine. A couple of examples currently on their website are "How to Get Some on February 14th" and "How to Have Sex in the Car" (and even the boring topics like "How to smile" are generally badly written and fairly pointless). - The 'Tough love with Tanya Gold' that appears each month.. And I dislike how much it tends to be aimed at middle/upper class people, from the adverts to the content. I'm not sure how much of that is because this is their actual audience, and how much is because their actual audience wants to feel like they are higher in society than they are. For example, I question that the people spending £10,000s on a watch are also going to buy a bottle of £25 whisky, yet you don't see cheap watches advertised, or expensive whisky. Note that, while it may be cheap whisky, it's still whisky - you won't see beer advertised by them, that's for poor people! Ultimately, Esquire mixes trashy with attempted high brow with some superbe content - and I hope that, like me (and I assume you), there are more readers who subscribe for the great content than there are who subscribe because they want FHM-style content while feeling good about themselves. Somehow, I doubt that's true.
- grellas 16y agoThis story reminds me of how little most of know about what it means to suffer. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to be going innocently about your own business, getting pulled over by a traffic cop, and then suddenly being hustled off into a hellish pit for nearly 30 years - voiceless, helpless, and forgotten while being robbed of everything normal in adult life and while bearing the stigma of child molestor. We all plan for the perfect lives and then complain when things fall short. Well, in our sheltered little worlds, we have no idea what it means to get kicked in the teeth non-stop over the course of a lifetime. This story gives us just a little glimpse and we can all shudder just thinking about it. I have nothing but the highest admiration for anyone who could endure all this and still emerge with the abiding spirit that Mr. Towler now displays. It is a small miracle that he is not broken, bitter, and vengeful. Let us hope he can still rebuild his life from its broken fragments.
- tokenadult 16y agoI have nothing but the highest admiration for anyone who could endure all this and still emerge with the abiding spirit that Mr. Towler now displays. Hear. Hear. What was especially harsh for him is that in the prison environment, child molesters are the lowest of the low, the prisoners who are held in contempt by other prisoners. He had to exercise immense self-control to keep his dignity intact in that environment. No one should have to live with a false accusation of having harmed a child.
- ErrantX 16y agoAs someone who works on investigations into such offences; this weighs on my mind constantly. There are perhaps one or two cases (out of several hundred) that still have me lying awake at night. In deeper moments of reflection I know I made the right call on them, but I still worry about it, as part of the process of self-assessment. Sadly I don't always see so much concern in others within the same field. Child abuse is one of those horribly amoral crimes that clouds our personnel opinions, and so often I see prosecutors who simply hate the defendant on a personnel level. That sort of approach sickens me, it is exactly the sort of approach that screwed this guy; from the cop to the judge it was the same problem. I can't talk for anyone else, but stories like this mean that tomorrow, as with every day, I make damned sure I am certain of what I find out. To the extend of putting my own liberty behind what I present. This sort of thing should be required reading in our field...
- hcurtiss 16y agoFWIW, DNA analysis is not, itself, infallible: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727733.500-fallible-dna-evidence-can-mean-prison-or-freedom.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727733.500-fallible-...
- hellodude129 16y agoI love the work of the Innocence Project. I've been a big financial supporter of them. Please donate if you can.
- 16s 16y agoA lot of people look the same to me (unless I know them). They are just faces in the crowd. Because of this, I'd never swear under oath that I saw a stranger do something. Unless the person had a very distinct scar or birth mark or purple hair, etc. that I could vividly recall... honestly I cannot tell them from the next person. I think most people are like this, but convince themselves otherwise.
- mhewett 16y agoI'm exactly like you. Everyone looks the same to me. But my ex-wife is exactly the opposite. We once walked into a very crowded baseball game at Candlestick park looking for a friend who was somewhere in the crowd (we had no idea where). She found him in less than 30 seconds a quarter of the way around the stadium. I think most people are somewhere in between these two extremes.
- cletus 16y agoThis reminds me of an episode of the (IMHO excellent) "The Good Wife". In one episode, it was pointed out that people are much better at identifying and describing members of their own race, basically the cross-race effect or own race bias [1]. I'm glad there was finally justice in this matter, even if it was far, far too late. To Mr Towler's credit, he doesn't seem to be consumed by the obvious injustice. The one part missing from the story was any mention of the (other) victim, Brittany, who would now be in her 40s (if still alive). What were the circumstances behind her identifying Mr Towler? What are her thoughts on the matter now? As must as we can chastise the judge and the prosecutor in this case, there was an eyewitness account and the alleged perpetrator was identified (albeit wrongly). How would you react to an accused child rapist on trial? I wonder what happened to the real perpetrator. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he is now dead and was probably incarcerated for other attacks. So this man spent 30 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit. At the other end of the spectrum, Roman Polanski plied a 13 year old with alcohol, raped her, absconded to France prior to sentencing [2], remains free and is treated as a cause celebre somehow hounded even victimized by the authorities. It's hard not to look at that and see two different justice systems in play. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski_sexual_abuse_case http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski_sexual_abuse_cas...
- malbs 16y agoWhat I'd like to know is, did they ever find/catch the actual perp?
- jcampbell1 16y agoNot hacker news.