Oops, our bad

How does it make you feel to hear that 44 year-old Lynn DeJac was released from prison after 13 years when new forensic evidence showed that -- Oops! -- she didn't kill her daughter Crystallynn Girard, after all.

There was a horrible case going on like this on Long Island for years. Marty Tankleff had just turned 17, when he was charged with the murder of his parents, in 1988. The "facts" in this case were laughable, and yet Tankleff spent almost half of his life behind bars before being released. (And the law enforcement officials involved still have not been brought to justice.)

There is a lot more to both of the stories, but you can Google 'em for the details.

It's painful, though, to think that you could lose loved one (or two) AND suffer the additional heartache of being charged with the crime and spending years in prison.

I'm trying to imagine something worse...

Comments

[Tom McAdam]

Just one (of many) reasonable and persuasive arguments against the death penalty, even though that was not in play in either of these cases. And how do we go about giving these people their lives back?

[lwt]

dependiing on how long these folks were in prison, it will be a serious readjustment. one has to start being responsible for the decisions involved in day-to-day living, get a job, a place to live and all that involves. i hope the state has a counseling plan in place to help them readjust. and certainly a settlement equal to the 'back pay' they would have received had they been out working. certainly education and employment opportunities are owed. and that's just off the top of my head. i'm sure if i sat down and made a list i could go on for pages. and yet,these folks are the lucky ones. how many were executed under the same circumstances?

[Evelyn]

It certainly does make me sick thinking about how many others are still out there, in prison, unable to get the notice or too defeated to fight for their own release. The ones that get out are the lucky ones.

[Linda]

Something worse? That would probably be dying in prison knowing you didn't do anything wrong.

[Walter]

The worse part of the Tankleff case is that the County has dropped all charges, but now Andrew Cuomo (NY State Attorney General) has decided to open his own "investigation." This guy is a joke, does he think he's going to make any points by continuing to beat this dead horse (no pun intended).

[nan]

American blind justice eh?
It is absolutely the best argument for abandoning the death penalty.