Texas Man Freed After 26 Years in Prison

[tyler811]

First here is the story


Now a quote

Chatman became the 15th inmate from Dallas County since 2001 to be freed by DNA testing.

15 from one county alone in just 7 years. How many wrongly convicted people have been put to death? I know the statistics say none but that is bullshit. Do murder cases have the market magically cornered for a 100% accurate conviction rate?

 

[HardcoreRobot]

im SURE innocent people have died, and thats why i dont support the death penalty. though, i do believe most murderers derserve to die for their crimes...

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
im SURE innocent people have died, and thats why i dont support the death penalty. though, i do believe most murderers derserve to die for their crimes...

Exactly. I oppose the death penalty for practical reasons, not because I believe that it is innately immoral.

 

[tylerdustin2008]

They should have to pay him for all the money he could have made in those 27 years. I think is more than fair.

 

[GeekDrew]

That's one of the reasons that I'm against the vast majority of all harsh penalties. There are few ways to prove that it was actually person X that committed the crime.

 

[tyler811]

Originally posted by: tylerdustin2008
They should have to pay him for all the money he could have made in those 27 years. I think is more than fair.

And just how much would that be? What if he was on welfare or could have went on to a Masters Degree? What about the time he missed with his family and the worst thing of all, the simply ability to walk out his front door with a cup joe and feel the morning sun on his face and the cool dew between his toes. How do you compensate for that?

 

[Dunbar]

The studies into wrongful conviction rates have shown it's incredibly low. With 2 million people in US prisons a few were wrongly convicted but it's rare.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: Dunbar
The studies into wrongful conviction rates have shown it's incredibly low. With 2 million people in US prisons a few were wrongly convicted but it's rare.

It'd really suck to be 'that guy', wouldn't it.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
im SURE innocent people have died, and thats why i dont support the death penalty. though, i do believe most murderers derserve to die for their crimes...

Exactly. I oppose the death penalty for practical reasons, not because I believe that it is innately immoral.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: tyler811

Originally posted by: tylerdustin2008
They should have to pay him for all the money he could have made in those 27 years. I think is more than fair.

And just how much would that be? What if he was on welfare or could have went on to a Masters Degree? What about the time he missed with his family and the worst thing of all, the simply ability to walk out his front door with a cup joe and feel the morning sun on his face and the cool dew between his toes. How do you compensate for that?

I would say give him the average income over that period of time in the city he was incarcerated.

 

[Orsorum]

I oppose the death penalty primarily on two points: first, the power over a citizen's life, even if that citizen has committed a heinous crime, should never be arrogated to the state. Second, the process by which the accused are convicted and sentenced in death penalty cases is appallingly flawed and leaves many avenues for arbitrary and capricious sentences.

A close friend of mine had another angle, once which might appeal to many Christians; by giving the state the authority to prematurely terminate someone's life, you are denying that person the opportunity to repent for their sins and accept Christ as their savior.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: JLee

Originally posted by: Dunbar
The studies into wrongful conviction rates have shown it's incredibly low. With 2 million people in US prisons a few were wrongly convicted but it's rare.

It'd really suck to be 'that guy', wouldn't it.

Problem is, they are the only ones you hear about, not the other 2 million that are guilty. Our justice system gets it right most of the time, with convictions.

Heck, if our justice has a real flaw, it's that too many guilty people go free.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: Orsorum
A close friend of mine had another angle, once which might appeal to many Christians; by giving the state the authority to prematurely terminate someone's life, you are denying that person the opportunity to repent for their sins and accept Christ as their savior.

A christian of a different mindset might say that the repenting of sin and accepting of christ is something that the near-lost only do in the face of imminent death. By that measure more souls may have been saved by capitol punishment than by the most spirited of church sermons.

Just playing Devil's advocate here. :evil:

 

[BoomerD]

I'm PRO death penalty, but cases like this are what make me believe that more care needs to be taken BEFORE the person is actually executed. I would support expanding the list of death penalty crimes, but again, proper care needs to be taken to NOT get in a hurry to "spark em up."

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: JLee

Originally posted by: Dunbar
The studies into wrongful conviction rates have shown it's incredibly low. With 2 million people in US prisons a few were wrongly convicted but it's rare.

It'd really suck to be 'that guy', wouldn't it.

Problem is, they are the only ones you hear about, not the other 2 million that are guilty. Our justice system gets it right most of the time, with convictions.

Heck, if our justice has a real flaw, it's that too many guilty people go free.

Actually, that's exactly the point. Would you be willing to see more innocent people go to jail to put more guilty people in jail as well?

 

[Jeff7]

I don't understand why it's so difficult to get DNA testing done for people like this. Is it because it would show how inaccurate our justice system really is? What's the deal?