A man is convicted of rape and murder of a child. He is sentenced to death. He appeals and appeals, and the execution is delayed. He ends up sitting in prison for 30 years.
But he has always maintained his innocence. Many people believe him. After considerable efforts by outside groups, his case is re-examined by the same District Attorney’s office that convicted him and they discover that the evidence used to convict him was false, was presented to the jury inaccurately, and that in all probability he did not commit the crime. They find that he had a remarkably incompetent lawyer and they assert that a reasonably competent attorney could, with some assurance, have persuaded a jury of their client’s innocence.
The key evidence against him consisted of an “expert’s” conclusion that internal injuries suffered by the child could only have occurred during a window of opportunity when the man had exclusive custody of the child and, presumably, may have been caused by rape. A reexamination of that evidence by competent experts concluded, with certainty, that the injuries had, in fact, occurred before that window of opportunity. The other charges against him all depended on that original medical evidence.
The man was innocent though it was believed he should have sought medical care for the child sooner than he did.
Quiz question: would the legal system in the United States then do the right thing and release the man, and expunge his record?
I bet you think so. I bet any decent, rational human being would think so. But you are not Clarence Thomas. Here is Clarence Thomas’ judgement:
Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said that a federal court considering a habeas corpus petition, or a petition challenging the validity of a prisoner’s conviction or sentence, “may not conduct an evidentiary hearing or otherwise consider evidence beyond the state-court record based on ineffective assistance of state post-conviction counsel.”
In other words, nah nah nah nah. In other words, we don’t give a damn if he’s innocent: lock him up. This is a Supreme Court Justice speaking. He has god-like powers of the judicial system in the United States. He openly declared that even if a man can be proven innocent, once a court has found him guilty, he stays guilty.
We made a huge mistake, a massive judicial error, but because you didn’t catch us, you have to die. (Barry Jones was sentenced to death: I’m not sure why it was not carried out.)
“The idea that Mr. Jones had committed the fatal injury — the evidence was no longer there,” she concluded, adding, “The original theory of the state was flawed.” Laura Conover
Laura Conover is the country attorney for Pima County which prosecuted the original case in 1995. It is quite unusual for officials in the same office that prosecuted an innocent man to man up and admit they made a mistake. It is rare. Bravo for Laura Conover. One wishes she was on the Supreme Court instead of Clarence fucking Thomas.
Thomas isn’t alone on this: the other five Republican appointees think it’s perfectly swell to not want to hear anything that contradicts a guilty conviction once the sucker has been convicted. This is a legal system that knowingly denies poor litigants adequate counsel. Public Defenders, as every knows, are almost all overwhelmed with the volume of cases they handle, which is also why so many plea deals are made. This is why many, many innocent people plead guilty to reduced charges– because they know that their chances of being convicted no matter what the evidence is very high.
I use the word “fuck” in my title because this attitude by fucking Clarence Thomas and his asshole colleagues is utterly, monstrously, categorically evil. There are those who agree with my conclusion but feel it is counterproductive to resort to name-calling and invective. I’m not involved in U.S. politics so I feel free to say what I think about Clarence Fucking Thomas. He should be impeached. And all of the Republican Senators who voted to confirm him should resign their seats in craven remorse because they all declare loudly and vociferously how much they love freedom and liberty and justice for all.