Johnnie Earl Lindsey made six unanswered requests for DNA testing before the rape kit from 1981 was finally tested.  Were public officials eager to save the tax payer a few bucks even if it meant keeping an innocent man behind bars?  Did these people secretly fear they would look bad if DNA testing proved they had convicted the wrong man?  Or did they just not care?

The article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram provides some insight:

Lindsey, who had a prior conviction for aggravated robbery, became a suspect in the rape of a woman near White Rock Lake after pleading guilty to attempted rape in a separate case, a legal maneuver Moore said “was a business decision” to avoid a lengthy sentence.

Police included his picture in a photo lineup mailed to the White Rock Lake victim about a year later. The woman was raped by a shirtless man, and Lindsey was one of two shirtless men among the six photos.

Police officers had a shirtless man with a prior conviction so they mailed the suspect a photo array explicitly designed to implicate Lindsey.  Once the identification was made, nobody cared that the prime suspect had time cards showing he was at work at the time of the rape and a boss willing to corroborate the alibi.  Law enforcement and the prosecuting attorney wanted to get the case off their desks and move on to more pressing matters.  “Hey, the guy has an assault on his record.  If he didn’t do this one, he probably did something just as bad.”

Lindsey is the 20th defendant cleared by DNA evidence in the past seven years . . . in Dallas County alone.   If Dallas County hadn’t preserved decades-old physical evidence, Lindsey would have died behind bars. 

Most of the credit for the horrifying spate of exonerations goes to Dallas County DA Craig Watkins.  Here we have the rarest of individuals, a prosecutor who cares more about justice than about carving notches in his prosecutorial belt.

On the same page as the Lindsey story, you can read about Timothy Brian Cole, a young black man convicted of raping a Texas Tech co-ed in 1985.  Unlike Lindsey, Mr. Cole didn’t make it back to free world–he died in a Texas prison in 1999. 

Once again, an intentionally misleading photo array was part of the problem.  The victim was shown six pictures by a Lubbock police officer (at least the array didn’t come in the mail): five standard mugshots, and one Polaroid.  Guess which picture was of Timothy Brian Cole?

If law enforcement wanted to avoid wrongful convictions they would have show witnesses several pages of photographs.  And they would ensure that the officer presenting the array didn’t know the identity of the prime suspect.  You can’t subtly influence a witness if you don’t know one man from the next.

Michelle Mallin, the rape victim, was horrified to learn that Coles was innocent and that a second man had confessed to the crime.  She had been so sure she had the right guy.  Unfortunately, her false sense of certainty was created by police officers eager to clear a case and a prosecutor gunning for another conviction.

Can we clone Craig Watkins?

When you come across two tragic stories on a single newspaper page you know you’ve got a big problem.  The conservative Dallas Morning News recently congratulated Mr. Watkins for his crusading efforts, but couldn’t resist the suggestion that the African American prosecutor is playing to the cameras.  Nonsense: when twenty people are exonerated by DNA evidence in a single county the cameras are going to be there whether you want them or not.  Watkins is right to attract as much publicity to this issue as he can.

As even the DMN editors admit:

A deluge of DNA exonerations in Dallas County has shaken confidence in the judicial system, spurring serious questions about flawed photo lineups, erroneous eyewitness testimony and prosecutorial misconduct.

Senator Rodney Ellis has been calling for a Texas State Innocence Commission since he played a role in overturning the Tulia drug sting in 2003.  Last year, the Texas Legislature rejected the idea, (nobody in politics wants to look soft on crime).  But the pressure mounts with each additional exoneration.  It won’t be long before Texas takes a serious look at this problem. 

Hopefully, the state of Georgia will follow suit while Troy Davis remains in the land of the living.

“Daily Kos” founder Mark Zuniga gives Executive Director Alan Bean high praise. In his new book Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era Markos Moulitsas Zuniga says, “Alan Bean of Friends of Justice is my new hero (page 274). Zuniga credits Bean extensively for his role in bringing the story of the Jena 6 out of the shadows into the light of day (see pages 136-144).

On page 141, Dr. Bean is given credit for alerting both the mainstream media and the black blogosphere to the plight of the Jena 6. “Black bloggers took up the cause of the Jena 6 with a passion. Originally alerted to the story by Bean, whose timeline of the Jena 6 story was distributed to national journalists like Howard Witt of the the Chicago Tribune, Tom Mangold of the BBC, and Wade Goodwyn of NPR, as well as bloggers like Jordan Flaherty and Bill Quigley, these citizen journalists began their own investigations into the story. ‘It is interesting that the early bloggers on this story were white, but that the Jena 6 never really resonated with white readers,’ Bean said. ‘Only when the black bloggers got hold of the story did it really take off.'”

Congratulations to Dr. Alan Bean and to Friends of Justice for these well-earned kudos.

 Charles Kiker

Tulia, Texas

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jena 6 defendant Robert Bailey will be able to play football this year.  According to a poll, 66% of readers agree with this decision.  If the poll were taken in Jena I fear we would see a different result.

‘Jena Six’ athlete to play at Columbus’ Shaw High
GHSA grants eligibility to Robert Bailey Jr., who awaits trial for battery charge

By S. THOMAS COLEMAN

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Monday, August 25, 2008

Robert Bailey Jr., one of the “Jena Six,” will be allowed to play for Shaw High in Columbus this season.

The Georgia High School Association approved Bailey’s hardship appeal to be granted eligibility for the 2008-09 school year today at its fall executive committee meeting. Bailey’s appeal was the only one of five requests to be approved.

Bailey is one of six black teenagers from Jena, La., who came to be known as the “Jena Six,” after they originally were charged with attempted murder after allegedly attacking a white student at Jena High School in December of 2006. The charges were eventually reduced to aggravated second-degree battery. Five of the six, including Bailey, are awaiting trial.

The alleged attack was one of several racially charged incidents that occurred in the rural town that year, and the case brought worldwide attention to Jena. An estimated 20,000 protesters marched through Jena last summer in a show of support for Bailey and his co-defendants.

The Raiders are ranked No. 5 in Class AAA in the AJC’s preseason Top 10 poll. They are a combined 71-12 since 2002.

A new pollsuggests that Barack Obama would get a six percent bump in the polls if white Democrats got over their age-old bigotry.  But check out the graph (a little down the page on the left) and consider the enormous fissure separating white Democrats from white Republicans.  If you think the Democrats have issues . . . 

Last night I was at a high school football game registering new voters.  We had a good evening–over thirty people registered.  Since you never know who is registered and who isn’t, we asked everybody if they would like to register to vote.  Black people typically smiled and announced proudly that they were registered and ready.  We got the same reaction from most working class whites, though in more muted form.  I couldn’t help noticing, however, that we received a lot of suspicious glances from the more affluent faces in the crowd. 

I wondered what these people were thinking.  A question from one man provided a likely answer. “If I sign up,” he said, “does that mean I have to vote like ya’ll?”

To understand the question you have to understand that Nancy and I were the only white people working the booth–everyone else was Black. 

Please check out this troubling story and give us your reaction: http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-obama-race.

Share your support for Troy Davis here.

Georgia wants to execute Troy Davis Tuesday night at 7:00 pm.  Six days later, the Supreme Court of the United States will decide if they want to take up the case.  New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wonders why Georgia is in such a rush.  A very good question.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/opinion/20herbert.html?hp

This innocuous piece from the Shreveport Times was reprinted in today’s USA Today.  You will not be surprised to learn that all the black residents are going for Barack Obama while the vast majority of white voters will pull the lever for John McCain.  This pattern will play out across the South, a sign that Dixie hasn’t changed as much as advertised.

I was charmed to note that the editor of the Jena Times can’t vote for Obama because (a) he doesn’t wear a flag pin and (b) he refuses to salute the flag.  Sammy Franklin’s willingness to embrace patent lies suggests that he wouldn’t vote for Obama if he was Rambo’s black sidekick.  Still, I am encouraged to see that ol’ Sammy feels the need to stipulate non-racial reasons for his political preference.  Forty years ago it would have been, “I ain’t votin’ for no n_____ and that’s that!”

Many white voters favor John McCain because they like his politics; but the die-hard white Democrats who say they’re going Republican this year because of the flag pin issue aren’t fooling anybody.

Election hinges on identity, life experience in Jena, La.

By Alexandyr Kent, The Shreveport (La.) Times
JENA, La. – Main Street buzz has turned from racial politics to presidential politics in the year since the “Jena Six” legal battles and civil rights protests.
Residents gathered outside the La Salle Parish courthouse in Jena, La., on Sept. 11 to reflect on community values and how the presidential election might play here, a parish of about 14,000 residents, heavily invested in oil, timber and conservative values.

A year ago Saturday about 20,000 civil rights demonstrators protested a perception of legal injustice and racial prejudice at the same courthouse. But on Sept. 11, as townspeople, the school band, elected officials and the National Guard came together, the focus was patriotism and politics, said Sammy Franklin, long-time editor and publisher of the Jena Times. (more…)

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the massive march on Jena, Louisiana.  Black Voices has put together a helpful update providing answers to a host of Jena 6 questions including up-to-the-minute news concerning each of the defendants.  Most of the commentary is taken from Howard Witt’s stories in the Chicago Tribune.   (Note: if you click on the link you will find lots of nifty pictures and additional commentary.)

As most readers of this blog are aware, Friends of Justice was the first organization to investigate this story and get the facts to the wider world (a fact not mentioned in this coverage).

Was Jena the birthplace of the Black blogosphere, as Howard Witt suggests?  Some of you may want to express an opinion.

Jena Six Anniversary: How Things Have Changed

Posted Sep 18th 2008 6:00AM by Carmen Dixon
Filed under: BlackSpin, Jena Six, Black History 365, News

Jena Six Case

AP

A year ago, rallies in support of the Jena Six were held in Jena, La., and elsewhere in the US. The Sept. 20, 2007, marches were a reaction to the racially-charged case involving attempted murder charges filed against six black teens for a schoolyard fight. The altercation was sparked by a noose being hung from a tree at the school by white students.  (more…)

I just returned from Waco, Texas where I attended a two-day event featuring Tony Campolo and several other progressive Baptists.  This morning, David Gushee, an ethics professor at the McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, introduced a Christian ethic grounded in the sanctity of life.  As you might expect, Dr. Gushee had a lot to say about abortion, but the primary focus of his talk was torture.  Why, he asked us, do Southern evangelicals overwhelmingly endorse the use of torture when they claim to follow the Prince of Peace?

I won’t have time to comment further this week, but, as luck would have it, Brian McLaren has linked to the report Gushee and others compiled after a groundbreaking symposium on torture and faith at McAfee.  More statistical information can be found here.  Please give this material you careful attention and share your views.  This issue touches on criminal justice reform (the central theme of this blog) because coercive techniques aren’t just used in military prisons to extract testimony from suspected terrorists.  As I pointed out to Dr. Gushee this morning, psychological torture is commonplace in the criminal justice system as well. 

Apart from the ethical issues raised by coersive interrogation techniques, serious doubts have been raised about the quality of the information obtained in this way.  Desperate victims will tell the interrogator what they think he wants to hear.  This rarely enhances the search for the truth.

Brian McLaren writes:

Please Forward this link to White Evangelicals you know
The good people of Associated Baptist Press released a disturbing story today …

600 Southern white evangelicals were recently polled on their views of torture. White Southern Evangelicals are more likely than the general populace to believe torture is sometimes or often justified. The article explains …

A new survey suggests the very Americans who claim to follow the Bible most assiduously don’t consult it when forming their views about torture and government policy.

On a more encouraging note …

…their views seemed to change when asked to consider torture policy in light of the Golden Rule. When respondents were asked if the United States should “never use methods against our enemies that we would not want used on American soldiers,” more than half agreed.

The article quoted Tyler Wigg Stevenson …

“This is a spiritual crisis, I suggest, that should alarm all Christian leaders regardless of what we think about torture,” said Tyler Wigg Stevenson, a Baptist minister and human-rights activist from Nashville, Tenn., at a press conference announcing the survey’s results. “This bad news for the church is a plus for any special interest who wants to take advantage of us.”

However, he added, “The good news this poll reminds us of is that, as with any issue when Christians remember that our calling is to follow Jesus, he changes everything.”

David Gushee commented …

“My message to [Illinois] Sen. Barack Obama … is that you have an opportunity to make torture a moral and, in fact a religious issue-a values issue,” said Gushee, who teaches Christian ethics. “This is in your interest, because you are trying to communicate to religious Americans-and especially to evangelicals.”

But he warned Obama not to soft-pedal the torture issue in his campaign speeches for fear of alienating middle-of-the-road voters. “I say: Say more about the issue of torture and not less,” Gushee said. “Don’t run away from the issue.”

Gushee noted that two-thirds of poll participants who support McCain support torture. He advised McCain …

For McCain, the veteran Arizona senator who endured years of torture while he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, Gushee had different advice. “I say to Sen. McCain: Make the tie between your personal narrative and your policy stance on human rights perfectly clear,” he said.
Gushee noted that two-thirds of those in the poll who said they were supporting McCain also support torture. According to the ABP article,

Gushee said he was disappointed with McCain’s actions on specific legislation earlier this year that seemed to indicate he was backtracking on his previous anti-torture stance. Gushee said one vote in particular was “grievously disappointing to all who follow … this battle for our national soul.”

Gushee’s advice to McCain:

“Tell your own voters why they are wrong on this issue, and why you are committed to the positions that you have articulated since 2002-2003 on the issue of torture.”

I hope that white Southern Evangelicals will have some thoughtful dialogue on what this poll tells us.

Troy Davis has spent the past 19 years in prison for the 1989 murder of a Savannah, Ga. police officer.  Last year, Davis came within 23 hours of lethal injection before the Georgia state board of pardons and paroles issued a temporary stay of execution.  Even with the support of Amnesty International, Pope Benedict the 16th, and conservative politicians like Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, Troy Davis will die, possibly at the end of this month.

At the heart of this story lies a string of witness recantations.  Some witnesses report that they were threatened with long prison terms if they didn’t tell the story the prosecution’s way.

Please read the elegant feature article Michelle Garcia wrote for Amnesty International’s magazine.  Since Ms. Garcia’s piece was published, the Georgia Board denied the request Davis filed for a new trial.  This means Troy Davis will die by lethal injection on September 23rd unless the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case.  Their decision is almost completely dependant on the volume of the public outcry.

Please read the brief summary of the primary issues pasted below, then read Ms. Garcia’s article for greater depth.  I have written about the guessing game that aflicts our justice system when prosecutor’s shape the facts to fit their preconceived narrative.  The Troy Davis story offers the perfect illustration of how it works.  The legal system assumes that once a person has been tried and convicted they should be presumed guilty unless they can prove innocence beyond a reasonable doubt.  In other words, Troy Davis will die even though any objective observer, having considered the basic facts, would have grave doubts about his guilt.

Please take action at the Amnesty International Site.

(more…)