Barney Brown released after 38 years imprisonment.
Loyala University of Chicago College of Law has a great profile on Barney Brown, a non-DNA exoneree out of Miami, Florida. Barney’s story is pretty incredible.
In 1970, at 14 years old and a young black boy with no criminal record, Barney was detained after a car in which he was a passenger was pulled over. His parents were not notified. He was then transferred to Miami on charges of raping and robbing a white woman.
After several lineups, the victim could not identify him as the perpetrator. Despite this fact, the police pressed forward and brutalized Barney during interrogations, even irreparably damaging one of his eyes.
Prosecutors also pressed on and tried Barney as a juvenile. With the victim unable to make the identification, the judge entered an acquittal and ordered his case dismissed. Not satisfied, the prosecutors then did the following:
Barney’s nightmare should have ended there, but it didn’t. Despite his acquittal in juvenile court, the prosecutor retried him in adult court and asked for the death penalty, which was permissible at the time. Barney again pled not guilty, despite the fact that the prosecution offered him three years in a juvenile facility in exchange for a guilty plea.
When Barney’s mother heard about the prosecutors’ deal, she begged him to accept it. But Barney couldn’t do it. “Maybe I could lie about other things,” Barney told me matter of factly, “but I couldn’t lie against myself.”
Barney was convicted. Because the State sought the death penalty 9which was allowed for rapes at that time) the jury, by a vote 7-5, spared Barney’s life. Instead of meeting Old Sparky, Barney was sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Now it doesn’t take a law scholar or Supreme Court justice to see the obvious problem with all of this. The Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution strictly prohibits individuals from being tried for the same crime twice. After hsi juvenile acquittal, the state was actually barred from trying him as an adult.
What is even more unbelievable is how long it took until a court actually took notice of this grievous constitutional violation and rectified it:
Though it took almost 40 years, the truth eventually prevailed. After decades of trying to prove his innocence, lawyers Benedict Kuehne and Susan Dmitrovsky took his case before Judge Antonio Marin of Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court.
In an opinion that probably every person who has ever thought about going to law school would wish they could write, Judge Marin ordered Barney’sconviction to “be vacated and the defendant discharged from all liability for the charged offense.”
“This case,” Judge Marin ruled, “presents a clear example of a grievous constitutional double jeopardy violation[.] As a result of this clear constitutional maxim, Mr. Brown should have never been forced to defend himself against the same rape and robbery charges a second time. His life sentences for the 1970 adult court convictions should have never happened. His incarceration within Florida’s prison system for most of his adult life should not have taken place.”
When news of Barney’s exoneration reached the prison on the evening of September 24, 2008, their reaction was unfortunately typical of many wrongfully convicted people. Prison officials simply released him into the dark, rainy night with no one there to meet him and nowhere to go.
I met Barney Brown, 38 years after his wrongful incarceration began, in March at the Innocence Network soon after he was released. He is a wonderful guy, who is going to do great things with the rest of the time he has here on Earth.
Link:
http://floridainnocence.org/content/?p=1283
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11 comments:
Our prison system is, in some respects, just as bad as the plantation system of the nineteenth century: an affront to human decency.
" I don't care what age they are, or what they now do for a living, but the prosecutors involved with this case should go to jail. This is unacceptable by any standard of human decency. "
I fully agree with whomever made this statement. However, instead of jail, I propose they be found and charged with treason for violating the supreme law of the land and, upon conviction be sentenced accordingly and immediately. Not only is this unacceptable by any standard of human or humane decency, it is beyong a moral and ethical outrage!
Dammit! I can only imagine how many more innocent men are being held unjustly. How many mmay be dying or have died while wrongfully imprisoned because of the same/similar F*CKED UP...
Sorry, crap like this makes my blood boil like magma and my spirit to be filled with rage. I need to take a break before I do launch into a tirade against the system that failed this man and many others. Thirty eight years for two crimes HE DID NOT COMMIT?
I have said over and over and, I'm sure some may be tired of hearing(reading) it but, Justice is never satisfied by the blood,suffering or, death of the innocent.
The supreme law of the land here in the U.S. IS The U.S. Constitution. No state nor their representative(s),lawmakers,courts or, anyone has any right to violate it in any manner. It is expessedly forbidden. All who were involved in seeing to it this man be retried ,after being acquiited by a jury, should not only be imprisoned IAW The U.S. Constituion but also forefeit all of their property,investments,assets and,benefits.
Another man who lost deacdes of his life for crimes he did not commit. What a horrible thing to suffer.
I am almost tempted to agree with the treason idea. A strong message needs to be sent.
I think in a case like this that, regardless of separation of powers,
Congress should intervene. I don't see how the court system is going to fix itself from within. If the Supreme Court can elect the president, then I don't think I'm asking too much.
(Congress should also intervene in law enforcement, and immediately fire and replace all police personnel in each and every city, county, and other jurisdictions. Incentives can be provided to recruit new officers, who will then be trained under the new system not to be fascist law-breakers. They can do like Reagan did the Air Traffic Controllers, use the pool of existing applicants. Congress can appoint interim personnel at the higher positions. )
P.S.
while we're at it,
1)completely overhaul the prison system.
2)release any and all persons held against their will in mental institutions.
3)do away with temp agencies; force employers to hire the workers as regular employees. Dump off all the temp agency hiring managers on local skid row, each wearing only a hospital gown and a diaper.
Since the prosecutors sought the death penalty, knowing that this young man was innocent, they need to face the same. Maybe if a few prosecutors who commit these crimes either are imprisoned or executed, maybe this epidemic of wrongful prosecution will stop.
Realistically, if they were prosecuted it would have to be for something related to fraud or abuse of power. Obviously I don't know exactly what they would be charged with.
Which is a part of the problem: for the most part prosecutors are allowed to get away with anything. Even sending Nifong to jail for a day was considered a big deal.
IMHO, prosecutors wield alot of power and have virtually nobody to answer to. I'm not denigrating them. With power comes authority. It appears there is little, if anything, to keep them and their power and authority in check as they are " the left hand of God" in some people's eyes. There job is to seek the truth not, persue guilt against whomever they please. The problem is, after our forefathers fought for our independence from England and it's laws that bound to the citizen's to obey the king and the church of England, we reverted to doing the same thing. Enough people complain about something a laws or laws are created and it becomes illegal. We in essence, adopted the same system of law that our forefathers escaped from. The only state I know of that does not follow english law is the state of Louisiana. They have napoleonic law. We must do better. All written laws MUST be in accordance with the U.S. Constitution. It is tricky but, we must do better.
You are right Norm, the system needs to be overhauled. We the people must take back our powers and our authority. We are the investors in our governments. As such we hold the power to question it,it's employees who are our employees as are the governments. We are the masters, they are our servants. We command them, they do not have the right to command us ( I think this is what feminists knew when they were raising hell and roaring their demands to the governments).I realize what I am saying is radical but, IMHO, it is the truth. I have had arguments with people who consider states to have rights. They cite the tenth amendment;
U.S. Constitution - Amendment 10
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
They pay attention to this part;
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively,
but neglect this part; or to the people
I have read the U.S. Constitution ( all members of the U.S. Military and U.S. Citizens should read it carefully) and have found no mention of "state's rights". All citizens have rights, individually and collectively, wihout respect to race,creed,color,gender,national background or, ethnic background or, choice of religion.
There is a need for law and order but, who gets to decide for whom?
Feminists got tired of violence being committed gainst women so they raised hell and, the government listened and VAWA passed into law. Not enough men objected so, those who did were ignored. The majority decided what was best for them and the minority. We pay taxes too, which fund VAWA but it does nothing for us. This,IMHO, is a violation of the fourteenth amendment's requirement for equal protection under the law, as well as, a violation of the ninth amendment.
Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution. Ratified 12/15/1791.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
I know my sentence structure and punctuation may suck but, it's one of the " benefits " of having attended the feminized public school system in Tennessee.
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