The Lake County state’s attorney, Michael Waller, in a statement defended his office’s prosecution of Mr. Rivera, whose case was featured in an article in The New York Times Magazine. “I am mindful that for Mr. Rivera and some others, this decision will be viewed as too late in coming,” Mr. Waller said. Though there was no physical evidence linking Mr. Rivera to the crime, he was convicted of raping and murdering the baby sitter, Holly Staker, based largely on his confession. In 2005, DNA testing determined that Mr. Rivera was not the source of semen found inside Holly, and he was awarded a new trial, his third.
Rumpole says: But innocent people don't confess, right?
Innocent people don't confess. Police are never wrong and never coerce statements. Victims never lie.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it just takes three trials to get a jury to see the light.
false-confessions need to be looked at with less disbelief by prosecutors
ReplyDeleteCan you point to a country who's system of criminal justice is even close to our in terms of fairness? I can't.
ReplyDeleteSwitzerland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Great Britian for starters. I believe we have the highest incarceration rate not to mention the most violent cimes of any civilzed country. We have more of our citizens incarcerated than the soviet union did at the height of the gulag. And by the way we join N Korea China and Iran as the only country on earth that executed juveniles.
ReplyDeleteYou do know that those European countries do not have a 4th Amendment or an exclusionary rule.
ReplyDeleteCops think you have evidence, at most they ask the prosecutor for permission to search. Usually, even that is not necessary.
Once they have it, it comes in as evidence.
I prefer our "errors" to their heavy handed tactics - which are approved of by their laws.
Take our bill of rights, which I treasure and agree is something significant that sets us apart (although the exclusionary rule is under attack) and incorporate the humane sentencing procedures of the european countries that I mentioned, and now you have a criminal justice system you can be proud of.
ReplyDeleteI know they don't have people in Europe serving life in prison for possessing marijuana, which they do in Texas. I know there is a much lower incarceration are in Europe and more money in the criminal justice system is spent on rehabilitation and not building prisons, and I know they don't have the death penalty in Europe. And those facts more than answer the individual who asked me to point to another country that had a criminal justice system as fair as ours.
We may have the bill of rights, but when you factor in "fairness" about 80% of that or more is sentencing and in that regard I would posit we are close to the bottom third of countries when you consider fairness. There is nothing fair about giving someone a fair trial and then sentencing them equivalent as to how they sentence people in iran, China, North Korea, or Pakistan. Where's the 8th Amendment? We no longer execute juveniles, but we send them to prison forever. And there is nothing enlightened or fair about that.
I will take justice in dade county over any other country. Actually its a blow out. And if you kidnap and rape kids and there is dna and a confession the only "enlightened" punishment is death. Slow death preferably.
ReplyDeleteTee-bow!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHey Rump - Aren't you upset with the Steeler loss ... or with Kenny W. catching so many damn fish?
ReplyDeleteWhat?? No second grade reading level rhyme about how Tebow would be exposed?
ReplyDeletewell all of you folks just mosey on over to socialist europe and learn arabic and live there and quit whining we are the ones that STOPPED executing folks for stealing and putting them in prison for debt ! Hey I'll book your tourist class ticket for you !
ReplyDeleteLil Timmy Teebow
ReplyDeletefinally won a game
but lil timmy is so shy
he pretends he doesn't like fame
all he does is praise the lord
so many times we all are bored
now lil timmy goes out east
to face brady and the beast
but he ain't scared
and he is calm
because he will hide behind the skirt of his mom.
What a woosy fake punk.
Hyper religiosity is a DSMIV recognized condition and boy does he have it.
Believe me, you are no Robert Frost.
ReplyDeleteStop with the poetry. It is neither clever nor funny.
A) you requested it b) it's true. Lil timmy needs his mama and his hyper-religiosity is indicative of deep mental instabiity. Think of your clients who are fixated on the almighty and can't keep babbling about g-d. It's an illness and a weakness. Those who are secure in their faith don't need to keep telling the world about it. Just like those who are true patriots don't need to wear an american flag. I fought in the first gulf war in the airborne. But I don't tell the world and I don't wear a flag. I am secure in my devotion to country without telling everyone I meet about my medals
ReplyDeleteThe Tallahasse Free for all begins:
ReplyDeleteGov. Rick Scott wants legislators to find another $1 Billion for public schools, even in a year when they must close a projected budget shortfall of up to
$2 Billion.
No new taxes. No new fees. A balanced budget,” said Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, succinctly stating his overarching goals.
I guess no COLAs again and more contributions, say, 5 to 10% from State Employees to health care and retirement ...
DS
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com
You could not seriously think anyone was asking to hear that lame rhyme?
ReplyDeleteI believe it was sarcasm.
1127
ReplyDeleteBravo.
and Thanx for your service to Our Country
DS
DS
ReplyDeletedo you fog 27/7?
Hey DS send me a email from your private email.
ReplyDeleteHR
I was quoted at length by the Herald on the Rothstein case. The Herald correctly identified me as a major atty in the case and as a former pres of the Florida Asoc Of Criminal Def attys. But most importantly I was recognized in both my work and home Starbucks by the employees as a very important lawyer. They were impressed with my inclusion in the article and rightfully so. Please follow my twitter account of my lead role in the Rothstein case: "an important lawyer handles the rothstein case" and all my other tweets including my cogent argument "I got the Rothstein case without social media experts and you can too".
ReplyDelete"He felt like it was a propitious time"
ReplyDelete... William Daley on the timing of his departure as White House Chief of Staff.
OK, WORD OF THE DAY GUYS:
PROPITIOUS
executed juveniles? we NEVER executed juveniles.
ReplyDeleteWe waited until they became adults then we executed them for the crime so that they could understand as a grow adult the actions they did as a minor child for which we executed them for - on top of the trauma of being born into a crack infested home, being beaten by a several step fathers and boy friends of there mother, we shall now kill you for the horrors that you committed, and those who committed the horrors on you that made you an animal, well.. we at the State DCF say "Sorry" we are over worked and under payed.
You want injustice for juveniles Rumpole?
ReplyDeleteJust skip on over to the Juvi court and handle a few dependency cases involving kids 10 and up and watch how the Judges start baker acting kids with no regard to due process or even an appointed lawyer who's sole obligation is the interest of the child's rights under the constitution. They do this on a regular basis to lock up kids for running away from home who have no criminal or violent records.
Don't give me some crap about the GAL office, as they are not there to keep kids out of jail (baker acted) and 9 times out of 10 the GAL assigned are in the back pocket of Cindy and Jeri.
2 hours before the game, Tebow gave an interview glorifying the bible and especially John 3:16. In the game, his average pass completion went for 31.6 yards per completion. He threw for 316 yards, a rookie playoff record. Somehow not surprisingly, CBS' rating for the game was 31.6. Pretty interesting coincidences, don't you say? One thing is certain, the guy is and always has been a winner, as opposed to his critics who are and will always be losers, especially in the courtroom.
ReplyDelete10pm. In the 1940s south carolina executed a 14 year old. Of course he was black and charged with raping 2 white girls. He was appointed a tax lawyer as counsel There was no physical evidence and only a confession to a sheriff who promised him ice cream. No blacka were allowed in the courthouse during the trial. He was executed after no appeal six week later. The only problem was he didnt fit in the electric chair and the straps were too large. The child's name was George Stinney. Check out the page on wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteSo next time you challenge me, in CAPS no less, do your reseach first.
10pm. In the 1940s south carolina executed a 14 year old child. Of course he was black and he was charged with raping 2 white girls. He was appointed a tax lawyer as counsel. There was no physical evidence and only a confession to a sheriff who promised him ice cream. No blacks were allowed in the courthouse during the trial. He was executed after no appeal six weeks later. The only problem was he didnt fit in the electric chair and the straps were too large. The child's name was George Stinney. Check out the page on wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteWikipendia also list NINE yes NINE juveniles executed in the United States since 2000.
So next time you challenge me, in CAPS no less, do your reseach first.
Tally-Ho or the Tallahassee Round-up
ReplyDeleteIn a fast paced 60 days our Legislative Branch will resolve issues of Re-Apportionment, The Budget w/ a projected 2 Billion shortfall. Legislative leaders promise a short and concise session, maybe going home early according to reports in the Herald.
But the First thing they did Monday was have committee meetings to pass the Destination Gambling Bill. ( The Genting Corporate Welfare Bill) and allow more slots at the tracks.
Look for an attack on PIP due to 800 411 Pain, and an attack on Citizens Hurricane Issurance ( Republicans cannt stand a Gov't program that private companies can do much more expansively and tons of profits to donate to campaigns with) . At least there will be drastic premium increase for Citizens.
Luckily the Members of the House and Senate had until Sunday to raise funds for election, Fundraising being illegal in the session. To make it easier for tired lobbyists, Sunday, Dems had their confrence leader just collect checks in one large manilla envelope and distribute them later.
Cannt wait to See/Hear what the Gov. said in his State of the State Speech.
DS
Rumpole, 9:10 pm was just being sarcastic and hyperbolic.
ReplyDelete..here is the link for todays
ReplyDeleteState of the State Address
by Gov. Scott
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjEuBwZFdK8
DS
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ReplyDeleteDNA STRIKES HARD .......20 YEARS LATER
from the Huffington Post:
Police in central Florida claim they've cracked a 20-year-old homicide investigation by matching a tax cheat's DNA to evidence at the murder scene.
David Lee Hedrick, 50, a computer and television salesman from Apopka, began 15 years of probation for tax fraud on Nov. 21 by providing a DNA sample to state officials, The Orlando Sentinel reports.
When they ran his genetic ID through crime records they come up with a match to a grisly crime that had vexed investigators for two decades, according to The Associated Press.
In 1991, Betty Clair Foster was found stabbed to death inside the computer store where she worked as a receptionist. A customer spotted blood on the ground outside the shop, The Sentinel says.
At the time of the murder, Clair was believed to be the only employee in the store. The doors weren't locked, but the window curtains were closed, according to the newspaper. No money was taken from her purse.
Investigators worked the case, but the trail went cold until Hedrick was convicted for withholding $72,000 in sales tax to the state on the sale of $764,000 of televisions to two Walt Disney World hotels, The Sentinel says.
The subsequent felony conviction required Hedrick to register with the state and supply a DNA sample, according to radio station WDBO.
During the registration, it was noted that Hedrick bore unspecified signs of old scars on his fingers, WDBO says.
Test results came back weeks later showing that Hedrick's DNA matched samples found at computer store crime scene. Seminole County sheriff deputies arrested him on Monday and charged him with first degree murder, according to WKMG
Cap Out ....