Judge John Creuzot is hugged by Charles Chatman
A man imprisoned since 1981 for sexual assault was freed after a judge recommended overturning his conviction.
Charles Chatman, 47, was released on his recognizance after serving nearly 27 years of a 99-year sentence. He was freed on the basis of new DNA testing that lawyers say proves his innocence and adds to Dallas County’s nationally unmatched number of wrongfully convicted inmates.
Chatman became the 15th inmate from Dallas County since 2001 to be freed by DNA testing. That is more than any other county nationwide, said Natalie Roetzel of the Innocence Project of Texas, an organization of volunteers who investigate claims of wrongful conviction.
Texas leads the country in prisoners freed by DNA testing. Including Chatman, the state will have released at least 30 wrongfully convicted inmates since 2001, according to the Innocence Project.
Texas surely leads the nation in lots of “traditional” categories.
MikeN,
I don’t know about forensic techniques 30 years ago, but it is nearly impossible to not not leave trace DNA evidence. It is falling off your skin every moment (the dust in your house for example is mostly human skin)and you spray it around when you talk and breath. With the modern replication techniques the forensic scientists can get the DNA profile of everyone who walks through a room. About the only way to avoid it, is cover your body head to toe in a prophylactic covering and breath through a face mask. In a rape kit they take samples from all over the victims body, and isolate the DNA profiles everyone who was even ~near~ the victim.
These cases that are freeing people have all been trace evidence cases, because if there is no DNA on the victim or in the victims cloths… Then that guy is definitely not the one that raped her. It is conclusive.
Well Mr CSI, who knew that the police were so effective. I guess we should expect to see DNA evidence in every trial then?
Most of the people who are on death row or in jail for so long, it means the crimes and investigations happened in the late 80s early 90s or earlier.
#22,
Actually, my current knowledge of the state of the art testing is a result of the Crystal Gail Mangum rape hoax. With PCR+STP testing they were able to get the genetic fingerprint of everyone she had been with(even though theoretically they used condoms), which was then omitted from the discovery process, as well as missing any trace evidence from her vaginal swabs, and underpants. Also, they overplayed the trace evidence they found on her arms.
And I tend to consume Law and Order more than CSI.
Also, if I ever end up on a jury for a violent crime and there is no DNA trace evidence, yup, it is going to influence my decision. It is cheap and nearly 100% effective.
#21 & 23. your average drive-by shooting is not going to leave any DNA behind, nor is your average liquor-store holdup. the cops are not going to sweep the sidewalk or the floor of a 7-11 for DNA fragments.
But that doesn’t matter. Drivebys and armed robberies that go bad are rarely capital cases. Rape-murders, torture-murders. Multiple homicides, going on a shooting spree, slashing little kids’ throats, pistol-whipping little old Samaritan ladies, blowing cops away. Those are the kind of things that bring in the death penalty, and they are seldom the sort of crimes that lack all physical evidence.
That is why, as I keep reminding people, the only ones who wind up being exonerated have been convicted without any physical evidence.
That same DNA tech that frees those convicted on bullshit eyewitness accounts is the same tech that put most of those on Death Row where they are, with no chance in Hell of their being innocent.
Write your Senator, your rep. Tell ‘em they need to ban the DP for cases without physical evidence. Then the tiny number of factually innocent will not be at risk of execution, and the removal of the truly deserving from human society can proceed without worry over executing an innocent. And we can then all move on to bigger matters.
The people they need to be executing are the corporate executives that destroy people’s lives by devaluing their 401K’s, taking golden parachutes and leaving tens of thousands of workers without jobs.
It’s a sticky issue.
There is a difference, and we have yet to even start examining it, between directly taking, say, the life of one human – and taking, say, 1/1000 of a life from each of 1000 people, which still amounts to taking one complete human life, just on the installment plan.
can he sue?…you bet your ass…should he?…you bet your ass…..this is a classic case of our judicial system convicting someone without sufficient evidence. our system used to b
“innocent until proven guilty”…now its “your going to jail unless you can prove beyond a shadow that you are inocent”..i think he should sue there ass for millions and millions. the guys life is ruined…how ca he susrvive,get a job,etc now?? no matter what, hes going to look guilty,period, or else why would he have spend most of his life in prison….. i think the government should take the adverage income for the area, and times it by how may years the guy spent in jail, and cut him a freakin check