Freedom

Freedom. It’s a concept that is thrown around a lot, especially given the state of our nation right now. We all love our freedom.  And I’m not just talking about the right to vote, freedom of speech or even the opportunity to basically do anything we want in life and make it our own. 

There are a select few people out there who don’t have the same freedoms as the rest of us, but absolutely should. But a few missteps here or there by so-called trusted members of our community and government or even flat out lies from others. The freedom of these individuals were taken away wrongfully. 

I’m talking about individuals who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes and sentenced to many years, if not for life, in prison—some even sentenced to death. All for something they didn’t do. That’s our justice system at work. 

Consider some of these stats:

• Since 1989, there have been tens of thousands of cases where prime suspects were identified and pursued, until DNA testing proved their innocence prior to conviction. 
• There have been 272 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the US.  The first was in 1989 and thanks to scientific advancements, there have been 205 since 2000. 
• 75 percent of those exoneration cases also included false eyewitness identification. 
• 25 percent of those exoneration cases included false confessions and 35 percent of those had a defendant that was under the age of 18 and/or developmentally disabled. 
• The average length of time served by someone wrongfully convicted is 13 years.

These stats come from The Innocence Project out of New York. They are the largest advocacy organization for such victims and are dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convited through DNA testing and reforming the justice system to prevent future injustice. 

There are several very well-known cases in various parts of the country, and there have been 11 exonerations in Pennsylvania. Locally, the Innocence Institute of Point Park University is the local innocence project started back in 2001 under the leadership of award winning investigative reporter Bill Moushey. It’s one of a few innocence institutes in the country that is affiliated directly with a journalism program rather than a law school. 

Probably the biggest case across the country that grabs attention year after year is the case of the West Memphis Three.  Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley have been in prison for over 17 years. You can read about the case yourself but these three young men were incarcerated and in the case of Echols, sentenced to death, for a crime they didn’t commit. A range of issues point to the innocence of these three men, including corrupt law enforcement, law enforcement misconduct, judge and jury misconduct, evidence contamination, false eye witness testimony and false confessions. 

This week, a final report on recent DNA testing conclusively excludes the three men that are currently sitting in jail. Chalk this up as yet another piece of evidence proving these guys didn’t do it. But here’s the issue…it’s harder to get them out than it was to put them in. They, as well as members of their family, friends, rock stars, movie stars, and even the victim’s families have been fighting to get them out. 

So when you talk about freedom and celebrate this great country, remember people like this who were failed by the system that is supposed to protect us all.