Wrong man was imprisoned but fortunately not executed


Suzanne Schnittman
Guest essayist


(May 19, 2006) — We mourn the lost 10 years of Douglas Warney, released Tuesday from prison after DNA evidence found him innocent of murdering William Beason in 1996.

We hear cries of disdain for our criminal justice system. We see red faces among those who run our courts. We read angry analyses from advocates for justice. We also see the rejoicing of friends and family reunited with their brother and son.

Full Article
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060519/OPINION02/605190363/1039/OPINION

I'm glad another person was found innocent due to DNA. I'm surely not glad it took 10 years for the Unjust System to figure it out!! ARGH!! As for people getting fairer trials, that remains to be seen. It sure would be nice.

I am really pleased that this man has finally been exonerated. This gives even more reason to continue fighting to abolish the Death Penalty. If only innocence was recognised from the start - due to a fair trial for instance - then things like this would not have to occur, and there would be countless number of people are now at ease again. My thoughts are now with those who are innocent on Death Row and those who have innocent friends, family and loved ones also on Death Row.

- Ben.

I am deeply troubled by cases such as this....the evidence which eventually exonerated Douglas Warney was almost certainly in the possession of the State ten years ago. However, I presume the DNA testing that freed him was done by an independent lab, and paid for by money he or his family raised. The cost of DNA testing averages around $1000 per item tested--even the Innocence Project requires that defendants raise the money for their own testing. What happens to those who cannot raise the money (I know of a family who is faced with the prospect of raising $40,000 to get appropriate testing done)?

If state judicial systems were genuinely interested in dispensing justice, instead of merely insuring that someone goes to prison or is executed for every crime that is committed, they would perform such testing to the fullest extent possible and make all results known to the court and to the defense. But we all know it doesn't work that way.