mammastalkin
10-11-2009, 01:18 PM
DPIC has added Michael Toney (TX), Yancy Douglas (Alabama)and Paris Powell (Alabama) to the list of exeonerees from DR.
Three New Death Row Exonerations Underscore Systemic Failures (http://deathpenaltyblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/10/three-new-death-row-exoneratio.html)
Amidst the uproar over the Cameron Todd Willingham case (http://www.tcadp.org/index.php?page=top-cameron-todd-willingham-case)and the likelihood that the State of Texas has executed an innocent person, the State of Oklahoma released two men from death row last Friday. Yancy Douglas and Paris Powell, charged with murder in a 1993 drive-by shooting, had spent nearly a decade on Oklahoma's death row. The state dropped the charges against them after deciding that the key witness in the case was unreliable.
Douglas and Powell join former Texas inmate Michael Toney (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/michael-toney-recently-exonerated-death-row-texas-dies-car-crash)as the most recent additions to the list of death row exonorees maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-death-penalty). Toney was killed last weekend in car crash, just one month after the state dropped all charges against him and he was released from a Tarrant County jail. His conviction had been overturned on December 17, 2008 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals because the prosecution suppressed evidence relating to the credibility of its only two witnesses against him. Prosecutors admitted they had withheld 14 key documents from the defense during Toney's original trial. He also had spent nearly a decade on death row.
Texas now has exonerated 10 death row inmates; there have been a total of 138 exonerations nationwide since 1973 - 8 of those have occurred this year alone.
Clearly the case of Cameron Todd Willingham represents only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to wrongful convictions. What makes his case unique, of course, is that there is no way to rectify this wrong.
How many mistakes are we willing to make when it comes to human lives? Given that we have alternative means to punish the truly guilty and protect society, isn't it time to repeal the costly, broken death penalty system.
http://deathpenaltyblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/10/three-new-death-row-exoneratio.html
Three New Death Row Exonerations Underscore Systemic Failures (http://deathpenaltyblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/10/three-new-death-row-exoneratio.html)
Amidst the uproar over the Cameron Todd Willingham case (http://www.tcadp.org/index.php?page=top-cameron-todd-willingham-case)and the likelihood that the State of Texas has executed an innocent person, the State of Oklahoma released two men from death row last Friday. Yancy Douglas and Paris Powell, charged with murder in a 1993 drive-by shooting, had spent nearly a decade on Oklahoma's death row. The state dropped the charges against them after deciding that the key witness in the case was unreliable.
Douglas and Powell join former Texas inmate Michael Toney (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/michael-toney-recently-exonerated-death-row-texas-dies-car-crash)as the most recent additions to the list of death row exonorees maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-death-penalty). Toney was killed last weekend in car crash, just one month after the state dropped all charges against him and he was released from a Tarrant County jail. His conviction had been overturned on December 17, 2008 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals because the prosecution suppressed evidence relating to the credibility of its only two witnesses against him. Prosecutors admitted they had withheld 14 key documents from the defense during Toney's original trial. He also had spent nearly a decade on death row.
Texas now has exonerated 10 death row inmates; there have been a total of 138 exonerations nationwide since 1973 - 8 of those have occurred this year alone.
Clearly the case of Cameron Todd Willingham represents only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to wrongful convictions. What makes his case unique, of course, is that there is no way to rectify this wrong.
How many mistakes are we willing to make when it comes to human lives? Given that we have alternative means to punish the truly guilty and protect society, isn't it time to repeal the costly, broken death penalty system.
http://deathpenaltyblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/10/three-new-death-row-exoneratio.html