19th October


IDAHO:


A man who spent over two decades in prison on a murder conviction that
was
overturned is now suing the people who put him behind bars.

Former death row inmate Donald Paradis has filed a $5 million lawsuit
against the former prosecutor for Kootenai County.

Donald Paradis has a filed a civil suit against the former Kootenai
County
prosecutor and others.

A federal judge ruled that the $5 million lawsuit can move forward.

Paradis' conviction in the murder of Kimberly Ann Palmer was thrown out
in
2000 after old prosecutor notes were found.

A judge later ruled those notes were wrongly withheld and would have
helped Paradis prove his defense.

"If we can succeed, it will send a very clear message that puts a check
on
the abuse of authority by prosecutors and those in law enforcement,"
said
Paradis attorney Bill Mauk.

Coming up tonight on News at Ten you will hear more on why the court
decision moving the case forward is significant, and Dee Sarton has an
exclusive interview with Donald Paradis about what he calls his
continued
quest for justice.

(source: KTVB News)

I pray he wins.

Its for reasons like this that I am against the DP. I've said before that at one time I was for the DP, but after coming to PTO and learning just how many are there that dont belong I have changed my mind. I used to think that if someone killed my loved one then they deserve the same thing, but now seeing how corupt our system is and how they dont care who they pin something on as long as they close a case I think for that reason and a few others the DP needs to be eliminated.

Its just so sad that such a majority of someones life was wasted sitting in a cell for something he didnt do and even worse for somethign the prosecution KNEW he didnt do

i hope he wins should have went for more money then maybe they will think about what there doing wrong.

And that he should do! 5 million isn't even equal to two decades of a life.

Over the past two decades we have seen over 100 inmates freed from death row due to their probable innocence. In a huge number of those cases, prosecutorial misconduct resulted in an innocent person being sent to death row. To date, I am not aware of a single case where any of the people responsible for that misconduct have served even a single day in jail!

Considering that if an ordinary person committed purjury in a murder trial they could rightfully expect to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, one wonders why prosecutors are not prosecuted and disbarred when this sort of thing happens.

Donald Pardis deserves every penny of the 5 million dollars that he is asking. But none of that money is going to come out of the salaries of those who deprived him of the best years of his life. In fact, I would be surprised if any of this even hurts their careers.

Let's hope that Pardis wins everything that he asks.

I hope that this man is a voice to be reckoned with. I hope he makes public what his experience has been, and I hope he does so not for vengence but because by speaking out he will help enlighten even one person who might make a difference for someone. I often think of the shocked righteous holier than thou attitude people express when they hear of the crimes our loved ones are in prison for and I look at their life and know that all of us have done things we were not proud of. Where is the compassion? A person behind bars whether there because they did commit the crime or there because of a wrongful conviction is still a person, and more than the act they have been accused of. It does my heart good to know that he is in a position to open a few eyes.

Over the past two decades we have seen over 100 inmates freed from death row due to their probable innocence. In a huge number of those cases, prosecutorial misconduct resulted in an innocent person being sent to death row. To date, I am not aware of a single case where any of the people responsible for that misconduct have served even a single day in jail!

Considering that if an ordinary person committed purjury in a murder trial they could rightfully expect to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, one wonders why prosecutors are not prosecuted and disbarred when this sort of thing happens.

Donald Pardis deserves every penny of the 5 million dollars that he is asking. But none of that money is going to come out of the salaries of those who deprived him of the best years of his life. In fact, I would be surprised if any of this even hurts their careers.

Let's hope that Pardis wins everything that he asks.
I could not agree more!! I hope this guy gets everything he wants and more!!

Like you I feel so strongly that corrupt prosecutors should do jail time! Some of these guys actually withhold exonerating evidence and to me that is the same as attempted murder of the defendent. It makes me sick.

Thank God this man is now out and I hope he wins!!