STORY: "How the death penalty may keep innocent people in prison," by law Professor Russell Dean Covey, Georgia State University, published by 'The Conversation' on March 24 2016.
GIST: "Utah’s conservative state Senate recently voted to abolish the death penalty. The action reflects a growing bipartisan recognition of the documented flaws of the death penalty, including its high cost, decades-long appeals and faulty lethal injection protocols. To get the measure through the Republican-led House, Utah legislators might point to another reason to abolish capital punishment, one counterintuitively illustrated in the recent executions of a Texas serial killer and an Oklahoma gangbanger: state executions of the guilty sometimes impede exoneration of the innocent. A case in Texas: Rodney Lincoln was convicted in 1982 of murdering JoAnn Tate and violently assaulting her two young daughters. The crime scene was bloody and brutal, but the evidence against Lincoln was tenuous. There was a shaky hair analysis, a smattering of other physical evidence and little else. Except, that is, for the testimony of Tate’s eight-year-old daughter, Melissa Davis, who survived the attack. Davis picked Lincoln out of a lineup and identified him as the murderer at trial. Largely on the strength of that single identification, Lincoln was convicted and sentenced to two life terms. Despite DNA tests on the hair evidence that found no match to Lincoln, Lincoln remains in prison. But 33 years later, Davis (not her present name) no longer believes that Lincoln was the man who killed her mother. After watching a true crime show about her case, Davis realized that convicted serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells was the real killer. Tommy Lynn Sells was one of the most notorious, and lethal, serial killers in U.S. history. He is believed to have murdered scores of people, and has personally claimed responsibility for as many as 70 killings across the country, including a family of four only 80 miles from the Tate/Davis home. Details from the gruesome crime scene are eerily similar to those found in other killings committed by Sells. If Davis is right, Lincoln has spent 33 years in jail for a murder committed by a convicted serial killer. Clarity might have been obtained simply by questioning Sells about the incident. Indeed, Sells confessed to numerous killings from his death row cell, helping clear up several cold cases. But that option is no longer available because Sells was executed by the State of Texas in 2014. Lincoln remains in prison..........For the wrongly convicted, the search for truth is never-ending, and sometimes the answers lie in the hearts and minds of convicted, and indisputably guilty, criminals. If we execute those with the darkest secrets, we make it that much harder for the innocent to find the light."
The entire commentary can be found at:
https://theconversation.com/how-the-death-penalty-may-keep-innocent-people-in-prison-55602
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
