Beatrice Six: Nebraska; Civil rights lawsuit; Part Three; Tom Winslow, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Debra Shelden. Kathy Gonzalez, James Dean; Joseph E. White; Bulletin: The Journal Star opines that "The cost of justice is high."..."Consider some of the evidence presented to the jury. -- Searcey, who started investigating the murder of Helen Wilson four years after it occurred, never even asked to see the hundreds of pages of evidence collected by the Beatrice Police Department so far as the lead police investigator knows. -- The forensic scientist who tested blood and semen at the scene of the 1985 murder of Helen Wilson said her findings were mischaracterized in a courtroom stipulation presented at White's trial as fact by the prosecutor. Reena Roy said her testing pointed to a suspect with type B blood who was a non-secretor. None of the Beatrice 6 fit that profile. Virtually the only positive note in the handling of the case was that the Beatrice Police Department did a good job of protecting the evidence. When defendant Joseph White finally won a court order for DNA testing for the blood and semen in the evidence room, it blew the case wide open."

EDITORIAL: The Journal Star: "In the long saga of the Beatrice 6, the day the jury voted to award $28.1 million for wrongful convictions stands out as one of the most memorable.........The case has been described as the largest false confession case in U.S. history, and it shows up on lists of the worst miscarriages of justice across the country. Prosecutors in Nebraska and elsewhere should draw lessons from the case. The impact on local government in Gage County, which apparently has no insurance coverage to pay the award, will be considerable. It’s significant that the jury found two individuals – Sheriff’s Deputy Burt Searcey and Wayne Price, a psychologist and reserve deputy – individually liable. Consider some of the evidence presented to the jury. -- Searcey, who started investigating the murder of Helen Wilson four years after it occurred, never even asked to see the hundreds of pages of evidence collected by the Beatrice Police Department so far as the lead police investigator knows. -- The forensic scientist who tested blood and semen at the scene of the 1985 murder of Helen Wilson said her findings were mischaracterized in a courtroom stipulation presented at White's trial as fact by the prosecutor. Reena Roy said her testing pointed to a suspect with type B blood who was a non-secretor. None of the Beatrice 6 fit that profile. Virtually the only positive note in the handling of the case was that the Beatrice Police Department did a good job of protecting the evidence. When defendant Joseph White finally won a court order for DNA testing for the blood and semen in the evidence room, it blew the case wide open. The DNA matched that of Bruce Allen Smith, who died in prison, as the man who killed and raped the 68-year-old widow. White is no longer alive to hear of the jury award. He was killed in a work accident in 2011. A task force appointed by then-Attorney General Jon Bruning concluded after reviewing police reports, trial testimony and videotaped interrogations that the Beatrice 6 could not have been in the widow’s apartment the night of the murder. “Not beyond a reasonable doubt, beyond all doubt,” said Corey O’Brien, one of the attorneys on the task force. White’s conviction was overturned. Pardons were given to Tom Winslow, JoAnn Taylor, Deb Shelden, Kathy Gonzalez and James Dean. Attorneys for the Beatrice 6 in the civil lawsuit described the investigation and prosecution as so reckless that it “shocks the conscience.” The jury award shows they proved their case."

http://journalstar.com/news/opinion/editorial/editorial-the-cost-of-injustice-is-high/article_ab527753-7cf7-581b-bbde-43bcceac475d.html