PUBLISHER'S NOTE (Editorial): Few U.S. wrongful convictions are as horrifying as that experienced by Charles Finch who was railroaded through North Carolina's judicial system and spent 41 years in orison before being freed and exonerated. That's almost half a century. I recently published a post on this awful case bearing the heading, "Charles Ray Finch:
North Carolina: Extraordinary (welcome) Development: Wrongly convicted
and sentenced to death "based upon false forensic testimony and an
eyewitness identification manipulated by police misconduct" has been
freed from prison after 43 years, The Death Penalty Information Center
reports."When I wrote this post I wondered why the story wouldn't be on the front page of every newspaper in America - and on every TV screen. (Wishful thinking!) Well, at least I found one editorial. (If you find any others dear readers please let me know at the meail address below. HL); It's from the Wilson Times, which my friends at Wikipedia tell me began as
Zion's Landmark, established in 1867 by the pastor of the Wilson
Primitive Baptist Church. I was pleased to see the papers's recognition of the role that faulty forensics can play in such perversions of justice, as where the editorial board opines: "Faulty ballistics evidence helped seal Finch’s
fate, and that was 24 years before “CSI” first aired and began molding
public perception. While DNA evidence remains the gold standard, not all
forensic disciplines are considered robust science. Ballistics can be a
mixed bag, partial fingerprint matches have produced false positives,
hair samples have been misidentified and bite mark analysis is
thoroughly unreliable."
But I take some issue with the paper's categorization of the police misconduct in staging a line-up so their prime suspect was bound to be identified as merely a matter of "snap judgments and a
convict-at-all-costs mentality." It was far worse than that. It was indeed a matter of police officers framing an innocent man. (As the paper itself notes: "Wilson
County sheriff’s deputies had dressed Finch to match an eyewitness’
vague description of the suspect, cueing the witness to select him in a
lineup.") That said, the Wilson Times has written perhaps the only editorial in America railing against this horrific miscarriage of justice. It deserves our 'bravo.'
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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EDITORIAL: "Our Opinion: Finch’s exoneration a cautionary tale for cops, prosecutors," published by The Wilson Times on June 4, 2019.
GIST: "Justice came four decades too late, but it finally arrived under overcast skies last Thursday in rural Greene County. Charles Ray Finch, a Wilson native who was
railroaded through the court system and wrongfully convicted of murder
in 1976, left Greene Correctional Institution a free man. U.S. District
Judge Terrence Boyle ordered Finch’s release earlier that day when an
assistant attorney general said the state could not succeed in an
evidentiary hearing. Finch had been accused of fatally shooting Black
Creek gas station owner Richard “Shadow” Holloman during a failed
robbery attempt on Feb. 13. 1976 despite having alibi witnesses. Faulty evidence led to a guilty verdict. Wilson
County sheriff’s deputies had dressed Finch to match an eyewitness’
vague description of the suspect, cueing the witness to select him in a
lineup. A medical examiner who initially identified a shotgun similar to
Holloman’s as the murder weapon later recanted his testimony and said a
handgun was used to kill the shopkeeper. From the time of his arrest, Finch insisted he was
innocent. He never wavered, refusing to accept blame for a crime he
didn’t commit. Jim Coleman, a law professor at Duke University,
believed him. He took Finch’s case 15 years ago through the Duke School
of Law’s Innocence Project and continued working to secure the man’s
freedom through Duke’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic after it was
established in 2007. Doggedly, Coleman and his colleagues pursued
exoneration. In May 2018, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
agreed to hear Finch’s case. His day in court came last November when a
three-judge panel convened on the Cherokee Reservation in western North
Carolina. In January, the judges handed down a unanimous decision
overturning a lower court’s ruling to throw out Finch’s innocence claim
and sending the case back for further proceedings. “It’s incredible,” Coleman told Times reporter
Olivia Neeley, who has chronicled Finch’s case since 2013. “We feel an
enormous sense of vindication.” Finch’s children wrapped him in tight hugs after
attorneys ferried him from the state prison to nearby Maury Chapel Free
Will Baptist Church. His mouth crinkled into a wide smile. “I’m just glad to be free,” Finch said. “I feel good.” The parking lot reunion was a cause for
celebration, but the outcome is bittersweet. Finch is the oldest and
longest-serving inmate in North Carolina to have his conviction
overturned. He spent 43 long years behind bars and is now entering the
twilight of his life. He’s still ailing from a stroke he suffered while
in state custody. Family members shared words of acceptance and
forgiveness last week, with daughter Katherine Jones-Bailey resolving to
“leave the past in the past.” That past, however, includes the prime of
her father’s life, stolen from him by cops and prosecutors blinded by
tunnel vision and determined to make the evidence fit their theory. When a Wilson County jury convicted him of murder,
Finch received a mandatory death sentence. Following a U.S. Supreme
Court ruling, the state’s high court commuted his sentence to life in
prison in 1977. Were it not for federal intervention, North Carolina
would have executed an innocent man. The other reason this story doesn’t end with
“happily ever after” is that, while Charles Ray Finch didn’t kill
Richard Holloman, someone did. And that person was never held
accountable. Jones-Bailey said Finch’s conviction victimized both her family and Holloman’s. “They still didn’t get justice,” she said. “We all end up suffering at my dad’s expense.” This case must serve as a cautionary tale to law
enforcement officers and prosecutors. Snap judgments and a
convict-at-all-costs mentality can lead error-prone human investigators
to make mistakes. Exculpatory evidence is too easily brushed aside when
detectives listen to their gut and fail to follow where the facts lead. Faulty ballistics evidence helped seal Finch’s
fate, and that was 24 years before “CSI” first aired and began molding
public perception. While DNA evidence remains the gold standard, not all
forensic disciplines are considered robust science. Ballistics can be a
mixed bag, partial fingerprint matches have produced false positives,
hair samples have been misidentified and bite mark analysis is
thoroughly unreliable. The criminal justice system must guard vigilantly
against wrongful convictions. Charles Ray Finch is back where he
belongs, and no innocent man or woman should have to endure a similar
fight for freedom."
The entire editorial can be read at:
