Tempe man beaten to death by 3 VA teens after family wedding

munk

"Then there is this." vc69

thats why I've stated often in this thread we need DNA substantiation before any execution.

Eye witness testimoney is too unreliable by itself, as is circumstancial evidence.

tonyb

munk wrote: »

"Then there is this." vc69

thats why I've stated often in this thread we need DNA substantiation before any execution.

Eye witness testimoney is too unreliable by itself, as is circumstancial evidence.

Eye witness testimony is good enough to lock someone up for decades, then it's good enough for the death penalty.

Let me tell ya,if some kook kills one of my kids infront of me,and I'm the only witness, he'll never make it to court....and I'd save the taxpayer alot of cash too.

munk

<<<Eye witness testimony is good enough to lock someone up for decades, then it's good enough for the death penalty>>> tonyb
Eye witness testimony is good enough to lock someone up for decades, then it's good enough for the death penalty.


It's good enough to get innocent people locked up with the criminals, and it's good enough to get innocent people executed.

<<"Let me tell ya,if some kook kills one of my kids infront of me,and I'm the only witness, he'll never make it to court....and I'd save the taxpayer alot of cash too">>> tonyb.

I'd help you.

Face

Some excess pruning was done here. :rolleyes:

Toolfan66

Face wrote: »

Some excess pruning was done here. :rolleyes:

Jesus Saves...

vc69

Face wrote: »

Some excess pruning was done here. :rolleyes:

Well we wouldn't want to challenge any tightly held beliefs here would we?

I'm ok with it. I hope Greg is.

Edit: I just noticed the nick. I'm going to re-post for posterity.

headrott

vc69 wrote: »

Well we wouldn't want to challenge any tightly held beliefs here would we?

I'm ok with it. I hope Greg is.

I've always been ok with what other people say. It doesn't get to me personally. I do have a problem with trying to censor someone expressing beliefs on a subject though. Now, I do realize that we are not to discuss "religion", but my intial post about reality was not trying to push "religion" in any way (although I can see how it could be taken that way). The point of the post was to look at reality and a person's beliefs about reality. That's all. Done.

Greg

vc69

Then there is this:

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 16, 2010

Filed at 2:31 p.m. ET

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) -- A judge on Thursday freed two men who spent three decades in prison before DNA evidence showed they didn't rape a woman and cut her throat in a grisly 1979 attack.

A crowded courtroom erupted in applause after Forrest County Circuit Judge Robert Helfrich's ruled to set aside the men's guilty pleas, ending what some described as a 30-year ordeal for the imprisoned men.

Helfrich said the case was marked by a series of tragic events -- from the violent attack on the woman to the years the men spent in prison for a crime they didn't commit.

''The common thread in this case is tragedy,'' Helfrich said.

Helfrich ruled on a petition filed by the Innocence Project on behalf of Bobby Ray Dixon and Phillip Bivens. He'll rule later on a posthumous petition for Larry Ruffin, who died in prison in 2002.

The three men were convicted in the 1979 rape and murder of Eva Gail Patterson, whose 4-year-old son watched her be killed.

Dixon, who has lung cancer and a brain tumor, received a medical release from prison last month. He and Bivens were both in court.

''I feel good. I've been blessed,'' said Dixon, who later added, ''I was done wrong. I know that.''

Bivens, 59, simply said, ''Thank God.'' Bivens, who arrived at court dressed in a red prison jumpsuit, also said he was ready to return home to California. He was released after the hearing.

Ruffin's family, wearing blue and gray T-shirts that read, ''Free at Last,'' wept and hugged each other. His sister, Teresa Strickland, said she feels her brother has already been cleared.

''The DNA cleared my brother when we got the results,'' she said. ''We just can't hug him, but he's free.''

The victim's son, Luke Patterson, has always maintained there was a single assailant. The sheriff's department arrested Ruffin first, and months later they apprehended Dixon and Bivens. All three men initially confessed and then recanted.

However, Bivens and Dixon later pleaded guilty to murder in 1980 and were sentenced to life in prison. They testified that Ruffin had actually raped and killed Patterson.

The Innocence Project filed a motion earlier this year to have DNA evidence tested. The **** from a rape kit on Patterson was run through an FBI database that matched it with Andrew Harris, a man already serving a life sentence for a rape that occurred in 1981.

Emily Maw, an Innocence Project attorney, told Helfrich false confessions were not uncommon. Sixty-three confessions have been proven false through DNA around the country since 1990, she said.

Bivens said he confessed because he didn't want to go to the gas chamber. He said he had been in Mississippi visiting relatives when the crime happened.

Court records show Dixon was considered mentally impaired because he had been kicked in the head by a horse as a child and suffered from seizures and memory loss.

District Attorney Jon Mark Weathers said he's struggled with the case because Bivens and Dixon's statements were used to convict Ruffin.

''I don't know what was running through Bivens' and Dixon's minds,'' said Weathers.

Weathers said his office has begun an investigation of Harris.

I thinks this was unintentionally "pruned" at or around post #64 and is referenced to in quotes by munk.

Face

headrott wrote: »

I've always been ok with what other people say. It doesn't get to me personally. I do have a problem with trying to censor someone expressing beliefs on a subject though. Now, I do realize that we are not to discuss "religion", but my intial post about reality was not trying to push "religion" in any way (although I can see how it could be taken that way). The point of the post was to look at reality and a person's beliefs about reality. That's all. Done.

Greg

Exactly. So why is this still here? http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106794

headrott

Face wrote: »

Exactly. So why is this still here? http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106794

Actually Face, I was referring to fellow polkies censoring other polkies (not the Polk forum site itself). But, you could take it that way too.;):) Is your question rhetorical?

Greg

WilliamM2

Face wrote: »

Exactly. So why is this still here? http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106794

Maybe no one complained about it? Or even noticed it, doesn't seem to have drawn much attention.