Nebraska: Six People Recently Exonerated for One Crime!

I know it may sound like a broken record at this point, but innocence remains front and center in the death-penalty debate. The latest news comes from Nebraska, where six people were recently exonerated for one crime. It was a non-death penalty case, but there's little doubt the case will be inextricably linked to Nebraska's eventual abolition of capital punishment, as the following editorial in the Lincoln Journal Star clearly illustrates.
-Kurt

Death penalty distorted Beatrice case
Thursday, Nov 13, 2008

The exoneration of six people who had been convicted for the murder of a Beatrice woman is a shocking example of the justice system going awry. The wrongful convictions show how the death penalty can distort the search for justice. The case boggles the mind.

How could the complicated and detailed scenario presented in court testimony turn out to be complete fiction?

One reason is the police interrogation methods used at the time. Investigators supplied suspects suggestions on what could have happened. They showed photos of the crime scene. Under pressure, suspects offered the stories authorities wanted.

And how was that pressure exerted? By threatening the death penalty.

Four defendants were bullied into confessions when authorities threatened them with the electric chair, according to Attorney General Jon Bruning. Their testimony was used to convict Joseph Edgar White of first-degree murder. The other five pleaded guilty or no contest to lesser charges.

Advances in DNA analysis now show the prosecution's case was entirely fabricated. In the first step, the DNA evidence showed no link between the defendants and the crime. In the second, conclusive step, the DNA evidence proved who had actually committed the crime in 1985.

That turned out to be Bruce Allen Smith, who died of AIDS in 1992 in Oklahoma City. He had been a suspect early in the case, but authorities turned their attention elsewhere after he was apparently cleared by a blood test done by Oklahoma forensic specialist Joyce Gilchrist.

There's now reason to suspect the accuracy of that blood test. Gilchrist was fired after allegations of incompetence and untruthfulness. A federal appeals court reversed a death sentence, finding that Gilchrist had provided evidence that she "knew was rendered false and misleading by evidence withheld from the defense."

The circumstances of the Beatrice case ought to shake the faith of the most hardened defender of the death penalty. The death penalty was never imposed in the case, but it played a role in sending six people to prison. An error here, overzealousness there, and before anyone can stop it, the defendants are behind bars, out of sight and out of mind.

For decades, no one questioned the convictions. Then the case unraveled quickly and unequivocally, exposing the imperfection and error that will forever impair any criminal justice system operated by humans.

The next time Nebraska lawmakers once again consider whether to retain the death penalty, they should study this case. The evidence is fresh and convincing. The death penalty should be abolished.
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Kurt Rosenberg, Director
Witness to Innocence
P.O. Box 34725
Philadelphia, PA 19101
Tel. 215-387-1831
Fax 215-386-7288
witnesstoinnocence@gmail.com
www.witnesstoinnocence.org