GET ALL THE FACTS

A case of “OMG, the cops shot another unarmed man” is in trial as I write this, and new evidence is coming out that seems to favor the officer.  It’s a classic example of why a recurring theme in this blog has been to avoid the rush to judgment and wait until all the facts are in before a one-sided accusation convinces us of someone’s guilt.

Unmeritorious cases can be brought against citizens as well as cops. My friend and student Ken Ewing recently lent me an instructive book: “Drawn to Injustice: the Wrongful Conviction of Timothy Masters,” written by Masters with law professor Steve Lehto.  Masters was a 15-year- old boy who collected knives and, like many of his demographic, had a morbid interest in violent fiction. When a 37-year-old woman was stabbed to death near his home, detectives – one in particular – fixated on him as the suspect.  Several years later they arrested him for it, overlooking more likely suspects, and a perfect storm of misinterpreted circumstantial evidence,  exculpatory evidence withheld from the defense, a couple of overzealous prosecutors, and a psychologist who testified for the prosecution without examining the defendant or having full knowledge of the evidence, resulted in a conviction and a sentence of life without parole.

A decade later, DNA evidence conclusively proved that Tim Masters could not have been the killer.

“Though the wheels of God grind slowly, they grind exceeding small.” That’s sometimes true of the wheels of Justice, too. Masters was compensated by settlements that added up to roughly a million dollars per year of his imprisonment.  The two prosecutors, who in the interim had been elected to judgeships, were censured by the state bar association and largely as a result of this, were booted off their benches by voters in the next election.  The lead investigator was indicted on multiple counts of perjury, which were dismissed due to the statute of limitations. He remained suspended pending internal affairs investigation in spite of that, and resigned, ending a 33-year police career under an ugly cloud.  A brave cop who stepped forward, and a new prosecutor who understood his obligations as a minister of justice, had a lot to do with the outcome, too.

Read the book.  It’s so important to wait for ALL the evidence.  Despite clear proof otherwise, there are still people who think Masters is a murderer, and are even confused enough to believe he was 37 and killed a 15-year-old, getting the ages backwards.  For that matter, there are still people who think poor George Zimmerman is guilty of murder.

It’s a sad thing, and the kind of injustice we all have to work to keep from repeating.

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