Newsletter Archive, May 2006, Volume 1, Issue 5

Dear Friends,

Just after the release of our last newsletter, some members our family attended a conference hosted by UCLA Law School . It was called "The Faces of Wrongful Conviction". The guest speakers included Barry Scheck, Judge Kenneth Starr, California Senator Gloria Romero, Linda Starr, and Mike Farrell.

We attended a session titled "Executing the innocent: Compelling New Evidence in Three Execution Cases". One of the panel members was Sam Milsap, a former prosecutor from Texas and a former supporter of the death penalty. He prosecuted Ruben Cantu, who was convicted and executed. He now believes Cantu to be innocent. Milsap said, "the system is broken" and he is speaking out about his experience to make others aware of this very serious issue.

We were overwhelmed with information. There were 22 men and women in attendance who had been falsely convicted and collectively spent more than 269 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. One of the men came within days of his execution. We learned at the conference that over 200 men and women have been confirmed as wrongfully convicted in California since 1990. That's over one a month since 1990 in California alone.

The range of reasons for wrongful convictions was surprising to us. The sessions and panels we sat in on discussed the following:

  • Prosecutorial misconduct - evidence that was lost or withheld including confessions from the true murderer
  • Potentially exonerating evidence that was thrown away
  • An overzealous hospital that created a crime that didn't exist
  • Inaccurate fingerprint analysis
  • Inaccurate DNA analysis
  • Inaccurate bite mark analysis
  • False eye witness testimony (80 percent of DNA exonerations involved a mistaken eye witness identification)
  • Police misconduct that included planting or concealing evidence
  • Lack of police and prosecutorial accountability
  • Inaccurate schools of thought regarding arson fires
  • State restrictions on resources that do not allow a defendant to be properly represented
  • Jail house snitches and seedy informants
  • Legal double standards that favor the prosecution in jury selection for death penalty cases.
  • Difficulty in accessing the discovery, court documents and evidence during the appeals process
This conference once again impressed upon us that we are not alone in our fight for justice. There are countless organizations, legislators, attorneys, professors, activists and lay people who are deeply dedicated to making the needed changes to our justice system. Stanford Law professor and conference speaker Larry Marshall said it well when he quoted Micah 6:8 "What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" He then went on to say, "Our system is arrogant about its infallibility. We need to humble ourselves and recognize our capacity for error."
While we continued to learn about the many flaws within our criminal justice system, we also began to learn about the many things that can be done to fix them. In our upcoming newsletters we will continue to share what we learned with you.
In the meantime, this newsletter contains a challenge as well as a critique of a portion of the prosecution's closing arguments in Scott's case.
Thank you for the opportunity to keep you informed!

The Peterson Family

This months newsletter also contained the Featured Fact: We Challenge You.

In addition, this newsletter also contains the article Distaso's Attempt.

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