Fighting Corruption in the U.S. Criminal Justice System

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: December 18, 2018 at 12:42:42 AM GMT+9
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Fighting Corruption in the U.S. Criminal Justice System
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> [Note:  This item comes from friend David Rosenthal.  DLH]
>
> Fighting Corruption in the U.S. Criminal Justice System
> There will never be true reform until law enforcement and prosecutors are held accountable for breaking the rules.
> By BRIAN SAADY
> Dec 13 2018
> <https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/fighting-corruption-in-the-u-s-criminal-justice-system/>
>
> Editor’s note: This is the 12th article in a collaborative series with the R Street Institute, exploring conservative 
> approaches to criminal justice reform. 
>
> Over 2,000 people have been exonerated from criminal convictions since 1989. But to blame mere incompetence or simple 
> negligence would be a mistake. In the majority of these cases, it was criminal or unethical behavior by witnesses, 
> law enforcement, and even the government that put these individuals behind bars in the first place.
>
> Without emphasizing integrity and accountability in the criminal justice system there will never be true reform. 
> After all, 52 percent of these exonerations involved official misconduct, according to the National Registry of 
> Exonerations.
>
> While it would be quite difficult to find a case in which law enforcement took illegal measures to free a guilty man, 
> we’re inundated with a litany of scandalous conduct by law enforcement and prosecutors apparently willing to bend the 
> rules to make sure potentially innocent people never see the light of day.
>
> Earlier this year, the Miami Herald reported that former Biscayne Park police chief Raimundo Atesiano was obsessed 
> with having a perfect clearance rate for property crimes. In turn, his staff reportedly told officers if they “see 
> anybody black walking through our streets and they have somewhat of a record, arrest them so we can pin them for all 
> the burglaries.”
>
> As a result, a series of people were framed for crimes, including Erasmus Banmah, who was falsely arrested for five 
> auto burglaries. The arresting officer admitted that he lied in his report that Banmah confessed to the burglaries 
> and gave details about the crimes.
>
> Following an investigation the former police chief was sentenced to three years in prison. That’s actually less time 
> received than one of the men falsely convicted for a home burglary under Atesino’s direction. Clarence Desrouleaux 
> was sentenced to five years and deported to Haiti. (Due to evidence from this scandal, Desrouleaux’s conviction was 
> later thrown out by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.)
>
> These stories are not uncommon in police departments across the country. The New York Times ran a series earlier this 
> year about police perjury, or as it is unofficially known “testilying.” The Times identified 25 cases in New York 
> City over the last three years in which officers were suspected of lying under oath.
>
> Writer Joseph Goldstein accurately pointed out that the 25 cases are only a fraction of the known malfeasance because 
> most cases result in a plea deal. He quoted an unnamed officer who said, “There’s no fear of being caught. You’re not 
> going to go to trial and nobody is going to be cross-examined.”
>
> Even if they are caught, the justice system tends to be lenient with corrupt cops. Two weeks after this report, a New 
> York City police officer was sentenced to a mere three years of probation after being convicted of perjury.
>
> This has been a fairly persistent issue for decades. Nearly a hundred cases were thrown out in New York for police 
> perjury after the Mollen Commission in 1994. The Mollen Commission concluded, “Perjury is perhaps the most widespread 
> form of police wrongdoing facing today’s criminal justice system.” So why are we still talking about it more than 20 
> years later?
>
> Meanwhile, the issue of tainted evidence goes beyond perjury and false statements. Police have also been caught 
> planting evidence. There’s even an informal term for this practice called “flaking.” This video released last month 
> by The New York Timesappears to show this taking place.
>
> A Baltimore police officer was indicted earlier this year after bodycam footage showed him planting evidence in a 
> drug arrest. Since bodycams are more prevalent now, one would think it might cut down on this illicit practice—or 
> cops might get more crafty.
>
> But planting evidence is only the tip of the iceberg. Take Andrew Wilson, who Loyola Law School’s Project for the 
> Innocent helped exonerate after spending 32 years in prison for a wrongful murder conviction.
>
> The prosecution in his case withheld key evidence. In particular, Wilson was selected out of a lineup of suspects by 
> the eyewitness to the murder only after a LAPD detective pointed specifically to Wilson’s picture and asked, “What 
> about him?” Bear in mind, she had pointed previously to two other suspects.
>
> This kind of suggestive form of evidence collection has no place in the judicial system. However, it’s one of the 
> reasons why mistaken witness identifications are a contributing factor in 29 percent of exonerations, according to 
> the National Registration of Exonerations.
>
> The most common factor in an exoneration—occurring 57 percent of the time—is perjury or a false accusation by police 
> and informants.
>
> False testimony from confidential informants led to David Robinson’s murder conviction in Sikeston, Missouri, in 
> 2001. Robinson was arrested for the crime, but he was released shortly thereafter when the physical evidence didn’t 
> connect him to it.
>
> However, the lead detective, John Blakely, found a paid informant and inmate in the local prison who wrote a 
> statement claiming to have witnessed Robinson commit the murder. Consequently, the informant was immediately 
> released, placed into witness protection, and eventually received $2,000. He later admitted that he lied in order to 
> get out of jail.
>
> [snip]
>
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