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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTranscript reveals shocking grand jury intimidation of witness
By Radley Balko July 17 at 4:35 PM
Heres an eye-opening report from the Houston Chronicle:
Appellate attorneys were so outraged by a 146-page transcript of Dockerys testimony before the 208th Harris County grand jury on April 21, 2003, that they entered it into the public record for judges to review.
In it, grand jurors dont just inquire. They interrogate. They intimidate. They appear to abandon their duty to serve as a check on overzealous government prosecution and instead join the team.
The foreman adds that if the evidence shows shes perjuring herself then you know the kids are going to be taken by Child Protective Services, and youre going to the penitentiary and you wont see your kids for a long time.
It goes on like that. They eventually browbeat Dockery into completely changing her story. She was then arrested for perjury. She couldnt make bail. When she was released, she became the prosecutions star witness. Brown was convicted and sentenced to death.
According to the Chronicles Lisa Falkenberg, seven years later, a phone record showed up proving that Brown had called Dockery from her apartment on the morning of the murders, supporting his story and hers, before she was pressured to change it. That important bit of exculpatory evidence was found in the garage of a Houston homicide detective. Brown is still waiting to learn if hell get a new trial.
more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/07/17/transcript-reveals-shocking-grand-jury-intimidation-of-witness/
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)and defendant?
where they don't let the truth get in the way of a good execution.
GeorgeGist
(25,323 posts)because the constitution doesn't guarantee a fair trial.
billhicks76
(5,082 posts)People should have their lawyer present.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)They have judges there that would be too stupid, mean, and prejudiced to be competent to be jurors let alone judges.
Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)I have seen my share of great Judges who work and try hard facing very difficult decisions that have kept them up at night, and total pieces of ignorant crap who should have never been allowed to practice law. I have been in Courts all around the country and find that no state has a lock on good or bad Judges.
I was jury foreman on a murder case where a black man was accused of murdering his girlfriend. Race had nothing to do with this one and neither did the death penalty. Our jury was mixed race, but there was really no debate. He was guilty as Hell and even got on the stand against his attorneys advice. He ended up apologizing to her family and her 11 year old son (he was 8 at the time of the murder) stating that he did it because she was throwing him out after several years together and if he couldn't have her, no one could! He murdered that woman right in front of the little boy. I still think about it and have nightmares every once in awhile remembering that boy on the witness stand describing the murder of his mom! The black members of the jury had no problem convicting, no one could. We gave him Life in prison and he would not even be eligible for parole for 40 years! I wonder what he thinks about when he does think about her and the little boy! Sorry to digress, but it is one of the few things in my career I can talk about with specifics.
I do not believe in the Death penalty. Just seeing how many people, especially minorities are wrongfully convicted, even thought the instruction is BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, makes me lose faith in humanity. We are too quick to generalize about groups of people, minorities being just one of many. People think of Jews a certain way, cops is a big one, but the one that chaps me is Lawyers of course. It is ok to group all Lawyers as bad, all cops as bad, when deep down we know that isn't true. Look past the stereotype and see the person behind it. Maybe they fit the type, maybe they don't, but give them a chance to declare by actions, words or deeds who they really are.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)I'm glad to stand corrected on that.
If you've ever seen that "Case for Innocence," you'd see how someone could develop a negative impression of Texas judges.
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)Just observing comments on the web, we are too quick to judge people and want to punish them for their perceived sins. I think authoritarian people feel better about themselves when they can make someone else look like a sinner. And way too many people in this country (and the world) are naturally authoritarian when it comes to judging others.
Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)themselves feel better. If they can screw over someone else, they are "better" than that person and thus not feel as inadequate as they secretly feel. There is no worse place for people like that than on a jury. I have lost cases and in interviewing the jurors afterward have heard that one or two jurors didn't want the plaintiff to recover merely because they themselves had a bad back, for instance, and they didn't sue anyone and get money. To hell with the law and the merit of the case! Now we see Tea Party types hiding during Voir Dire and not expressing their true feelings just to get on the jury and sabotage it. This happens all to frequently and has hurt the settlement value of all cases.
The bogus Tort Reform has done the same thing. The McDonald's Coffee case is a prime example where MCd's raised their temp on their coffee worldwide to get more coffee from the same amount of beans and it stays fresher longer. They settled several burn cases, but the savings was much much more until Stella Liebeck. The coffee spilled in her crotch causing her to almost die. She had her labia and clitoris removed. Jury awarded one day of coffee sales for McD's, 2 million. The Judge thought that too much for labia and clit and reduced the verdict to $900k (Judges can stop runaway jurys and throw out frivolous claims, and here they can be cruel). McD's lowered the temp on their coffee and the media made it seem like the most frivolous case in the world!
GETPLANING
(846 posts)It's about WINNING. Winning at all costs, even if innocent people have to die. Because God forbid that an investigator or prosecutor ever has to admit they were wrong about ANYTHING. Might tarnish their resumé or something.
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)I handled over 1,000 cases and there were some errors of sufficient magnitude to warrant setting aside a conviction. Not many, but a few. Lots of sentencing errors, due to a rapidly changing
system in my state.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)but justice isn't one of them.
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)Thanks for the thread, n2doc.