Kansas City prisoner 'blessed' to be free after lookalike found

[Judi Lynn]

Source: BBC News


11 June 2017




KANSAS CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Image caption
Richard Anthony Jones (pictured right) was released because investigators found his lookalike (left)


A US prisoner who spent 17 years in jail for a robbery he did not commit has spoken of his relief that researchers found his lookalike.

Richard Anthony Jones from Kansas was released from jail after witnesses said they could not tell the two men apart.

A judge ruled there was no evidence to keep him in jail.

Mr Jones said finding a photo of the other man - who as well as looking like him, shares the same first name - was a "needle in a haystack moment".

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40237762

[Igel]

1. Good.

And I realized I shouldn't object to the word "blessed." Had, previously, as of 5 minutes ago.

One has two option (three, really, but the third is really hard to get to) when something like this happens. You can be grateful you're released; you can be bitter over what happened. Or you can be existentialist and say, "Meh, move on." (I usually go with option 3, but I'm wired a bit strangely.)

Gratitude is a good thing. Makes for better relationships, better prospects, better outlook on most things, and longer life.

[PSPS]

2. Wow! Reminds me of the 1953 Manny Balestrero incident in New York.

Balestrero's ordeal was the subject of Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Wrong Man" with Henry Fonda.

[John1956PA]

3. The 1973 TV movie "Cry Rape" was fiction, but I was disturbed over errant eye-witness identification

In the fiction-category 1973 TV movie Cry Rape http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071373/ , a man is wrongfully accused of being a serial rapist. The accusation against him arises because he bears a strong physical and facial resemblance to the actual perpetrator.

I viewed the movie when it aired in repeat less than a year after its original telecast. At the time, I was troubled by the concept of errant eye-witness identification. I still have feel a bit of apprehension whenever I read about a criminal court case wherein the only evidence against the accused is the victim's eye-witness identification.

[iluvtennis]

4. Wow....17 years in prison cuz you had a certain look.

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[Stuart G]

5. k and r.......

[Bayard]

6. 17 years.....

Where's the lawsuit? Kansas owes him big time.