Post by Anja on Jul 3, 2006 19:03:18 GMT -5
A very little help----Texas owes those the system falsely imprisons more
than just a check.
IT'S been 3 years since Texas criminal justice officials released Josiah
Sutton after acknowledging he had been wrongly convicted in a rape case.
Unfortunately, Sutton appears to be foundering outside prison walls,
having blown almost $60,000 in compensation the state has paid him so far.
With Texas grappling with a number of criminal justice cases that have
cast doubt on the state's ability to accurately sort guilty offenders from
the innocent accused, Sutton's situation raises an important question:
What does the state owe the people it falsely convicts and imprisons?
According to state Sen. Rodney Ellis, Texas should make a determined
effort to make wrongly convicted persons whole after their ordeal -
especially if the person was convicted as a juvenile.
"Josiah is 24 years old, but in a lot of ways the maturity is not there,"
Ellis says. "The state ought to do as much as possible to put his life
back in order."
Sutton was just 17 when he was convicted of a 1998 rape and sentenced to
25 years on the basis of a DNA test botched by the Houston Police
Department crime lab. Ellis makes the case that Sutton ought to be
eligible for the Texas Grant program, college scholarship funds he might
have received as a graduating high school senior had he not been behind
bars.
Ellis, a Houston Democrat who passed legislation in 2001 making it
possible for exonerated inmates to receive $25,000 per year spent in
prison, says that in the coming legislative session, he will ask for
additional measures to aid the wrongly convicted.
Ellis says he was angered by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles'
refusal in 2004 to take up Sutton's exoneration request because Harris
County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal refused to write a letter
confirming Sutton's innocence. The senator says he'll push for legislation
barring the board from stonewalling future petitioners.
Ellis wants to increase compensation to the falsely convicted and provide
other support, including counseling, job training and financial literacy
classes, if the exonerated person entered prison as a juvenile or suffers
mental health problems.
The senator also will push again to set up an innocence commission to
analyze wrongful convictions - a much needed reform to prevent future
miscarriages of justice.
No one can know what Sutton lost in spending 1/5 of his young life behind
bars because of mistakes made in the criminal justice system. But it's not
enough to say, "Whoops," and hand him a check. Texas owes Josiah Sutton a
fair shot at getting his disrupted life back on track.
(source: Editorial, Houston Chronicle)
than just a check.
IT'S been 3 years since Texas criminal justice officials released Josiah
Sutton after acknowledging he had been wrongly convicted in a rape case.
Unfortunately, Sutton appears to be foundering outside prison walls,
having blown almost $60,000 in compensation the state has paid him so far.
With Texas grappling with a number of criminal justice cases that have
cast doubt on the state's ability to accurately sort guilty offenders from
the innocent accused, Sutton's situation raises an important question:
What does the state owe the people it falsely convicts and imprisons?
According to state Sen. Rodney Ellis, Texas should make a determined
effort to make wrongly convicted persons whole after their ordeal -
especially if the person was convicted as a juvenile.
"Josiah is 24 years old, but in a lot of ways the maturity is not there,"
Ellis says. "The state ought to do as much as possible to put his life
back in order."
Sutton was just 17 when he was convicted of a 1998 rape and sentenced to
25 years on the basis of a DNA test botched by the Houston Police
Department crime lab. Ellis makes the case that Sutton ought to be
eligible for the Texas Grant program, college scholarship funds he might
have received as a graduating high school senior had he not been behind
bars.
Ellis, a Houston Democrat who passed legislation in 2001 making it
possible for exonerated inmates to receive $25,000 per year spent in
prison, says that in the coming legislative session, he will ask for
additional measures to aid the wrongly convicted.
Ellis says he was angered by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles'
refusal in 2004 to take up Sutton's exoneration request because Harris
County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal refused to write a letter
confirming Sutton's innocence. The senator says he'll push for legislation
barring the board from stonewalling future petitioners.
Ellis wants to increase compensation to the falsely convicted and provide
other support, including counseling, job training and financial literacy
classes, if the exonerated person entered prison as a juvenile or suffers
mental health problems.
The senator also will push again to set up an innocence commission to
analyze wrongful convictions - a much needed reform to prevent future
miscarriages of justice.
No one can know what Sutton lost in spending 1/5 of his young life behind
bars because of mistakes made in the criminal justice system. But it's not
enough to say, "Whoops," and hand him a check. Texas owes Josiah Sutton a
fair shot at getting his disrupted life back on track.
(source: Editorial, Houston Chronicle)