Post by sclcookie on Jun 2, 2006 0:45:54 GMT -5
To the Burlington County Prosecutor:
Why did it take so long? Larry Peterson is an innocent man today, whether
or not the Burlington County prosecutor can bring himself to say it out
loud.
On Friday, the nightmare that began for Peterson in 1987 finally ended
with the official dropping of murder charges against him. He spent 18
years in prison before DNA tests proved he was not guilty of raping and
murdering Jacqueline Harrison in Pemberton Township.
Prosecutor Robert Bernardi ultimately made the right decision not to retry
Peterson, but it took him way too long. After initially opposing
Peterson's requests to conduct DNA tests, the prosecutor's office received
clear scientific evidence in February 2005 that Peterson was wrongly
convicted. Yet Bernardi effectively prevented Peterson from being released
on bail for 6 more months.
Peterson remained charged, awaiting possible retrial, for 15 months after
the DNA results were known. That's a disturbing application of the
prosecutor's power. Once he possessed such urgent information, it
shouldn't have taken an officer of the criminal justice system so long to
conclude this case. Bernardi should have moved as swiftly as if it were
his own brother behind bars.
New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber should open an investigation
into the prosecutor's handling of this case, from 1987 to the present.
Peterson nearly received the death penalty, based in part on crime-scene
hairs wrongly identified as his. (DNA proved they were the victim's.) A
witness, who testified in 1989 that Peterson confessed, now admits he lied
and that he learned key, unpublicized details of the crime from 2
investigators who still work in the prosecutor's office. If there are to
be no more Larry Petersons in Burlington County, the public must
understand how and why this prosecution was mishandled.
Bernardi shows no signs of having learned from this episode. His public
statement on Friday refused to say that Peterson was exonerated, even
though DNA from an unidentified male was found on the victim, and none of
Peterson's DNA was on the victim or at the crime scene. The prosecutor
termed this "problematic." More problematic is the unwillingness to say
"we were wrong."
Bernardi would say only that the state's evidence against Peterson had
"eroded." He went on to thank various law enforcement agencies for
conducting the new testing that Peterson and his counsel, the Innocence
Project of New York, had forced on them after nine years of litigation.
"The public should be gratified by the efforts of your law enforcement
agencies to use their best efforts in solving crimes such as this,"
Bernardi said. Did we mention that this crime remains unsolved?
Peterson is owed a public apology. State law entitles him to collect
$20,000 for each year he spent in jail wrongfully. That's about $360,000
to help him rebuild his life. Nobody should pretend that money will erase
the injustice that Peterson has endured, but the sum may be about as close
as he gets to hearing anyone in officialdom say they're sorry.
(source: Editorial, Centre Daily)
Why did it take so long? Larry Peterson is an innocent man today, whether
or not the Burlington County prosecutor can bring himself to say it out
loud.
On Friday, the nightmare that began for Peterson in 1987 finally ended
with the official dropping of murder charges against him. He spent 18
years in prison before DNA tests proved he was not guilty of raping and
murdering Jacqueline Harrison in Pemberton Township.
Prosecutor Robert Bernardi ultimately made the right decision not to retry
Peterson, but it took him way too long. After initially opposing
Peterson's requests to conduct DNA tests, the prosecutor's office received
clear scientific evidence in February 2005 that Peterson was wrongly
convicted. Yet Bernardi effectively prevented Peterson from being released
on bail for 6 more months.
Peterson remained charged, awaiting possible retrial, for 15 months after
the DNA results were known. That's a disturbing application of the
prosecutor's power. Once he possessed such urgent information, it
shouldn't have taken an officer of the criminal justice system so long to
conclude this case. Bernardi should have moved as swiftly as if it were
his own brother behind bars.
New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber should open an investigation
into the prosecutor's handling of this case, from 1987 to the present.
Peterson nearly received the death penalty, based in part on crime-scene
hairs wrongly identified as his. (DNA proved they were the victim's.) A
witness, who testified in 1989 that Peterson confessed, now admits he lied
and that he learned key, unpublicized details of the crime from 2
investigators who still work in the prosecutor's office. If there are to
be no more Larry Petersons in Burlington County, the public must
understand how and why this prosecution was mishandled.
Bernardi shows no signs of having learned from this episode. His public
statement on Friday refused to say that Peterson was exonerated, even
though DNA from an unidentified male was found on the victim, and none of
Peterson's DNA was on the victim or at the crime scene. The prosecutor
termed this "problematic." More problematic is the unwillingness to say
"we were wrong."
Bernardi would say only that the state's evidence against Peterson had
"eroded." He went on to thank various law enforcement agencies for
conducting the new testing that Peterson and his counsel, the Innocence
Project of New York, had forced on them after nine years of litigation.
"The public should be gratified by the efforts of your law enforcement
agencies to use their best efforts in solving crimes such as this,"
Bernardi said. Did we mention that this crime remains unsolved?
Peterson is owed a public apology. State law entitles him to collect
$20,000 for each year he spent in jail wrongfully. That's about $360,000
to help him rebuild his life. Nobody should pretend that money will erase
the injustice that Peterson has endured, but the sum may be about as close
as he gets to hearing anyone in officialdom say they're sorry.
(source: Editorial, Centre Daily)