One of the topics on my agenda lately has been this case in Dallas where two men were wrongly accused and convicted spending 15 years behind bars. The Innocence Project worked the case and proved their innocence via DNA evidence. The two men, Dennis Lee Allen and Stanley Orson Mozee, were released from prison Oct. 28.
I know that unfortunately innocent people end up in prison more often then we think. This is why the Innocence Project’s work is so important. I would so love to work for them!
What I find troubling is that Dallas has had more than 30 convictions overturned in the last 10 years, freeing these men after they served years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit.
I realize they try 1000s of cases a year, maybe more, but this number just seems a bit high to me. Am I the only one troubled by that number? I want to do some more research on this when I get some extra time.
NaNoWriMo update: Oh my gosh – I am still at it. Shocked the shit out of me, for sure. So far 13,764 words in, with only 36,236 to go 😉 Fixing to try and work an hour or so tonight. It’s been a busy day! I need to play a little catch-up here, too – family stuff has been calling me away the last few days.
I am way behind on my blog reading, so if I haven’t hit your posts lately, I am planning to catch up soon! Hope you are all doing well!
Just some things I was thinking about . . .
Just something I was thinking about . . . 
I read this and think how awful it would be to spend one day in jail when you are innocent of the crime you were convincted of, Sadie. Good grief, yes, these Dallas numbers are tragic.
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Hey Mark! I am missing your Nano Poblano & NaBloPoMo 😦 Is it cheating if I add myself to the blog roll & use the badge even if I know I may only get a few up at best. There just aint enough time in my day these days LOL!
Thanks for your comment – I wondered if it was just me. I wonder what these stats are like in other places. I find these types of things quite interesting indeed. . .
Always glad when you stop by!
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It is not cheating. You are my teammate on Nano Poblano, Sadie. Use the badge, please. I would be honored as 2014 host. 🙂 You know I am symnpatico to your words and ideas.
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And besides the NaNoWriMo thing is a kissin’ cousin to Nano Poblano. So I just puit your link on our Blog Roll page, Sadie. Maybe one of your new teammates will pick you for one of our three Blog Hops that are rolling around this month. All three have been fun. Yes, I’ve been part of them all. We have a short story, a Name Game and gratitude list.
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Thanks Mark!! 😊
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“Fixing to try…” Ha, that’s a dead giveaway that you’re a Texan, Sadie. I lived in Dallas for a few years back in the 90s, and I can’t tell you how many times I heard that expression, “Well, I’m fixin’ to” do this or do that.
But on the topic of your post, yes, it is unfortunate that so many people have spent half or a third of their lives incarcerated for crimes they didn’t commit because the science wasn’t there to exonerate them. I can’t imagine how bitter I would be if something like that had happened to me.
And finally, congratulations of making steady progress for NaNoWriMo. Good for you.
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Laughing Doobs – yeah the more I write, the freer I am at giving myself away 😉 (Not that I am trying to be secretive either LOL) I actually thought about it when I wrote it as that is not normally the way I write, unless it’s dialogue – but I do speak this way and was too tired to backspace to change it 😉
I can only hope with DNA technical advances and databases expanding that more wrongful convictions are overturned. I have to admit – if it was me, bitter would be an understatement.
Always good to hear from you, Doobs! I tried to catch up a little on your blog tonight 🙂
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Yes, I see that you did. I just got up and see a number of comments and dozens of likes. Glad you could make the time, Sadie.
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Become a lawyer and write a nonowrimo about some death penalty case…….man you do worry a lot about social issues. But that´s good. Although if they try more than 1000 cases a year the percentage of wrongful convictions is pretty low, it´s tragic, but no system is perfect.
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My husband says I would make an excellent lawyer & I actually entertained being one many times over the years, but much of it seems pretty distasteful to me. I def walk to the beat of my own drummer, a non-conformist and rebel — but never at the expense or ruination of others. And you’re right no system is perfect, but some of its imperfection is game-playing pure and simple with others lives.
Always good to hear from you, Charly!
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Would you be a deffense lawyer or a prosecutor? What if you knew for sure that you client is guilty, would you defend him them?
Don´t get mad at me Sadie…..
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I’m not mad – & I can honestly say, defense lawyer and I could only defend them if I knew undoubtedly that they were guilty if maybe it was for something inconsequential – BUT murder, rape, robbing, violence, those “with” taking advantage of those “without” – yeah fuck no. One of the reasons I never did it. I would want to be the little storefront lawyer helping out those getting screwed because they have no money and those kind of lawyers have to already be independently wealthy if they want to eat. And I always did 😉
Now if I ever became independently wealthy – like winning the lottery LOL – it would be tempting 🙂
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Then give me a call when you win the lottery, I´ll be your paralegal.
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Yeah, that’s a big number Sadie. The problem, of course, is that no one really knows how many are innocent – perhaps that’s only the tip of the iceberg. We’ve had a number of high profile cases here in Canada over the years as well – innocent men who had spent years or decades behind bars. DNA is no silver bullet but it can help, especially in disproving. One of the big things (that I try to impress upon any teens who enter my life) is that you have to be careful who you associate with. It is very easy to be mistaken as a criminal when you hang with criminals. Guilt by association has put many an innocent person behind bars. Anyone who has lived any life, has at one point or another been in a position where, for a short time, if anything bad had happened they would have been suspect. It is imporatmt to recognize and avoid those situations. That comes easier with age and experience but it is still an issue. Our system is not perfect and needs more improvement.
Honestly Sadie, even though we all have lines that we don’t cross, in terms of breaking the law, still everyone has their breaking point. So many in jail now were poor or disenfranchised (such as belonging to a gang) and commit crimes because they have nothing to lose. As more and more wealth moves to fewer and fewer hands, the lower class will grow and the middle class will shrink. You can see it happening right now in most capitalist democracies. That increases the motivation for crime and also increases the demand for “justice” or someone – anyone – to pay. And hence an increase in wrongful convictions. It seems logical.
Great post – very thought provoking.
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One thing that has made it worse is the privatizing of prisons.They have to have their cells full to make a profit. There are real questions to ask when the “prison Corporations” lobby congress and state legislators for tough jail time penalties of nonviolent crimes. We in the U.S. have more prisoners per capita than any other civilized or uncivilized country in the world. There is NO motivation for private prisons to rehabilitate or to be concerned whether the right person is serving a term. They literally hate losing a paying customer. The biggest lobby against decriminalizing marijuana are the Corporate Prisons. And they for damn sure don’t care if a man is innocent or not, no matter what the crime. Any politician that professes to be tough on crime is probably and most likely supported largely by the Prison Industry. It is shameful what is going on in this once beautiful country.
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I do find the number of wrongful convictions you mentioned troubling. This is one reason why I am against the death penalty. It’s bad enough to be sent to prison for something you didn’t do, but to be executed for it is unconscionable.
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