Innocence
Introduction
The Innocence Project is a nonprofit organization which operates with the sole goal of freeing the wrongfully convicted in the United States. It was the result of a study in the late 1980s which revealed that a vast majority of eyewitness testimonies were inaccurate and identification by eyewitnesses resulted in seventy percent of the wrongfully convicted population. In the United States, one out of every seven convicts is innocent. Hence, with the advent of DNA technology in the early 1990s, the Innocence Project came into existence with Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld heading the initiative from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Later in 2003, the Innocence Project took wings as an independent organization. Since then, the organization is responsible for over three hundred wrongfully convicted exonerations including over seventeen death row inmates were. Apart from the due process system of appeals, the Innocence Project reviews cases which fit the profile of questionable investigation and faulty prosecution. Then the attorneys of the Innocence Project conduct their own investigation and come up with their own case. DNA evidence is usually the key evidence that the Innocence Project relies on to exonerate the wrongfully convicted (Innocence Project, 2016).
On 12 October 2007, Gerald Thomas went to jail for the murder of his wife, Rebecca Thomas. On the night of the murder, Thomas was working late and upon his arrival, found his wife lying naked in the basement. One of the basement windows was open (probably pried open with a crowbar). He immediately called 911 and reported the incident. He pleaded with the operator for an ambulance and the police. Despite his best efforts, Thomas was unable to resuscitate his wife. He failed to notice the gunshot wound to her right temple in his hurry to try to revive his wife of fourteen years.
The police arrived an hour after the 911 call. They found Thomas half-dazed and still cradling his wife’s head. Once the police managed to get Thomas into the living room, they cordoned off the kitchen, basement, and the backyard leading from the pried window. Even while crime scene technicians examined the body and the surrounding area, the police wondered how Thomas managed to get so much blood on his clothes. The coroner declared the death as a homicide and stated the time of death between 21:00 and 22:00. The following afternoon, the police canvassed the neighborhood and gathered information about the Thomas’. They came to know from neighbors that the couple argued a lot and that Gerald Thomas had a prior record for assault on a former girlfriend twenty-one years earlier.
The police picked up Gerald Thomas on the pretext of questioning him. In the police precinct, they questioned him relentlessly for fourteen hours without allowing him to use the restroom. The interrogation ended when Gerald Thomas refused to talk and evoked his Miranda Rights. Meanwhile, a neighbor comes forward with the story that Gerald Thomas was at home at the time of the murder. He contended that Thomas parked his blue station wagon in his driveway a little after 21:20 hours. Based on this testimony and the account of neighbors terming the couple as ‘disharmonious’, the police arrested Gerald Thomas for the murder of his wife.
Evidence to support the prosecution’s case
The case of the prosecution rested on the blood analysis at the crime scene and on Gerald Thomas’ clothes. The absence of evidence that Rebecca was a victim of sexual assault despite being naked. The volatile relationship between the couple, the eyewitness testimony of the neighbor, and the prior assault charge against Gerald Thomas. The prosecution declined to the defense request to bring rebuttal witnesses to challenge the eyewitness, and the blood on Gerald Thomas’ clothes. The defense also did not have access to the physical evidence collected at the scene of the crime. Without the murder weapon and no chance to provide rebuttal testimonies, the defense led by the public defender’s office crumbled. The jury found Gerald Thomas guilty of second-degree murder. The court sentenced him to life in prison with the chance of parole after serving a minimum of twenty-five years.
Life Sentence with parole justification
Gerald Thomas faced Base Offense Level: 38 for second-degree murder. The court determined that the defendant constantly abused his wife, chose to impose severe mental and physical trauma in the commissioning of the crime. According to the prosecution, the defendant either ordered his wife to undress at gunpoint or stripped her naked forcibly and then forced her to beg for mercy as he deliberated to kill her. Hence, the court summarized that the crime facilitated degrading of the victim. Hence, the sentence for Gerald Thomas based on the prosecution’s case is justifiable (U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2015).
Role of the Innocence Project in the exoneration
Gerald Thomas’ siblings approached the Innocence Project immediately after the trial and urged them to review the case. The Innocence Project will reexamine all the evidence including the rebuttal witnesses, and the physical evidence found at the crime scene. They will also visit the crime scene with their own experts and examine the defendant’s clothes for relevant blood-spatter. They will also be looking for DNA evidence. They will find the pried open basement window along with the marks and paint chips on the sill. This indicates outside interference. Then they will examine Gerald Thomas’ work schedule and learn that he was at work until 23:00 and his office was thirty-one miles from the house. It will be impossible for the defendant to be at the drive as described by the neighbor.
The former girlfriend who pressed the assault charges was the first girl Gerald Thomas dated and the charge was for a minor slapping incident. Information left out by the police and prosecution. Next, the victim’s injury suggests that the perpetrator shot her at close range. Hence, he should have high velocity blood spatter on his clothes. The bloods on Thomas’ clothes are smear stains and not gunshot blood splatter. They are consistent with his story of trying to resuscitate her. There is no indication that the police conducted a gunpowder residue test on the defendant despite procedure demanding. There is no record of Gerald Thomas ever owning a gun and the victim had skin tissues under her fingernails. This was exculpatory evidence withheld from the defense. The DNA analysis of the tissue samples matches the DNA of another known felon with a long list of problems with stalking women. Armed with this evidence, the Innocence Project will first try to reason with the prosecution. Upon their refusal to cooperate, they will appeal the conviction.
Thoughts on the Innocence Project
The Innocence Project is the best response available to the wrongly convicted in the United States today. The organization is able to bring forensic experts for the case and an average citizen might not be in a position to afford such costs. There is a high rate of prosecution misconduct, unlawful plea-bargaining, and faulty police procedures to procure false confessions. The Innocence Project is the sole balance to rectify the wrongs. Although the Justice System has to protect the innocent, there is hardly a chance especially for the economically downtrodden. James Bain gained his freedom after three near misses with the gas chamber. In total, he spent thirty-five years after the victim made a mistake in identification. If not for the Innocence Project, he would probably still be in prison.
References
Innocence Project Staff (2016). About. Retrieved from: http://www.innocenceproject.org/about/
U.S. Sentencing Commission Staff (2015). 2015 Guidelines Manual. Retrieved from: http://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/guidelines-manual/2015/GLMFull.pdf
