Wrongfully convicted man freed after 23 years!

[lawyerman]

Jerry Lee Evans was wrongfully convicted of a 1986 rape. After 23 years in prison he was set free.

Another Dallas County man has been set free from prison after two decades. DNA tests cleared Jerry Lee Evans from a 1986 rape case. While Evans is the 20th Dallas man cleared, another man will remain in prison.

Evans said he knew his 'day of vindication' was coming and Vincent Draper may never get out of prison after this day.

Both men came before a Dallas County judge, both with 20-plus years in prison for sex crime convictions, and both with DNA findings that would either release them, or send them back to prison.

"The court is going to deny the defense motion," said Judge Carter Thompson.

DNA tests confirmed Draper's sexual assault of an 8-year old child 24 years ago. "Further on behalf of the citizens of the State of Texas, the court would like to apologize for the wrong that's been done to you in this case," Judge Thompson told Evans.

Jerry Evans' name was added to the list of wrongfully-convicted Dallas citizens. He never raped a woman in March of 1985 and DNA evidence freed him.

"I knew it would come one day. I just didn't know it was gonna be 23 years," Evans said.

When speaking about her client's conviction Evans attorney points to shoddy, if not shady, police work. "The more that we know about the case, the more convinced I am that what was in the police report, the timeframe, is not what really happened," Public Defender Michelle Moore explained.

"This is an opportunity, with the 20th exoneration, for us to really, really, take a close look at what we've been doing for years and correct the mistakes of the past," said Dallas Co. District Attorney Craig Watkins.

Vincent Draper's past will keep him in prison.

Jerry Evans is ready to move beyond the past.

I know that some people on the board are in favour of capital punishment and I am not one of them and this is one of the reasons why.

 

[WhaWhaWha]

Outrageous. I hope he drains them dry with a heavy compensation for wrongful conviction and incarceration award. And if the police are found to have tampered with the case to make it fit, I hope they serve time for it.

 

[Gentle Ben]

I know that some people on the board are in favour of capital punishment and I am not one of them and this is one of the reasons why.

Yup, way too many wrongful convictions

 

[danmand]

Some of you still want the death penalty?

 

[papasmerf]

Some of you still want the death penalty?

Yes

There is no question the justice system is flawed but until you come up with a better one it is what we have.

 

[Cycleguy007]

Some of you still want the death penalty?

Yes, but only in cases where the crime was particularly heinous and where the evidence is irrefutable.

Examples: Bernardo AND Homolka, (The fact that she is out of jail right now is of PARTICULAR disgust!) Olsen, The pig farmer guy etc...

 

[danmand]

Yes, but only in cases where the crime was particularly heinous and where the evidence is irrefutable.

Examples: Bernardo AND Homolka, (The fact that she is out of jail right now is of PARTICULAR disgust!) Olsen, The pig farmer guy etc...

I am afraid of that approach, because all the wrongful convicted in Canada
and given life sentences was in this category. It is safe to assume that no-one
will get life imprisonment without parole if the evidence is not irrefutable.

Lock them away, at least that is somewhat reversible.

PS: Do you truly know who of the two, Homolka and Bernardo, was the real villain. Or were they both?

 

[papasmerf]

PS: Do you truly know who of the two, Homolka and Bernardo, was the real villain. Or were they both?

totally assinine remark removed by Moderator

In a crime like that if you participate you are just as guilty.


Chales Manson is a great example of spending far more than he is worth to keep in prison.

 

[The LoLRus]

Some of you still want the death penalty?

Only in very extreme cases!! This guy IMO wouldnt qualify.

Dahmer would have, Ted Bundy also

 

[danmand]

why don't you ask the girls they murdered?

In a crime like that if you participate you are just as guilty.


Chales Manson is a great example of spending far more than he is worth to keep in prison.

Deal with the US problems, papa, we don't need your advice.

 

[Master Muse]

Danmand's Argument

Somehow, keep your arguments for the US we don't need your advice notion doesn't make much sense to me. I also think it's counter to the general tone of the members of the Terb posters.

 

[danmand]

Somehow, keep your arguments for the US we don't need your advice notion doesn't make much sense to me. I also think it's counter to the general tone of the members of the Terb posters.

Come on, it was for Papa. Don't you think it was pretty rude to suggest
asking the murdered girls?

 

[papasmerf]

Come on, it was for Papa. Don't you think it was pretty rude to suggest
asking the murdered girls?

No i do not think it was rude

When you are talking crimes as heinous as theirs and ask who the real villain was, that was the rude.

 

[Cycleguy007]

Do you truly know who of the two, Homolka and Bernardo, was the real villain. Or were they both?

Of course I personally don't... But I believe the court officials do.

If you want my opinion, Karla is just as, if not worse than Paul... look at the history- Paul was not a murderer (that we know of) until she came along. A particularly brutal rapist, yes, but he didn't start taking the lives of his victims until Karla was involved.

Regardless of this fact, there is VIDEO EVIDENCE to support the fact that they were both equally involved in the rape and murder of those girls. In this case, I would have no issues ending their lives. I would even volunteer to 0 press the button myself, but I suspect there would be a VERY long list of volunteers for THAT job. (Including the fathers of the girls that were murdered...)

 

[papasmerf]

Deal with the US problems, papa, we don't need your advice.

Murders are not unique in either country. The issues we face with the death penalty knows no border.

You don't have to like the fact I am on the side of the victums and their families.

 

[grooverider]

I wonder if everyone who is favour of the death penalty would feel the same way if they were the person on death row? I bet they would be protesting their innocence up until they get strapped into Ol' Sparky instead of sitting in the chair waiting for their eyeballs to pop out. It's the system at it's best isn't it?

The Dallas DA department was notorious for suppressing evidence that would hurt their conviction rate and worked with the Dallas PD to keep the person they wanted convicted of the crime in jail.

Always in the Groove...

 

[danmand]

Of course I personally don't... But I believe the court officials do.

If you want my opinion, Karla is just as, if not worse than Paul... look at the history- Paul was not a murderer (that we know of) until she came along. A particularly brutal rapist, yes, but he didn't start taking the lives of his victims until Karla was involved.

Regardless of this fact, there is VIDEO EVIDENCE to support the fact that they were both equally involved in the rape and murder of those girls. In this case, I would have no issues ending their lives. I would even volunteer to 0 press the button myself, but I suspect there would be a VERY long list of volunteers for THAT job. (Including the fathers of the girls that were murdered...

The court officials know, do they. That is why Homolka is a free women,
I suppose.

During the trial, Homolka was shown as a young girl who would do anything to
please bernardo, including help kill her own sister. But you are already questioning
that theory in your post; maybe she was the one who had Bernardo in her spell
and used drugs etc to control him?

The only thing I know is that I do not know who the head killer was of the two.
Homolka made a deal, Bernardo did not. She is free, he is locked up.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

To all those "heroic" law and order death penalty proponents, put yourself in the shoes of James Driskell, Romeo Phillion, Thomas Sophonow, William Mullins-Johnson, Steven Truscott, Erin Walsh, Donald Marshall Jr., David Milgaard and Guy Paul Morin. Not to mention supposed "rapists" Anthony Hanemaayer and Simon Marshall. Or their families.

Most of you would (and probably did at the time) call for them to be executed or gang raped to death in prison.

All were proven innocent, sometimes after they were already dead.

 

[Cycleguy007]

The court officials know, do they. That is why Homolka is a free women,
I suppose.

During the trial, Homolka was shown as a young girl who would do anything to
please bernardo, including help kill her own sister. But you are already questioning
that theory in your post; maybe she was the one who had Bernardo in her spell
and used drugs etc to control him?

The only thing I know is that I do not know who the head killer was of the two.
Homolka made a deal, Bernardo did not. She is free, he is locked up.

The reason I say I believe the court officials know, is because THEY saw the video tape evidence, THEY have the DNA evidence and know where it was found etc. I have never claimed to be a forensic scientist so no, "I" personally don't know.

The reason she is running free is because they had a deal before all this video evidence came out, and because she had a "good" lawyer, that deal was IRON clad.

In my book, if someone aids in killing another human (and in this case AT LEAST 4 humans e.g. Tammy, Leslie, Kristin and whoever victim "x" was) is just as guilty as the person whom you say is the head killer... and should suffer the same fate as well.

 

[papasmerf]

To all those "heroic" law and order death penalty proponents, put yourself in the shoes of James Driskell, Romeo Phillion, Thomas Sophonow, William Mullins-Johnson, Steven Truscott, Erin Walsh, Donald Marshall Jr., David Milgaard and Guy Paul Morin. Not to mention supposed "rapists" Anthony Hanemaayer and Simon Marshall. Or their families.

Most of you would (and probably did at the time) call for them to be executed or gang raped to death in prison.

All were proven innocent, sometimes after they were already dead.

What you are saying is it is better a million killers live than one innocent man die?

There is some validity to that argument and has been used halt the use of the death penalty in many countries and states.