The New York Times has an article on an inmate who is being freed after DNA tests concluded that he falsely confessed to the crime.
It is interesting to note that all courts denied the defendant's applications for DNA testing. The reasoning was that the defendant knew too much about the details of the crime to be innocent. Even though the DA opposed the testing, the DA then ran the tests on their own and discovered that indeed, the defendant was not the killer.
How could someone who knew so much be innocent? Mr. Warney says that the cops fed him the information as they interrogated him. I can't believe anyone is surprised. Mr. Warney knew all the details because the cops gave it to him. That's what convicted him, and that's what kept him behind bars, wrongfully, for years. And that's why the courts continuously denied Mr. Warney's application for relief. And if the DA hadn't had some change of heart (or a confession by another person) then Mr. Warney would continue to be a wrongfully convicted killer. Mr Warney was expected to die in jail because of his fragile health. Thank goodness something happened before the legal system killed him.
5 comments:
This makes me think of My Cousin Vinnie...
"You killed the clerk."
"I killed the clerk?"
Did you hear it? He just confessed!
He should sue.
I wish I could say that I am surprised and shocked, but, instead I am just..sad and disgusted.
Yikes..that poor man.
I'm glad the truth was discovered.
Hello WOTL,
I'm not surprised - very sorry, but not surprised - for one minute that there are some unscrupulous cops out there who would deliberately tell their suspects the private details that would make the suspects sound guilty.
I'm glad that at least Douglas Arthur Warney eventually got justice. I also think that police chiefs, defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges need to take action to strongly discourage feeding suspects (true) private information(*). I have no doubt that it's an occasional police tactic.
Cheers,
Jeff Deutsch
(*) As opposed to deliberately giving a "suspect" false private details, say if police believe the person is deliberately falsely confessing (eg, for attention).
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