Rant of the Week

Update on Damien Echols

My original post on Damien Echols is here.

Even in a country as brutally committed to the death penalty as the United States, the process can be long and arduous.  Echols is still on death row.  And there is some movement: a judge has just granted a joint request by the defense and prosecution to have samples of skin, hair, and other tissue from the victims and from under the victims' finger-nails tested for DNA.

This could be very interesting.  And it's refreshing to see the prosecution join in the motion-- if they were right in targeting Echols in the first place, they should have nothing to fear.

On the other hand, if the DNA of those skin samples belongs to someone else.... expect the Attorney-General of Arkansas to continue to stonewall.  [2011-03: they did, in fact, belong to someone else.]

How often do you like to admit that you were wrong and may be responsible for destroying three innocent lives?  Or that you screwed up and didn't do your job?  Or that you are an ass?

Copyright © 2004 Bill Van Dyk  All rights reserved.

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