Man Freed After 23 Years in Prison
DNA evidence has sprung another man from prison. Robert Lee Stinson (pictured) was 21 years old when he went inside for the murder of a 63-year-old woman. His conviction, based almost solely on bite marks found on the victim has been vacated and he is a free man pending the state's decision whether to retry him.
As I've said before, we live in judgmental times. People in this country are taught fear every day - fear of crime, fear of terrorism, fear of African-Americans, Muslims, homosexuals, you name it. Juries bring that mindset with them into the courtroom and, when faced with a murdered woman and a young black defendant whom an expert hired by the state swears must have done the crime, they readily convict. Read about it here (MSNBC, 1/30/09).
In vain does the defendant's lawyer explain that odontology, the "science" of identifying bite marks, is pure junk. In this case, the defendant was actually missing a tooth that the biter had. But the "expert" witness said Stinson was the killer anyway and the jury ignored the obvious.
Thanks again to the Innocence Project for setting this man free. I know Stinson is glad. But think about it; if you're 44 years old or older, what we're you doing between the ages of 21 and 44, the years we used to call our "prime?" Did you finish college, marry, start a family, start a career? Did you learn the mysteries of childrearing? Did you mature in your career from a novice, to become experienced and then highly knowledgeable in your field? Did you see your children grow up and go off to college? Did you begin to mentor younger men or women?
During the time you were doing all that and so much more, Robert Lee Stinson sat in prison and learned the lessons you learn behind bars. Now he's free, but his prime years were taken from him by a jury taught to fear and a prosecution that cared more about wins ("kills" in the parlance of the DA's office) than about guilt or innocence.
And of course, for those 23 years, the real killer has walked free. Now that's something to be afraid of.
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