> What I'm saying is that fabrication of testimony and planting of evidence aren't the same thing.
Correct. Planting of evidence is more difficult and more unlikely than fabrication of testimony.
Fabrication of testimony is lying about the facts of a matter.
Planting of evidence is lying about the facts of a matter in addition to leaving physical traces that corroborate your lies.
> But in order to have this assembly line of false convictions, you absolutely need a victimless crime.
Negatory.
This crime has been ongoing since at least 1996.
The article mentions "hundreds" of cases. Let's say that that's 500 cases, which works out to ~2.1 cases per month. I wouldn't call that an "assembly line" of cases.
Dothan has -roughly- 60k people in it. Over ~twenty years, this conspiracy touched less than 1% of the area's population... and -to be frank- it's a segment of the population that is not well-liked by a lot of the folks in the area. Few locals would bat an eye if "Them $RACIAL_SLURs done hit Jim-Joe's Gun Shop again.". [0]
The article states that the police department called the DA's office in order to get the DA's office to actively block the IA investigation. I see no reason why the office wouldn't also fail to question periodic rashes of burglary against a few suspiciously unlucky business owners.
As has been demonstrated, all you need to run this scheme is a few corruptable (or corrupted) people in key positions and a pool of people who are too poor to raise a competent defense.
Alabama has both... in quantity.
[0] Citation: I grew up in the sticks in Alabama. There are lots of good people, but there are lots of terrible people, too. And, yes, there are many folks with names (or nyms) like Billy-Bob and Jim-Joe. :)