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Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

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Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#31

Post by jessriedel »

ClintEhrlich wrote: post #3
dvcc wrote: post #2

This may not be the greatest idea, and may not even be realistic but are there not cash advances on a pending/future lawsuit? I imagine the terms are not friendly, but it may be more successful than a GoFundMe campaign if he becomes desperate enough.

Unfortunately, Ray's case has not advanced far enough to make litigation financing a practical option. Financing firms need significantly more assurance of a realistic payoff than they would be able to obtain at this juncture.

Do you have a link to anything more concrete about that?

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#32

Post by [deleted] »

ClintEhrlich wrote: post #3
dvcc wrote: post #2

This may not be the greatest idea, and may not even be realistic but are there not cash advances on a pending/future lawsuit? I imagine the terms are not friendly, but it may be more successful than a GoFundMe campaign if he becomes desperate enough.

Unfortunately, Ray's case has not advanced far enough to make litigation financing a practical option. Financing firms need significantly more assurance of a realistic payoff than they would be able to obtain at this juncture.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#33

Post by turc1656 »

I think sticking with the GoFundMe campaign is probably the best way to go. But since it has stalled, it needs to be reinvigorated through some others means. You need to get the attention of someone in the media who will publish an article on the guy. Multiple articles from different publishers would be ideal. If a few medium to high profile companies put something out there you can definitely meet (and probably exceed) your goal. Think of the influx of donations that would pour in if you made the front page of CNN, MSN, BBC, etc.

If you have social media accounts, post the links to your GoFundMe page and the personal website you have listed above out on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Better yet, include them as responses/messages directly to accounts held my media corporations because someone at that company is reading them to monitor their PR. And I bet most of the employees subscribe/follow that account as well - and they might see it and pick it up. Example - "Hey @MSN, this story needs to be spread. Please help this man get his life back. http://...."

I also just made a modest donation in support of this cause.

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#34

Post by gerby »

smoyer wrote: post #18

Ask Peter Thiel to fund his litigation against the state and to put up his living expenses until he wins.

If Peter helped this man to get on his feet and find justice, that would be a very noble act. I'm personally willing to donate this exonerated man a computer and teach him how to code user interfaces remotely if he wants. If I could afford to do more, I would. OP Please e-mail me at eddie@trycontractit.com

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#38

Post by grizzles »

mtmail wrote: post #5

In Germany the reimbursement is be 25 Euro[1] (28 USD) per day. I hope it's more i the US and other countries. [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haftentsch%C3%A4digung

That is low. A good formula would be to treat their stay as if it were forced employment. They should be pro rata'ed 3x the annual median household income annually (since it's a 24 hour a day commitment). And pay tax on it. It's still kind of unfair for a rich person but rich people don't usually get caged unfairly. Maybe some danger pay too if that's a factor.

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#39

Post by ClintEhrlich »

jessriedel wrote: post #31
ClintEhrlich wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, Ray's case has not advanced far enough to make litigation financing a practical option. Financing firms need significantly more assurance of a realistic payoff than they would be able to obtain at this juncture.

Do you have a link to anything more concrete about that?

Just my own experience submitting judgments to litigation funding firms while cases were pending on appeal.

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#40

Post by drzaiusapelord »

ClintEhrlich wrote: post #15
danso wrote: post #12

Because of the man's relatively common name, it was hard initially to find articles in the mainstream press about his exoneration (at least compared to his 2009 conviction). Here is a recent LA Times article that covers the boilerplate: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-palmdale-student...

It's probably best to search for "Raymond Lee Jennings." The media seem to prefer that formulation of his name, because it sounds creepier. This is the best news article: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-20160624-jenning... And this is a great blog post: http://mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/prosecutors-ask-court-to-r...

The media is obligated to use full names as it differentiates people with common names.

You can see this at work when, for whatever reason, killer Joel Rifkin was only referred to by his first and last name for a long time in the tabloid press. Lots of people share that name and it was unfair to them to be associated with a killer. There was actually a Seinfeld episode making fun of this as it became a problem in NY which has a lots of Rifkins. Now he's typically referred to as Joel David Rifkin.

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