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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?

#112

Post by poof131 »

One place to look is resources for veterans. California has some great ones.[1] See about filing for any disabilities that may be related to time in service and if there is any way to get treatment and help through the VA. Also, look for other non-profit veteran resources beyond just the state and federal.

[1]https://www.calvet.ca.gov/VetServices/Documents/Veteran_%20R...

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

#115

Post by jean_claude »

ClintEhrlich wrote: post #59
danso wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you find unfair about the original piece? I haven't seen it but I had assumed it would be relatively favorable if Dateline had chosen to publicize the case 15 years after the murder and 6 years after the conviction.

The Dateline piece came out right after Ray's conviction. I just happened to see it 5 years later. It portrayed him as a craven killer who was brought to justice only through the Herculean efforts of police and prosecutors who wouldn't let the absence of any physical evidence stop them from getting a conviction.

Well, people are often convicted based on circumstantial evidence. That's why there is a jury, to weigh the available evidence. Personally, I wouldn't give this guy any help based on what I've read, and certainly not without reading the entire record of each trial. Also, the prosecutor should have definitely sought a lower charge of manslaughter after the 2nd hung jury.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/TESTIMONY+IN+2000+SLAYING+CO-W...

Edit: added the following

Yeah, down-voting doesn't invalidate my my feelings on the matter, and looking at the appelate court's decision to uphold the verdict [1] just affirms that I would need a whole lot more convincing this guy is innocent.

[1] http://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20CACO%2020111219009/PEOPL...

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

#117

Post by ClintEhrlich »

mangeletti wrote: post #93

Clint (or @dang if it's too late for Clint to edit the OP): Can you please update the OP to include this: http://GoFundMe.com/RayJennings Put it on its own line like that, near the top. You have many up-votes (probably thousands of readers), but only a few donations. This might be because the URL is easy to miss. A lot of people skim large posts.

This was a very good suggestion! :)

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

#118

Post by developer2 »

I know this is off topic to the direct question at hand but his case, assuming the talking points found on this page I found[1] are true, is scary. No evidence whatsoever, including fingernail DNA that excluded him? What the actual fuck.

>> Mr. Jennings voluntarily submitted to hours of police interviews and interrogations and a polygraph test without objection or legal representation.

>> The evidence presented against Jennings at trial... statements and snippets of statements taken from the hours of police interrogation of Jennings which prosecutors said pointed to his guilt

It bears reminding, voluntarily speaking to police is NEVER, EVER... EVER!!! the right thing to do. You try to help, but all it does is set you up as a scapegoat. I'll do some more searching to find the answer, but all I can think of now is what kind of judge or jury could have possibly convicted this... unless he accepted a plea.

>> prosecutors called forensic behavioral consultant, Mark Safarik, who testified that it was his opinion that the crime was a sexually motivated encounter which went bad; this, based on the fact that when found, O’Keefe’s tube top was partially pulled down.

A "partially pulled down" tube top means sexual assault?! It couldn't be that the attacker simply was grabbing at the victim?

>> because a security guard was on duty, it was highly unlikely that any other offender would commit such a crime

How does one know whether a particular area is patrolled by security? Does this forensic moron, and the judge listening to this testimony, really think this is relevant?

These kinds of horror stories come up again, and again, and again in the US. Just another reason I haven't crossed the border to that country in over a decade.

[1] http://justiceforray.webs.com/

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

#119

Post by Kinnard »

ClintEhrlich wrote: post #11
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

In theory, California provides $124 a day in compensation to the wrongfully imprisoned. In practice, the State makes it VERY hard to ever recover those funds. There are guys who were exonerated years ago who are still waiting to receive a single penny.

I'd love to learn more about this.
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