Plain Old Justice

Some Good Deeds By Prosecutors

by K. W. Locke

 Thanks to DNA technology, many of the wrongfully convicted have been able to prove their innocence.  But what if investigators find no DNA to test?

Centurion Ministries, of Princeton, New Jersey, specializes in cases lacking DNA evidence.  Since 1983, this non-profit organization has freed 63 innocent people who had been sentenced to life, or death, in prison.
     
One of them, Larry Walker, walked out of prison on May 21, 2021.  The Philadelphia native had spent 38 years behind bars for a murder he insists he did not commit.

Centurion's investigation did not uncover airtight evidence of Walker's innocence.  It left the district attorney less than totally convinced.

However, the evidence did call into question the fairness of Walker's trial and the correctness of the jury's verdict.  So the DA offered Walker a deal.  

The jury had found Walker guilty of second degree murder, which carried a life sentence.  If Walker would plead "no contest" to third degree murder, he could be released from prison based on time already served.

Walker agreed and was released, even before he entered the plea.  That will come next month.

Other district attorneys might have been reluctant to offer such a deal.  But this DA is Larry Krasner, who ran for office on a reform ticket and who refuses to prosecute certain low-level offenses.  

Both former President Trump and the police union want him voted out of office.  But, with respect to Walker, I believe Krasner did the right thing.

I suspect that the district attorney in Nashville, Tennessee, would not want to be likened to Krasner.  He might prefer not even to be mentioned in the same blog post.

However, Glenn Funk deserves some praise and he's going to get it here whether he wants it or not.  Funk recently filed a pleading seeking the exoneration of Paul Garrett, who remains in prison for the manslaughter of a sex worker two decades ago.

Funk's action stands in sharp contrast to that of his predecessor.  According to the Nashville Scene newspaper, the previous district attorney had learned in 2011 that a police detective had testified, falsely, that Garrett had confessed to the murder.

The Nashville Scene reported that the previous district attorney also knew that a crime scene DNA sample did not match Garrett's DNA but did match that of another man identified through a national DNA database.  An assistant district attorney reported to her boss that "Garrett deserves to be released immediately with no conditions and to have his record clear."

However, the previous district attorney did not follow that recommendation.  He just wrote the parole board recommending an immediate release, at the same time stating that he could not say that Garrett was "utterly blameless."

That was in 2011.  A decade later, the new district attorney notified the court that "this office knows of clear and convincing  evidence establishing Mr. Garrett was convicted of a crime he did  not commit. . ."   

Bravo, Glenn Funk!

Meanwhile, 200 miles to the west, the district attorney in Memphis, Tennessee, has established a Conduct Review Unit to investigate allegations of police brutality.  DA Amy Weirich already has brought charges against two Memphis officers.