How odd
A Dallas man who spent more than 27 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit is free.
James Lee Woodard was released on a personal bond Tuesday -- cleared of a 1980 murder by DNA test results. Woodard served more prison time than any other wrongfully convicted U.S. inmate to be later exonerated by DNA testing.
Wearing a purple shirt and tie with a black sport coat, the 55-year-old Woodard stepped out of the courtroom as a free man and raised his arms to a throng of photographers. Supporters and other people gathered outside the court erupted in applause.
Woodard became the 17th person in Dallas County to have his conviction cast aside, a figure unmatched by any county nationally, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions.
If only he'd been a lacrosse player.
Labels: injustice
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
6 Comments:
But Barry, as LB pointed out on my blog, LieStoppers is mostly made up of friends and family of the accused players.
Not that they ever bothered to disclose this, from what I can tell.
By
Unknown, at 6:27 PM
The Liestoppers board has been down since Friday. Not for the first time, Barry on the Ragagain has made a public doofus of himself because he didn't bother to check. The now inaccessible "Blogs and Media Roundup" threads are full of links to exactly these kinds of articles. But this is the kind of diligence we've come to expect from this blog.
But I am glad to learn that news that "DNA exonerates" has finally reached the backward City of Durham. Two years and 18 days too late, but better late than never I suppose. Maybe this groundbreaking information will save you from embarrassment in the future.
The hypocritical Innocence Project was silent the entire time the frameup was going on. Maybe the IP only helps falsely accused black people.
Given Tracey Cline's role in generating the DNA NTO (about which she's lying - c.f. Gottlieb's and Himan's depositions under oath), someone should ask if she knows "DNA exonerates". She should really just admit her role. Helping to try and frame three innocent white outsiders would get her big credit with a certain segment of the Durham voting population. It helps them ignore the problems of their own making.
"Friends and family" is a figure of speech from IIRC a cell phone ad. Count on someone like MB to lack the subtlety to be able to figure that out and take it literally instead. The Duke lacrosse team picked up lots of friends when people all over the country, who had never heard of Durham or lacrosse, figured out that Durham was trying to frame three innocent men. Which is more than can be said of the now national laughingstock City of Durham which is all alone sucking its thumb wondering how it's going to pay the civil suits.
By
Locomotive Breath, at 8:33 AM
Touchy this morning, aren't we? Musta stopped at the gas station to fill up the Expedition this morning.
By
Barry, at 8:43 AM
Oh, good, well, glad to clear that up. So you're not related to or in financial association with any of the potential beneficiaries of the various lawsuits?
Because, you know, if you were, folks going back to Aristotle would say that the ethical thing for you to do would be to say so when discussing the case in a public forum.
By
Unknown, at 9:20 AM
So Ragin badly screws up in public by not doing his homework. Once again his response is to try to divert attention by changing the subject. Flaccid as always. (I don't have an Expedition but if I wanted to I could afford one and the gas to fill it up.)
And MB has asked that question a dozen times and it's been answered a dozen times. His obsession is more than just a little bit unnatural. I just wish I did have a financial interest in the outcome of the lawsuits. I could look forward to buying and gassing up as many Expeditions as I wanted.
MB must be from the school of Nifong and simply just cannot process the idea that someone does something except for financial gain. Just for fun, here's a well known right winger who got it figured out. You can write her and ask if she's got a financial interest.
Why Would Accuser in Duke Rape Case Lie?
Duke Justice Demands Nifong's Removal
Real Rape Victims Pay Price for Duke Debacle
I thought no one in Durham cares anymore. Why are you two still posting on this topic?
By
Locomotive Breath, at 11:33 AM
Well, if you've answered it a dozen times, I sure haven't seen it. If I'm really that blind, post a link, otherwise, was it really that hard to say that? At any rate, thanks for answering, and I'll not pester you about it again.
Now that that's out of the way, perhaps you could address the substance of why Barry keeps posting these things, along with my queries to you about the degree to which you follow the Type I court cases in your jurisdiction. Which is: active members of Liestoppers, which I can only assume includes you, have repeatedly remonstrated the citizens of Durham County for not "paying attention," and insisted that we are not only financially liable for not following with utter precision the details of this case, but also deserve to pay a massive punitive damages, on an unprecedented scale for our failure to put a halt to the Nifong disaster before the accused did prison time, oh wait, no, I mean before the case went to trial, um no, I mean before the players had some nasty things said about them in the media and got their feelings hurt. At the same time, these same folks have hyperventilated about this being a such a gross miscarriage of justice that it dwarfs any other, and that this somehow proves that Durham is a cesspool of corruption, liberal fantasy, and whatever other scary masks you want to project onto us.
I have agreed that the city is liable, and that the players deserve a just ("From O.Fr. just, from L. justus "upright, equitable,") settlement. Where I do not agree is in the contention, made by you, by other like-minded commenters, and by published writers such as K.C. Johnson, that this failure is somehow unique to my city or this case. I do not agree with the three-player suit that the entire Durham Police Department needs to be turned over to judicially appointed administrator (a proposed remedy written by Innocence Project founder Barry Scheck -- come on, man, you're falling behind).
And yes, I'm writing about a subject I don't know everything about, and frankly would rather not know anything about and would never comment on. However, it's people like you who keep telling me it's my fiduciary responsibility to keep track of every nook and cranny of this case, so I have to keep jumping in.
By
Unknown, at 1:22 PM
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