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Toward improving imperfect system

Posted on Feb 23, 2010 by North Carolina Coalition for a Moratorium

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Message*	[i]From Jacksonville, NC February 21, 2010[/i] [url=http://www.jdnews.com/opinion/made-73081-gregory-align.html]View Article Online[/url] WHEN Gregory Taylor walked through courtroom doors in Raleigh on Feb. 17, the North Carolina man made history — the “first of a first.” He was the first person exonerated by this nation’s first official commission created to review cases where justice may have been subverted. Convicted in 1993 of slaying a prostitute, Taylor served 17 years in prison before a special three-judge panel ruled him innocent of the crime. His incarceration stemmed from the murder of Jaquetta Thomas, for which Taylor drew life imprisonment. Raleigh police arrested Taylor, who admitted to a drug problem, shortly after the murder, charging him in connection with the killing based on flawed evidence, according to the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission, which sought the hearing and his eventual release. Commission investigators alleged that during Taylor’s original trial an expert with the State Bureau of Investigation withheld vital facts from the defense and trial court. During the special hearing, the presence of other exculpatory evidence not shared with the defense was also revealed. Taylor, who steadfastly maintained all along that he was not guilty, started the ball rolling when he contacted Christine Mumma, director of the N.C. Center on Actual Innocence. Mumma believed Taylor and brought the weight of the nonprofit organization behind his quest, but she also took the venture a little further: She urged the state to create the commission that ultimately led to Taylor’s exoneration. The commission, which is the first of its kind in the country, works with convicts who have evidence of their innocence and addresses both new evidence and claims of police and prosecutorial misconduct. In Taylor’s case, the commission found a pattern of excluded evidence that would have tended to exonerate him — evidence that should have been made available to the defense during the discovery phase. Taylor’s case is sad on one hand — he lost a good chunk of his life behind bars. But his story also inspires, because it shows that the commission not only works, but also can help restore integrity to the judicial system when there is a failure. Good police officers and good prosecutors want to remove the right people from the streets. Honest mistakes happen, and they are certainly deplorable; intentional obfuscation of the law also happens, and that is reprehensible. Sending someone to jail for a crime he or she has not committed serves neither society nor justice. Taylor’s exoneration is a giant step in improving an imperfect system. © Copyright 2010 Freedom Communications. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy <http://www.freedom.com/privacy.html> \| User Agreement <http://www.freedom.com/eula.html> \| Site Map <http://www.jdnews.com/sections/sitemap/>
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From Jacksonville, NC February 21, 2010

View Article Online

WHEN Gregory Taylor walked through courtroom doors in Raleigh on Feb. 17, the North Carolina man made history — the “first of a first.”

He was the first person exonerated by this nation’s first official commission created to review cases where justice may have been subverted.

Convicted in 1993 of slaying a prostitute, Taylor served 17 years in prison before a special three-judge panel ruled him innocent of the crime. His incarceration stemmed from the murder of Jaquetta Thomas, for which Taylor drew life imprisonment.

Raleigh police arrested Taylor, who admitted to a drug problem, shortly after the murder, charging him in connection with the killing based on flawed evidence, according to the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission, which sought the hearing and his eventual release.

Commission investigators alleged that during Taylor’s original trial an expert with the State Bureau of Investigation withheld vital facts from the defense and trial court. During the special hearing, the presence of other exculpatory evidence not shared with the defense was also revealed.

Taylor, who steadfastly maintained all along that he was not guilty, started the ball rolling when he contacted Christine Mumma, director of the N.C. Center on Actual Innocence. Mumma believed Taylor and brought the weight of the nonprofit organization behind his quest, but she also took the venture a little further: She urged the state to create the commission that ultimately led to Taylor’s exoneration.

The commission, which is the first of its kind in the country, works with convicts who have evidence of their innocence and addresses both new evidence and claims of police and prosecutorial misconduct. In Taylor’s case, the commission found a pattern of excluded evidence that would have tended to exonerate him — evidence that should have been made available to the defense during the discovery phase.

Taylor’s case is sad on one hand — he lost a good chunk of his life behind bars. But his story also inspires, because it shows that the commission not only works, but also can help restore integrity to the judicial system when there is a failure.

Good police officers and good prosecutors want to remove the right people from the streets. Honest mistakes happen, and they are certainly deplorable; intentional obfuscation of the law also happens, and that is reprehensible. Sending someone to jail for a crime he or she has not committed serves neither society nor justice.

Taylor’s exoneration is a giant step in improving an imperfect system.

© Copyright 2010 Freedom Communications. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy <http://www.freedom.com/privacy.html> | User Agreement <http://www.freedom.com/eula.html> | Site Map <http://www.jdnews.com/sections/sitemap/>