Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?
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 <i>excluded</i> him? What the actual fuck.<p>>> Mr. Jennings voluntarily submitted to hours of police interviews and interrogations and a polygraph test without objection or legal representation.<p>>> 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<p>It bears reminding, voluntarily speaking to police is <i>NEVER, EVER... EVER!!!</i> 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 <i>possibly</i> convicted this... unless he accepted a plea.<p>>> 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.<p>A "partially pulled down" tube top means sexual assault?! It couldn't be that the attacker simply was grabbing at the victim?<p>>> because a security guard was on duty, it was highly unlikely that any other offender would commit such a crime<p>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?<p>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.<p>[1] <a href="http://justiceforray.webs.com/" rel="nofollow">http://justiceforray.webs.com/</a>