One of the most well-known and frequently quoted legal maxims is this: it is “better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” That was written by Sir William Blackstone in 1765, but it is far from the first or only expression of the idea....
Unfounded Accusations
Google AI falsely flagged people for child porn and it wasn’t stopped
How would you feel if your innocent pictures were falsely flagged as child pornography? It would be horrifying. Unfortunately, there are situations where that can easily happen. Some people, sometimes even prosecutors, don’t understand what child pornography is and...
Richard Glossip didn’t do it and we know who did. Why is he on death row?
In January 1997, Justin Sneed murdered an Oklahoma motel owner named Barry Van Treese. He has admitted as much. In exchange for more favorable treatment, Sneed agreed to implicate and testify against Richard Glossip, the motel’s manager. The prosecution’s theory was...
Now exonerated of murder, man had same name as suspect
Thomas Raynard James has now spent more than half of his life in prison. Over 31 years were stolen from him by a wrongful conviction based on a series of mistakes that led to a mistaken identification. Never once did he give up trying to prove his innocence, and now...
Wrongfully convicted man sues Milwaukee for rights violations
Two months after Lavare Gould, 19, was killed in 2008, Milwaukee police had no suspect or leads. Then, a man who was arrested in an unrelated case claimed to have information about Gould’s case. The information was conflicting, but it implicated Ladarious Marshall,...
Fatally flawed arson evidence means Tennessee man goes free
In February 1992, 24-year-old Lorie Lance died in a fire in Old Hickory, Tennessee. Her boyfriend, Claude Garrett, awoke to find his and Lorie’s living room on fire. He woke Lorie up and ran for the door, but Lorie suddenly turned and ran toward the back of the house....
Held pretrial for 4 years, 2 men were exonerated and are now suing
It was a shocking and terrible crime. In 2016, two gunmen acted in concert to drive partygoers to a Pittsburgh-area house’s back porch and then shoot them. Five people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were killed. A sixth person was paralyzed and died...
Apple announces plan to scan your iPhone for child pornography
It’s tempting to set aside the privacy rights of people who may be involved in child pornography. Most people have no sympathy for that type of criminal offense, and many people feel that policing child pornography should be aggressive. The problem with doing so is...
Alabama DA reviews death penalty case, finds obvious problems
District attorneys around the U.S. are reviewing past convictions for evidence that they were wrongful. Unfortunately, there are many situations that can lead to wrongful convictions. Recently, the DA for Jefferson County, Alabama, reviewed Toforest Johnson’s...
Intrusive, coercive child protection process must be reformed
In 1974, a federal law was passed requiring doctors, many healthcare professionals and others to make a report to the state's child protection agency when they reasonably suspect child abuse or neglect.According to data from 2016, child abuse hotlines received calls...