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Houston Man Falsely Convicted of Rape, Imprisoned for 12 Years
Due to problems with the Houston crime lab:
Houston officials have been struggling to fix the crime lab for years. An independent audit in 2002 raised concerns about DNA analysis procedures. In June, a former U.S. Justice Department inspector hired by the city cited hundreds of "serious and pervasive" flaws in forensic cases handled by the lab.
Taylor was convicted of rape in 1995 and sentenced to 60 years in prison. The victim picked him out of a lineup but acknowledged she only caught a glimpse of her attacker's face.
During his trial, a crime lab analyst testified that no body fluids were found on the victim's bedsheet. This summer, the Innocence Project paid to have a New Orleans lab retest the bedsheet. Semen that lab found matched the DNA of a man already in prison.
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal apologized to Taylor in court Tuesday, and several council members echoed his regret.
Let's hope Mississippi soon undertakes a similar audit of the way it administers its autopsies.
|10.10.07 @ 4:01PM|#
C'mon, Radley, that guy in Mississippi did 1500 autopsies per year? That just means he's really good at it. You sound jealous.
Sara|10.10.07 @ 4:02PM|#
I sure hope the $10 bond he got makes up for those years in
prison.
$10.
Wow.
|10.10.07 @ 4:05PM|#
Let's hope Mississippi soon undertakes a similar audit of
the way it administers its autopsies.
Radley:
We're waiting for news of the radio gig in Jackson this
morning.
Episiarch|10.10.07 @ 4:07PM|#
How exactly do you "convcite" someone?
Pedant. Radley will fix it quietly, and who's going to look stupid
then, when nobody understands what your post refers to?
|10.10.07 @ 4:08PM|#
Cases like this are why I reluctantly moved from being a loud, obnoxious, death penaly advocate to a fervent opponent of capital punishment. Too many mistakes in too many jurisdictions. To borrow a phrase, another isolated incident.
|10.10.07 @ 4:12PM|#
How exactly do you "convcite" someone?
Ho, ho. Clever chap, you pointed out a minor typographical error in
the headline of this news item! Well played.
|10.10.07 @ 4:12PM|#
Radley will fix it quietly, and who's going to look stupid
then, when nobody understands what your post refers to?
Which one is stupider? The stupid person or the person who follows
him? And does this obtuse "Star Wars" reference make any goddamn
sense? The answer is no! So in case Radley fixes it, HEY PEOPLE,
RADLEY ORIGINALLY HAD "CONVICTED" spelled "CONVCITED"!!!!
Episiarch|10.10.07 @ 4:18PM|#
Which one is stupider?
Ah, that would probably be me in this case. Yoda. Yogurt. Whichever
one you are.
|10.10.07 @ 4:25PM|#
Cases like this are why I reluctantly moved from being a
loud, obnoxious, death penaly advocate to a fervent opponent of
capital punishment. Too many mistakes in too many jurisdictions. To
borrow a phrase, another isolated incident.
Same here. As a former lawyer, I have a hard time understanding how
anyone can have any contact with our justice/court system and still
support the death penalty.
Amanda Marcotte|10.10.07 @ 4:28PM|#
So a black man gets falsely convicted of rape, he gets nothing. But 3 white lacrosse students get falsely accused of rape, they get to sue the shit out of the government. Damned lawyers.
|10.10.07 @ 4:29PM|#
And all this time I believed that if you weren't guilty then you don't have anything to worry about.
miche|10.10.07 @ 4:33PM|#
Cases like this are why I reluctantly moved from being a loud, obnoxious, death penaly advocate to a fervent opponent of capital punishment. Too many mistakes in too many jurisdictions. To borrow a phrase, another isolated incident.
Same here. As a former lawyer, I have a hard time understanding how anyone can have any contact with our justice/court system and still support the death penalty.
Same here.
|10.10.07 @ 4:34PM|#
Once again, if you feel the need to donate time or money to a worthy cause, The Innocence Project is a damn good bet. Non-partisan, non-religious just devoted to making sure that justice is served properly.
VM|10.10.07 @ 4:37PM|#
Pedant. Radley will fix it quietly, and who's going to look stupid then, when nobody understands what your post refers to?
oooh! oooh! ooh! I can! I can! I can!!!! I ca'...
*looks around. um.....
/slinks off
|10.10.07 @ 4:41PM|#
I'll also throw out another worthy organization if you have some spare change: Northwestern's Center on Wrongful Convictions.
|10.10.07 @ 4:42PM|#
Amanda Marcotte,
To be fair, it depends on the state you get screwed in and the
level of screwing the prosecutor gives you. In our favorite NC
fiasco, the prosecutor violated about half of the canon of ethics.
Easier to pursue civil relief when that happens, though the
immunity barrier can be a tough nut to crack even then.
In my mind, anyone who is falsely convicted has a right to a fairly
substantial recovery. I'd rather hand money to someone like that
than to the people we usually give money to.
Radley Balko|10.10.07 @ 4:45PM|#
We're waiting for news of the radio gig in Jackson this
morning.
It went well. Hayne didn't show up, though I hear some of his
defenders called in after I hung up. The producer tells me the
station plans to stay on the story.
stephen the goldberger|10.10.07 @ 4:45PM|#
Which one is stupider?
What is stupider? I believe you mean "more stupid"
IN YUR FACE
|10.10.07 @ 4:47PM|#
Agree with several of the above posters re: death penalty. It's a philosophical exercise now - "Would you be in favor of the death penalty if they'd execute only people actually guilty of the crime?"
VM|10.10.07 @ 4:51PM|#
Thank you Radley for keeping the steady beat against the abuse of power. And thank you Kwix for posting the Innocence Project!
|10.10.07 @ 4:56PM|#
Many states do indeed pay restitution to the falsely convicted. I believe in Ohio there is a formula based on the number of years in prison, along with other factors.
|10.10.07 @ 4:58PM|#
Amanda Marcotte
Your point is well taken.
I note that the news item is only a day old.
Hopefully, Harris County will do the decent thing and compensate
him properly. (I say hopefully, because I know that they could turn
out to be real jerks - like the English Solicitor General who sent
the wrongfully convicted prisoner a bill for food and lodging for
the years of his imprisonment. It was cited here previously, but I
don't have the link.)
|10.10.07 @ 5:02PM|#
"So a black man gets falsely convicted of rape, he gets nothing.
But 3 white lacrosse students get falsely accused of rape, they get
to sue the shit out of the government."
It has nothing to do with the guy in Houston being black. Two
things, first Texas has very broad sovereign immunity laws. Second,
the prosecutor in this case did not do anything unethical. It was
not unethical for him to believe his expert. It appears that the
expert was incompetant. Certainly, someone is at fault for that but
being at fault doesn't mean misconduct. Unless you can establish
that the expert lied or there was some kind of diliberate
indifference to known lab incompetance, you don't have a case
against the prosecutor or the state of Texas.
Les|10.10.07 @ 5:02PM|#
It's a good thing people weren't wrongly executed before DNA testing. Thankfully, the system works!
|10.10.07 @ 5:05PM|#
Thread Jack Alert:
Click here to read a touching story about a family whose one
year old nearly drowned to death and is bow being sued, by one of
the cops who came to assist, for having a wet slippery floor.
|10.10.07 @ 5:11PM|#
It was not unethical for him to believe his expert. It
appears that the expert was incompetant.
Unless they "expert" has a history of problems that make said
"expert" less than reliable, and the prosecutor ignores that
history of problems.
Look, I get the point, but let's be honest. Prosecutors aren't
choosing these "experts" because they are honest truthful people --
they choose their "experts" based on how likely they are to
validate the story the prosecution is selling. Like that Dr. Hayne
fellow.
Nigel Watt|10.10.07 @ 5:12PM|#
Ten bucks, to be donated to the guy in order to double his bond,
says Harris County won't do a thing for him.
I had to go to six different government offices on Monday just to
register to vote by absentee ballot.
(Prop 10 all the way.)
|10.10.07 @ 5:13PM|#
This proves once again why everybody needs to be skeptical about the claims of all government law enforcement agents. Could you imagine if this guy had been castrated (as some people want the penalty for rape to be), even though he is innocent? The government simply should not ever be taken at its word on anything because it is wrong so often.
Aaron Kinney|10.10.07 @ 5:15PM|#
$10 and an apology for a paltry 12 years of my life? What a
bargain!
Sign me up, baby!
|10.10.07 @ 5:26PM|#
For what it's worth, Texas does have a statute permitting a
person wrongfully imprisoned to sue the state and recover: 1. the
cost of attorneys' fees and other expenses both for the original
prosecution and for the wrongful imprisonment suit; and 2. the
amount of income the person wrongfully imprisoned could have earned
if free. However, there is a damage cap of $500,000.
Doesn't really make up for 14 years, but this man figures to get a
few hundred thousand dollars, perhaps the whole half-million.
T|10.10.07 @ 5:28PM|#
Hopefully, Harris County will do the decent thing and
compensate him properly.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Oh, wait, that wasn't a joke? You're serious?
No, the city won't do shit for him unless he can somehow prevail in
a lawsuit. Any other reasons aside, if Houston sets a precedent of
compensating people for wrongful convictions due to the fabulously
incompetent crime lab they'll quickly go broke. The crime lab has
been the gift that keeps on giving.
(Side note: Chuck R. is the elected county DA, but the city in the
form of Houston PD runs the crime lab.)
|10.10.07 @ 5:31PM|#
It appears that the expert was [incompetent].
It would be interesting to know how often this "incompetence" led
to conclusions that ended up benefiting the prosecution. I'd be
willing to bet that it was a very high percentage of the time. If
so, that would be compelling evidence that more than mere
incompetence was involved.
|10.10.07 @ 5:34PM|#
In my mind, anyone who is falsely convicted has a right to a
fairly substantial recovery. I'd rather hand money to someone like
that than to the people we usually give money to.
Say, double or triple the median full time wage for the duration of
his UNJUST incarceration? I have real problems with sovereign
immunity.
Dan Q.|10.10.07 @ 5:38PM|#
If Ronald Taylor didn't want to spend 12 years in prison, he shouldn't have lived in a city that would falsely convict him of rape.
|10.10.07 @ 5:39PM|#
According to some comments on the chron.com site to some earlier
stories about this guy (in the last few weeks), he's going to
get/already got a $600,000 settlement.
If true... it's still not nearly enough.
Chuck|10.10.07 @ 5:40PM|#
Radley--
Hayne didn't show up because he was busy. he probably did 15 or 20
autopsies during that time. And testified in eight trials. And did
rounds at the local hospital. And baked a batch of cookies for the
children. He's now off to accept the Nobel Peace Prize during his
lunchtime.
Δαη Τ.|10.10.07 @ 6:14PM|#
If Ronald Taylor didn't want to spend 12 years in prison, he
shouldn't have lived in a city that would falsely convict him of
rape.
The risk of spending the rest of your life in prison for a crime
you didn't commit is, like taxes, the price we pay for living in a
civilized society.
Matt Moore|10.10.07 @ 6:17PM|#
From another article:
After Mr. Taylor is released, prosecutors will file paperwork asking for a pardon, and Mr. Taylor's attorneys will ask the court to overturn his conviction.
If he is pardoned based on innocence, Mr. Taylor would be eligible for compensation of $50,000 per year of incarceration, likely more than $600,000.
Probably not enough, but at least it sounds like he'll get more than 10 bucks.
M|10.10.07 @ 6:47PM|#
Non-partisan, non-religious just devoted to making sure that justice is served properly.
But doesn't that perfectly characterize the existing penal system?
Why duplicate the work?
/irony
Paul|10.10.07 @ 7:54PM|#
Same here. As a former lawyer, I have a hard time
understanding how anyone can have any contact with our
justice/court system and still support the death
penalty.
If these problems were pervaisve enough, I suppose I'd have trouble
supporting prison sentences.
But seriously, not every case has zero eye witnesses and hinges on
trace DNA evidence.
|10.10.07 @ 9:27PM|#
Paul-Of course not. But navigate over to the innocence project and take a look around. 208 exonerated as of today. The last time I checked, 11 people have been pulled off death row by that organization. Eliminating jail is, of course, absurd. But these sorts of cases do indicate that we ought to be very careful about imposing prison sentences, and should, perhaps,not impose sentences that can't be revoked.
|10.10.07 @ 10:42PM|#
Jeezus, ChiTom. Ruin my night, whydontcha?
The story was bad enough, but that picture broke my heart.
/goes to kiss her safe a sleeping infant son
LibertyPlease|10.11.07 @ 1:47AM|#
This proves once again why everybody needs to be skeptical about the claims of all government law enforcement agents. ....The government simply should not ever be taken at its word on anything because it is wrong so often.
Our public servants are hyper-aggressive about capturing and imprisoning us. Justifies bigger budgets next year and in the meantime you get to sport the latest military weaponry!
Seriously, it will soon reach the point where law-enforcement is more dangerous to citizens than non-LEO criminals.
I honestly worry more about the state than non-sponsored criminals. The state-sponsored ones will outgun, out finance, and out publicize you every time.
LibertyPlease|10.11.07 @ 1:49AM|#
Stupid tag oversight....
This proves once again why everybody needs to be skeptical about the claims of all government law enforcement agents. ....The government simply should not ever be taken at its word on anything because it is wrong so often.
Our public servants are hyper-aggressive about capturing and
imprisoning us. Justifies bigger budgets next year and in the
meantime you get to sport the latest military weaponry!
Seriously, it will soon reach the point where law-enforcement is
more dangerous to citizens than non-LEO criminals.
I honestly worry more about the state than non-sponsored criminals.
The state-sponsored ones will outgun, out finance, and out
publicize you every time.
|10.11.07 @ 10:47AM|#
Like many earlier posters, stories like this one have caused me
to reconsider my support for capital punishment. Over the last
several years there's been story after story of people wrongly
convicted due to shoddy lab work, shoddy police work, unethical or
bullying prosecutors, etc. Of course, that doesn't include the
people that suffer under the social engineering project known as
the WOD.
I used to have a great deal of faith in our justice system.
Nowadays, not so much.
|10.11.07 @ 12:55PM|#
"....moving to Atlanta to marry Jeannette Brown, the fiancee who
has waited for him since the mid-1990s."
So this lady waited 12 years to get married even though her
betrothed was in prison (falsely) convicted of rape? Where can I
find a woman like that?
Jennifer Emick|10.11.07 @ 6:50PM|#
At least the poor guy got an apology- I've seen many cases where a prosecutor will see exonerating evidence and decide he's still the guy, but he had an accomplice.
|10.12.07 @ 2:21AM|#
This guy deserves to be paid millions of dollars by Texas government. But idealy, when government commits an injustice that requires restitution, that restitution should, at least in part, be paid out of the pensions or salaries of the personnel of the government agency responsible for the injustice.
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