DNA Tests Clear Wrongfully Convicted Half-Brothers After 30 Years

[kermit]

Given the posts so for, I just knew before I even clicked the link that the brothers were black.

 

[cow451]

Given the posts so for, I just knew before I even clicked the link that the brothers were black.

You do good algorithms.

 

[MachZer0]

The DNA evidence is that demonstration.

DNA on a cigarette butt?

 

[MachZer0]

Since the police wrote the confession, I expect it would fit the evidence. Go back and read the links I posted for you. The other people implicated in the "confession" turned out to have air-tight alibis.
Before all the evidence had been brought to the attention of the court.
Which, along with other exculpatory evidence was witheld from the defense, it is the DNA that is the issue, not the Newport. As you appear to not understand, DNA analysis was not available for the jurors to consider at the trial. And, they were not aware that a fingerprint found was never analysed (it did not match the defendants).

And had it been available, the only thing the jurors could have been told was that someone dropped a cigarette butt near the crime scene

 

[MachZer0]

1. Had you bothered to read the links you would have seen his confession contained false info that didn't match the crime.
2. You clearly have zero comprehension of how police can force a confession by asking leading questions with the information that they want in the confession and continue hammering that into the people for hours on end.

Just for the record, leading questions are not a case of coercion. Not one person has justified the coercion claim

 

[DaisyDay]

And had it been available, the only thing the jurors could have been told was that someone dropped a cigarette butt near the crime scene

No, they could also have been told that the DNA matched that of a man who lived nearby and who committed a similar rape.

 

[Brigid48]

In his confession, McCollom gave very specific details that matched the crime scene evidence. The only DNA evidence I've heard that was presented now was a cigarette butt. Hardly exculpatory

Yes, he included what the police wanted him to include. He also included a bunch of stuff that never happened and doesn't match the crime scene evidence, because that's what tends to happen when the police badger you and feed you what they want over hours and hours of interrogation to coerce a false confession.

 

[Brigid48]

DNA on a cigarette butt?

Along with other stuff, yes.

DNA on a cigarette butt - DNA that belonged to a known rapist who lived near where the victim was found, who raped and murdered another woman just a few months after this one (a crime he is currently serving in prison for).

 

[DaisyDay]

Just for the record, leading questions are not a case of coercion. Not one person has justified the coercion claim

Justified? Is coercion justified?

“I had never been under this much pressure, with a person hollering at me and threatening me,” Mr. McCollum said in a recent videotaped interview** with The News & Observer. “I just made up a story and gave it to them so they would let me go home.”...

Post #62

 

[Brigid48]

Just for the record, leading questions are not a case of coercion. Not one person has justified the coercion claim

Dude, read for once in your life. They included the information amongst their coercion, which includes badgering someone, threatening them, interrogating mentally ill kids for hours, making them think if they say what the police want they'll go free and go home, etc.

 

[jgarden]

DNA Tests Clear Wrongfully Convicted Half-Brothers After 30 Years

This sad episode is yet another reminder of the sinister underside of American justice whereby the local authorities in some jurisdictions have a long history of arresting/convicting the easiest targets in society - lacking the resources and support to defend themselves!

 

[GarfieldJL]

Given the posts so for, I just knew before I even clicked the link that the brothers were black.

Okay so they have dark colored skin pigmentation, who the heck cares...

You do good algorithms.

That doesn't mean the police were racist, people really need to stop thinking about everything in terms of race.

Just for the record, leading questions are not a case of coercion. Not one person has justified the coercion claim

Based on the article, the two have 'mental disabilities', so honestly it is very plausible that they were coerced into admitting they did something that they didn't do. I'm not saying the police intentionally coerced them (because it is possible that they didn't know the two had mental disabilities at the time), however it is easier to coerce someone when they a mental disability (I don't know what they specifically have so I'm only going off of what the OP article said).

I really think a lot more of this can be chalked up to a lack of awareness concerning disabilities back in the early 1980s, cause these days any 'confession' obtained before an attorney got there could be considered having been obtained via coercion.

DNA Tests Clear Wrongfully Convicted Half-Brothers After 30 Years


This sad episode is yet another reminder of the sinister underside of American justice whereby the local authorities in some jurisdictions have a long history of arresting/convicting the easiest targets in society - lacking the resources and support to defend themselves!

There is a lot more awareness about disabilities now, than there were 30 years ago. I don't think they would have been convicted today...

 

[kermit]

Okay so they have dark colored skin pigmentation, who the heck cares...

Just many times it seems that whether or not many people side with law enforcement or against it seems to line up with race.

 

[MachZer0]

Just many times it seems that whether or not many people side with law enforcement or against it seems to line up with race.

Test it out. Post a story about a Caucasian experiencing the same kind of treatment responding with the same kind of behavior. Noting of course that several of us have tesified that we've been rousted by cops and came out unscathed because we cooperated rather than resisted

 

[cow451]

DNA on a cigarette butt?

Duhhh...yes. You must not be familiar with the technology.

 

[cow451]

And had it been available, the only thing the jurors could have been told was that someone dropped a cigarette butt near the crime scene

 

[MachZer0]

Duhhh...yes. You must not be familiar with the technology.

Please, I'd love to know how a cigarette butt proves that McCollum didn't rape and murder a young girl which he confessed to doing

 

[bhsmte]

Sorry, but the claim I made was in general, not specific.

What evidence do you have to support this claim they gave a detailed confession?

The article I posted, told a different story and mentioned, part of their confession was completely false.

 

[bhsmte]

You did?



It looks to like you are making a claim about this specific confession. Is that not the case? You are saying that it is difficult in general to coerce a concise confession from anyone?

Indeed. With mentally impaired young people, it would be quite easy to feed them information to give in a confession.

 

[bhsmte]

1. Had you bothered to read the links you would have seen his confession contained false info that didn't match the crime.
2. You clearly have zero comprehension of how police can force a confession by asking leading questions with the information that they want in the confession and continue hammering that into the people for hours on end.

Well he is ignoring the false information part, doesn't fit his story.