Three men are set to be exonerated after 36 years behind bars for wrongful murder conviction

[SummerMadness]

Arrested as teens, three men are set to be exonerated after 36 years behind bars for wrongful murder conviction

The death of 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett was historically horrible. Walking down the hallway of his Baltimore middle school one afternoon in November 1983, he was accosted and shot for his Georgetown University jacket. He was the first student ever killed in a Baltimore school. The pressure to solve the case was intense, and early on Thanksgiving Day, Baltimore police arrested three teenagers from another school who were charged, as adults, with murder.

Several months later, all three were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. All three insisted they were innocent.

Gradually, as the decades passed, two of the men gave up hope of ever seeing the outside world again. But Alfred Chestnut, now 52, kept pushing. In May, he sent a handwritten letter to the Baltimore state’s attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit, after seeing city prosecutor Marilyn Mosby discussing the unit on television, saying it was designed to check out claims of wrongful convictions. Chestnut included new evidence he’d uncovered last year that incriminated the man authorities now say was the actual shooter. The Baltimore prosecutors dug in quickly, reviewed the case and re-interviewed witnesses, and on Monday afternoon, they will ask a Baltimore judge to grant writs of actual innocence and order Chestnut and his childhood friends Ransom Watkins and Andrew Stewart released from prison after 36 years — in time for the Thanksgiving they missed in 1983, and every year after that.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

HALLELUYAH !!!! PRAISE JESUS ! HEARTS FULL OF THANKSGIVING TO YAHUWEH (GOD) FOR HIS GRACE AND MERCY !

 

[“Paisios”]

Arrested as teens, three men are set to be exonerated after 36 years behind bars for wrongful murder conviction

So sad they were imprisoned for so long. Thank God they are being released.

 

[Al Touthentop]

Arrested as teens, three men are set to be exonerated after 36 years behind bars for wrongful murder conviction

Merka. Land of the free......

Thank God they are finally being cleared. But what of the people who did such shoddy work in investigating their case back in 1983?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

36 years income ...... promoted? pay raises? medical, retirement, benefits .....

 

[SummerMadness]

The Racism Right Before Our Eyes

Most of our public discourse about racism — when it’s not about violence or monuments or presidential rhetoric — is about white privilege, implicit bias and structural racism. Instead of specific actors, we tend to focus on forces that don’t actually implicate anyone in particular.

Those forces are real. And those conversations are important. Racial inequality is about the structure of our society. But it’s also about more ordinary bias and discrimination.

There are still racist individuals. They still act in racist ways. And in the aggregate, their actions still work to disadvantage entire groups on the basis of race. It’s not as visible as it once was, but it is real, and it still weighs on the lives — and the livelihoods — of millions of people.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Arrested as teens, three men are set to be exonerated after 36 years behind bars for wrongful murder conviction

The Racism Right Before Our Eyes

Not seeing the connection here...you had students who went to school with these guys picking them out of a lineup. You had false witnesses.

Are you saying that the witnesses are racist? The cops?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

The Racism Right Before Our Eyes

It happens daily, maybe in every country.

What is the Scriptural solution ? What are those who seek the one Creator , Sovereign Yahuweh, to do ?

 

[Clizby WampusCat]

HALLELUYAH !!!! PRAISE JESUS ! HEARTS FULL OF THANKSGIVING TO YAHUWEH (GOD) FOR HIS GRACE AND MERCY !

Maybe God could have got them released 36 years earlier.

 

[Clizby WampusCat]

Arrested as teens, three men are set to be exonerated after 36 years behind bars for wrongful murder conviction

This is the main reason I am against the death penalty, our system does not treat everyone equally and is not flawless.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

This is the main reason I am against the death penalty, our system does not treat everyone equally and is not flawless.

The death penalty will save more innocent lives than it will take.

 

[Clizby WampusCat]

Some criminals should be put to death.

I don't have a problem with this statement. My issue is that our system cannot determine with 100% accuracy who is guilty and deserves death as this article proves. If we cannot be 100% sure then we should not be killing people.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

36 years income ...... promoted? pay raises? medical, retirement, benefits .....

The state should make all three very wealthy men. Those who gave false testimony should be prosecuted.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I don't have a problem with this statement. My issue is that our system cannot determine with 100% accuracy who is guilty and deserves death as this article proves. If we cannot be 100% sure then we should not be killing people.

Not true. Most cases are open and shut. The tail shouldn't wag the dog.

 

[A Gerbil]

The death penalty will save more innocent lives than it will take.

That's conjecture.

I do not believe any genuine Christian can be an exponent of the death penalty. Jesus was merciful - he washed Judas' feet, knowing that his act of betrayal would lead to Him being humiliated and ultimately tortured to death. He healed the ear of one of the Roman soldiers who was arresting Him.

If one truly believes in God, then you can rest knowing that sinners will be judged and justice done.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

That's conjecture.

I do not believe any genuine Christian can be an exponent of the death penalty. Jesus was merciful - he washed Judas' feet, knowing that his act of betrayal would lead to Him being humiliated and ultimately tortured to death. He healed the ear of one of the Roman soldiers who was arresting Him.

If one truly believes in God, then you can rest knowing that sinners will be judged and justice done.

God will deal with them in the hereafter. They need to be dealt with them in the here and now.

Society at large is not under grace as is the church but under basically the same law that Jesus upheld during his lifetime. Jesus upheld the death penalty while the law was still in force, for an offense that was arguably less serious than murder.

 

[A Gerbil]

God will deal with them in the hereafter. They need to be dealt with them in the here and now.

Society at large is not under grace as is the church but under basically the same law that Jesus upheld during his lifetime. Jesus upheld the death penalty while the law was still in force, for an offense that was arguably less serious than murder.

Jesus said "those without sin cast the first stone!" Where in the Bible did Jesus uphold the death penalty, or advocate for murder and violence?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Jesus said "those without sin cast the first stone!" Where in the Bible did Jesus uphold the death penalty,

Matthew 15:3-5 King James Version (KJV)

3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;

Mark 7:10-12 King James Version (KJV)

10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:

11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.

12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;

 

[Clizby WampusCat]

Not true. Most cases are open and shut. The tail shouldn't wag the dog.

This is a scary idea. There have been many cases of new evidence that exonerates a person on death row. The consequences of being wrong are tragic. We know that we have been wrong in the past and we have no way to know if we will be wrong in the future. Our justice system is not fair, prejudiced at times and not 100% foolproof. You can compensate for a wrongful incarceration but not a wrongful killing of an innocent person.

 

[iluvatar5150]

The more infuriating details are towards the bottom:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/crim...years-behind-bars-wrongful-murder-conviction/