Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Wrongful conviction


Two heinous murders.

A trial filled with lurid testimony about family dysfunction and incest.

A killer sent to Death Row only to be released on appeal due to legal "technicalities."

A story made for Nancy Grace or Bill O'Baxter.

For over twenty years Dale Johnston lived under a cloud. Most people in southeastern Ohio believed he got away with murder. His family was destroyed. Some one burned down his home.

And then, the real killer was caught, convicted and sent to prison.

So, it turns out, the "legal technicalities" kept Ohio from executing an innocent man.

As is often the case, the press failed in its watchdog role. Instead, it was complicit in the injustice as it amplified the prosecutions charges and ignored the manifest weaknesses of the case against Dale Johnston.

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