Duke lacrosse players get it
When the North Carolina Attorney General announced several months back that all charges would be dropped against the Duke lacrosse players, I heard one radio report that quoted one of the players saying that he knew that he only managed to find justice because his family had the money and that he recognized that there are many people who are done wrong by the criminal justice system because they cannot afford an attorney. I was very impressed by this but didn't hear it again in any of the media coverage.
In a column on June 22, Connie Shultz of the Cleveland Plain Dealer noted that the three players- Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann- attended a fundraiser for the Innocence Project on April 24:
These guys get it. Too often, people don't get it until it affects them personally, but that's why we're out there doing the work we do. And we're grateful for people like Senator Stewart Greenleaf, who created the advisory committee on wrongful convictions; Pete Shellem of The Patriot News, who has freed four innocent people through his investigative journalism; and death row exoneree Ray Krone of York County, who is out there constantly talking with the public and the powers-that-be about how innocent people are convicted of crimes.
Andy in Harrisburg
In a column on June 22, Connie Shultz of the Cleveland Plain Dealer noted that the three players- Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann- attended a fundraiser for the Innocence Project on April 24:
They didn't want to talk to reporters, (Eric) Ferrero (of the Innocence Project) said. "We had about 20 exonerees at the dinner, and they [the former Duke students] kept saying the focus should be on those men. They kept mentioning how they would have gone to prison if they hadn't had the money to fight. We were all impressed that they could acknowledge that."
These guys get it. Too often, people don't get it until it affects them personally, but that's why we're out there doing the work we do. And we're grateful for people like Senator Stewart Greenleaf, who created the advisory committee on wrongful convictions; Pete Shellem of The Patriot News, who has freed four innocent people through his investigative journalism; and death row exoneree Ray Krone of York County, who is out there constantly talking with the public and the powers-that-be about how innocent people are convicted of crimes.
Andy in Harrisburg
Labels: Duke lacrosse, innocence, Innocence Project, Pete Shellem, Ray Krone, Senator Stewart Greenleaf
posted by ACLU of Pennsylvania at 7/01/2007 08:59:00 AM
1 Comments:
Sometimes it has nothing to do with money.
MOST times it just has to do with having the KEY players in place to make it all happen as Nifong did.
Who was going to QUESTION Nifongs antics?
Media venues did NOT even challenge the record or have VALID evidence when they placed these young men's photos on the front of magazines and all over national television.
NO ONE CHECKED until it got to this point. It was more about the COVERAGE of the issue NOT the actual EVIDENCE.
The DUKE lacrosse players MONEY certainly did not stop Nifong from putting out lies. Quite to the contrary, Nifong tried to portray these young men as the PRIVLEGED as if there was something WRONG with that. (This is a strategy often used in high profile cases when the accused happens to NOT be poor).
The bigger story being, if it happens to those without money and happens to those with money it CERTAINLY happens to all of those in between.
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