Why don't the officers of the court, the lawyers and judges, do a better job of making sure good information is presented to juries? And why do jurors come up with senseless decisions so often? I'm wondering if we need professional jurors for very violent and very complex cases. The ordinary person has no way of understanding a murder, or a complex case, and is too easily swayed by manipulative lawyers. Ordinary jurors are fine in ordinary cases, but in some cases, they simply are not the "peers" of the people on trial.
DNA Frees Man Convicted of Murder
AOL / Wire Services
Aug. 20, 2009
A man who served 21 years in prison for a murder and rape he didn't commit walked out of a Connecticut court a free man Wednesday after a judge dismissed all charges against him, reported WTNH.
Kenneth Ireland was 16 years old when Barbara Pelkey, a 30-year-old mother of four, was raped and murdered in 1986. Police found Pelkey's nude body at the former R.S. Moulding and Manufacturing Co. in Wallingford, Conn., where she worked the overnight shift, NBC Connecticut (WVIT) reported.
Kenneth Ireland spent 21 years in prison, convicted of a murder that occurred when he was 16. But new DNA testing proved he didn't commit the crime. On Wednesday, a Connecticut judge dismissed all charges against him. Above, he leaves the courthouse a free man. His is just the latest case cleared via new DNA testing.
Kenneth Ireland spent 21 years in prison, convicted of a murder that occurred when he was 16. But new DNA evidence proved he didn't commit the crime. On Wednesday, a Connecticut judge dismissed all charges against him, and he left the courthouse a free man. His is just the latest case cleared through new DNA testing technology.
... DNA found at the scene of the crime wasn't conclusively linked to Ireland, it was linked to a blood type that 20 percent of the population has, including Ireland, reported The Associated Press in the Hartford Courant. Two people also testified that Ireland confessed. But Ireland denied those statements.
New tests conducted on that DNA in the past few months at the behest of the New Haven state's attorney conclusively proved Ireland's innocence. On Aug. 5 he was released from jail, according to the Courant, and on Wednesday a judge formally dismissed all charges against him.
His case was handled in part by the Connecticut Innocence Project, which has helped free two other men since 2006, the AP reported.
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