Crime and Punishment

Miscarriages of Justice

by

(Re this and this.)

Here’s another case that deserves renewed scrutiny.

Frank Fuster is still in prison despite numerous holes in the case against him, and despite the fact that the “investigative” techniques used to elicit the testimony of young children that convicted him have been discredited. Unfortunately, Fuster is a creepy guy without many friends, so it seems unlikely that any Florida governor will consider reexamining his case, much less pardoning him or commuting his sentence.

The Fuster case reminds me of Bill Weld and the Amiraults. What’s the point of giving executive-branch officials the pardon power if they won’t use it for unpopular defendants? Isn’t that one of the main justifications for the pardon power — that it’s a remedy for miscarriages of justice committed against unpopular defendants such as accused child molesters?

Again

by

On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh set off a truck bomb that destroyed the Murra Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The truck was parked at the loading dock, directly under the day care center. My daughter, three years old at the time, was in the day care center on the first floor of the Kennedy Federal Building in Boston. It is next to the loading dock. My wife was working on the 19th floor. When I returned to work the next day, someone in the elevator joked that it was too bad the bomb hadn’t taken out the IRS. The ride was short, and I was able to stay still.

Read more

My Week Gets Weirder

by

One of my guilty pleasure is “City Confidential” a true-crime documentary show on A&E. Today I sat down to watch episode 41 – Ruthton: Tragedy in the Heartland which concerns the murder of two bankers in Minnesota during 1983. As the story progressed and they began to show pictures of the suspected murderer, a creepy feeling came over me. A little Googling confirmed my suspicion:

I knew the guy!

Read more