The Death Penalty and Wrongful Convictions
by TChris
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will play two lawyers in a movie that dramatizes the wrongful conviction and eventual exoneration of John Thompson. The case may convince viewers, as it did this Philadelphia columnist, that the risk of wrongful conviction is too great to justify death as a penalty.
If you're on the fence about capital punishment, as I have been - vacillating between horror at the growing number of death-row inmates who turn out to be innocent, and rage at the brutal killers responsible for the daily carnage in our streets - this case may settle the issue for you. It did for me.
The case against Thompson seemed clear. He was found with the victim's ring and the murder weapon, making it easy for the police, prosecutors, and the jury to jump to the conclusion that Thompson was the killer.
The lawyers' investigation revealed everything from prosecutorial misconduct to juror intimidation, from concealed evidence to eyewitnesses who never were called to testify.
The disturbing revelations made it clear that the lawyers weren't dealing with a man who just deserved a new trial, but with an innocent man who deserved to be freed.
Thompson, it turned out, had bought the weapon and ring to fence from the real killer.
Still, the recalcitrant court system dealt them one agonizing setback after another until they won a retrial in 2003.
Thompson was acquitted and freed after 18 years in prison. He's now married and has lived a law-abiding, productive life in New Orleans ever since.
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