12th Dallas Inmate Exonerated by DNA

By Jeralyn, Section Innocence Cases
Posted on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 01:48:00 AM EST
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James Waller was convicted in 1982 of raping a 12 year old boy. He spent almost half his life in prison before his parole in 1993.

A court decision yesterday declared him innocent, based on DNA evidence.

Waller is the 12th exoneration in Dallas.

“Nowhere else in the nation have so many individual wrongful convictions been proven in one county in such a short span,” said Barry C. Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, the legal clinic that championed Mr. Waller’s case. In fact, Mr. Scheck said, those 12 such instances are more than have occurred anywhere else except the entire states of New York and Illinois since the nation’s first DNA exoneration, in 1989.

The prosecutor congratulated Waller:

“I’m sorry that happened to you, man,” Craig Watkins, the county’s new district attorney, told Mr. Waller on Wednesday, shaking his hand in the Dallas courtroom where a judge later approved a motion to vacate the conviction. That motion now goes to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for formal approval.

The Judge was more eloquent:

“A lot of times we are tested in life, and you certainly had a terrible test,” Judge Creuzot said. “On behalf of any and all public officials at that time, I want to apologize.”

As to the DNA:

Last month the Innocence Project, through use of a previously unavailable technology called Y-STR DNA, found that genetic material recovered from the victim conclusively excluded Mr. Waller and the victim and could have come only from someone els

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12th Dallas Inmate Exonerated by DNA | 12 comments (12 topical)

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but, but.......................................... (none / 0) (#1)
by cpinva on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 12:26:55 AM EST

i thought juries never made mistakes? or so we've been told. in fairness, it really isn't the jury's fault, they can only work with what they're given.

as well, given the revelations about various DNA labs, and i have to wonder just how much credence can be given to that, at the moment.

i'm happy for the guy, and i hope he gets some kind of restitution. i have to wonder how many more there are though.

i also feel for the members of the jury that convicted him. how'd you like to find out you convicted an innocent person, and robbed them of their freedom for years?

: On the bright side (none / 0) (#2)
by scarshapedstar on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 12:35:07 AM EST

Given that this happened in Texas, he is, in a very real sense, lucky to be alive.

[ Parent ]

Dallas inmate exonerated (none / 0) (#3)
by libdude on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 01:30:36 AM EST

How many others like Waller are out there in our prisons? How many won't get the chance to have their cases revisited and possibly thrown out due to the flaws inherent in out criminal justice system? Yet another example of how our system may be the best, but that doesn't make it right or fair, just better than some others, and that's probably debatable. That cases are being over- turned after so many years is proof that our criminal justice system is neither fair enough, nor accurate enough to have capital punishment as an option.

I do blame the jury (none / 0) (#4)
by txpublicdefender on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 12:19:06 PM EST

I, for one, do place blame on the jurors in his case. A reasonable and fair juror should never have accepted the identification of Waller by the victim in the case. He never saw the guy's face and his body type didn't match the description he gave of the assailant. There was more than enough reasonable doubt to acquit. The jury in this case did not do its job, and for that, they should share in the blame for this wrongful conviction. I don't feel sad or sorry for them. They should feel bad for their contribution to his wrongful imprisonment. It was their job to evaluate the credibility of the evidence, and with obvious problems, they failed to do so properly.

I would only hope that future jurors would learn this lesson.

A little more . . . (none / 0) (#5)
by txpublicdefender on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 01:23:01 PM EST

Apparently, the jury took all of 46 minutes to convict. I don't feel sorry for them one bit. Perhaps if they had spent more time actually holding the state to the burden of proof--beyond a reasonable doubt--Mr. Waller wouldn't have lost so many years of his life.

[ Parent ]

: 46 minutes (none / 0) (#7)
by scarshapedstar on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 06:54:27 PM EST

To sentence a big black guy. Gee. I swear I've heard this story before.

[ Parent ]

Jurors are pushed (none / 0) (#6)
by plumberboy on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 04:35:36 PM EST

Sometimes these jurors are pushed into a verdict by other jurors badgering them to death he's guilty, guilty they scream and the one or two that have doubt will cave in, sad but it does happen.The thing that bothers me is how many people are dead or rotting away in prison for something they didn't do.The legal system in this country is so quick to lock people up it just makes me sick.The judical review panel or something like that here in Michigan just sent down a rulling that states having a affair makes one guilty of 1st degree csc this is the worst felony one can be charged with as far as csc goes.

No defense (none / 0) (#8)
by txpublicdefender on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 07:03:55 PM EST

I know that jurors are sometimes pushed into going along with the group, but that is no excuse. And in this case, they deliberated for all of 46 minutes. That doesn't sound like anyone put up a fight and was badered into compliance. It sounds like a jury flat out not doing its job. They took an oath to follow the law, including the presumption of innocence, and holding the state to the burden of proof of beyond a reasonable doubt. The only evidene they had against this guy was a voice ID. On top of that, he did not match the description of the height and weight (it was way off) of the attacker, and he had an alibi. I would like to see the jurors who wrongfully convicted this man, and took away so many years of his life, apologize to him. I would like to hear from them about how wrong they were and maybe some future jurors could learn a lesson.

[ Parent ]

sorry guy, but you haven't a clue what they (none / 0) (#9)
by cpinva on Fri Jan 19, 2007 at 12:59:18 AM EST

were thinking, you weren't in the jury room.

juries are, for the most part, made of ordinary people. actually, possibly less than ordinary people, people who either couldn't get out of it, or didn't want to. they aren't criminal law experts and, i'd be willing to bet money, assume that the guy wouldn't be on trial in the first place, had there not been a fair amount of evidence supporting a guilty verdict.

is this fair, to the accused or the state? of course not. however, it's what we've been taught our entire lives: only bad guys end up being arrested/tried/convicted/in jail. yes, the evidence may not have been overwhelming, however, you should know by now that, in spite of the judge's admonition, "reasonable doubt" is subjective, and not quantifiable.

they no doubt felt they were following the law. but then, i don't know what they were thinking really, and neither do you, unless you have a secret psychic ability you'd like to share with the rest of the class.

[ Parent ]

: no defense (none / 0) (#10)
by txpublicdefender on Fri Jan 19, 2007 at 11:25:20 AM EST

It is no excuse that they are ordinary people or that they are assuming that there must be more evidence against the guy or he wouldn't be on trial. They take oaths not to make that assumption, to judge the case solely on the evidence presented, and to follow the law. When they violate that oath, innocent people's lives, like that of Mr. Waller, are ruined. The presumption of innocence and the right to a jury trial mean absolutely nothing if the people who are charged with giving effect to those rights don't do their job. And when they fail to do their job, I think, at the very least, they should stand up and admit it, and apologize for their part in the wrong done.

[ Parent ]

What we need is ... (none / 0) (#11)
by narius on Fri Jan 19, 2007 at 03:01:01 PM EST

mandatory DNA test, preferably form two independent labs (if the results don't agree, then retest by a third place).

This will ensure that we execute the RIGHT people and hopefully cut down on the lawyering (it is pretty hard to claim innocense if your DNA is on the victim) and save tax payers so money in the long run.

I think DNA testing will make capital punishment much better because now we can be more sure that we won't execute the innocent.

DNA not the first indication something wrong (none / 0) (#12)
by Lindsay on Mon Mar 05, 2007 at 12:08:20 AM EST

It did not take DNA tests to know something was seriously amiss in the Waller case.

The 12-year-old boy who was raped lived in the same apartment complex as Waller and was the chief witness against him. Yet the rapist was initially described as black, 5' 8" and 150 pounds. Waller is black but 6' 4" and heavy-set. Yet Waller was convicted by a jury deliberating for a mere 46 minutes and spent a decade picking cotton in a Texas chain gang. After parole he was branded a pedophile and registered sex offender.

Yet he is a strong Christian man and appears to hold no ill will toward anyone.