| | Home
The Daily Dose/January 4, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
A good news/bad news human experience for Charles Chatman, who was released from prison, unfortunately, or fortunately, really, he was released for a crime he didn't commit. Also, some interesting On This Date Action, plus Trivia! And the Column Four Foto, Adrienne Barbeau!
LEADING OFF: Charles Chatman was released from prison in Dallas, Texas Thursday after serving 26 years of a 99-year sentence for aggravated sexual assault.
Fly In The Ointment: What prevents this from being a triumph of justice, and why this is news, is that Chatman, 47, did not commit the crime, a detail that didn't stop a victim from identifying him, or a prosecutor from trying him, or a jury from convicting him. When Chatman would go in front of parole boards who wanted to hear his version of the crime he told them "I don't have a version of the crime. I never committed the crime".
The parole boards didn't believe him either.
How Did This Happen? Chatman was 20 at the time, and was picked from a lineup by the victim, a young (white) woman, then in her 20's, who identified Chatman as the attacker. Tests showed the type of blood found at the scene matched Chatman's, just like it did 40 percent of all other black males.
Chatman even had an alibi! He was working at the time of the attack, and was dutifully vouched for by his employer, who also happened to be his sister. But nobody believed sis, either.
Numbers Racket: Chatman is the 15th wrongfully convicted person from Dallas County to be released thanks to DNA testing after being wrongfully convicted since 2001, and the 30th in Texas. Dallas County and Texas are unmatched and unsurpassed - the heavyweight champions of the world - in releasing the wrongfully convicted; both figures are national records for their respective jurisdictions.
Your Mother-In-Law Just Drove Your New Car Off A Cliff: It's nice that Texas championing the releasing of innocent people from jail. It's too bad they are there in the first place.
Is This Something We Should Really Be Getting Worked Up Over: Yes, it is, campers. The primary job of this democracy - job one, to steal a line from an old Ford ad - is to preserve and protect the liberty of its citizens. A government that convicts people of crimes they did not convict is failing in that job and needs to take every measure to insure that it comes to a halt.
Uh, Isn't This Being Just A Tad Soft On Crime: No, it is not. Sure, it's good to worry about victims, but we must take care of the innocent! We can't say, well, he's black, or he's white trash, they've probably done something deserving of some jail time. These are American citizens, just like you and me, and they are just as deserving of not being convicted of a crime they didn't commit as you and I are.
WHY HASN'T DICK CHENEY THOUGHT OF THIS: In 1642 King Charles I of England, in a conciliatory gesture and accompanied by soldiers, attempts to arrest five members of parliament. The speaker of parliament refuses to disclose their whereabouts and few days later, fearing for his safety, Charles flees London. Intermittent negotiations between Charles and parliament solve nothing and the first of three English civil wars is underway by autumn.
This Is Casey Counting Them Down: On Jan. 4, 1936 Billboard magazine publishes its first pop music chart. The Music Goes Round And Round by Tommy Dorsey is the first #1.
That'll Show Him: On this date in 1990 former dictator of Panama Manuel Noriega was arraigned on federal drug-trafficking charges in federal court in Miami. He was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison in 1992, a term reduced to a mere 30 years in 1999. He is currently held in a facility near Miami.
I Do Solemnly Swear…To Piledrive The Legislature: On this date in 1999 former professional wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota. He declined to run for a second term.
MORE FROM TEXAS: Chatman's case, since he was the 15th released in Dallas County this decade, is not unique. Like virtually all the others, Chatman was the victim of a false identification. In fact one man, Billy James Smith, was convicted based on identification from someone who didn't even witness the crime!
Bend Over, Here It Comes: Smith, like Chatman, had alibi backed by his sister, which, like Chatman, did him some zero good. Clothing the perpetrator wore was not found among Smith's belongings, which really doesn't mean anything because he could have gotten rid of them, but none of Smith's clothing had any corroborating DNA evidence on it. His 2001 requests for DNA testing were denied, but approved in 2005 on appeal and he was set free in 2006 after serving 20 years for a crime he didn't commit.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The four Big Ten teams USC has not beaten in the Rose Bowl are Iowa, Michigan State, Minnestoa and Purdue. USC did defeat Penn State, 14-3, in the 1923 Rose Bowl.
Today's Stumper: Of the 30 people in Texas exonerated of crimes they really didn't commit, how many were on death row? - Answer next time!
Threats? Recipes? Trivia question answers? Email The Writer's Shack Here!
Home |
|