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Executing innocent people:
The executions of some probably
innocent inmates
Sponsored link.
The case of Roy Roberts, executed in Missouri, 1999:
Roy "Hog" Roberts was probably falsely convicted of murdering Tom Jackson, a guard, during a prison riot. Shortly before his execution in 1999 at the Potosi Correctional Center, he successfully asked for a polygraph test. The test indicated that Roberts was telling the truth when he said that he did not hold down the guard for other inmates to stab. When Robert's attorney, Bruce Livingston, told his client the test results, tears rolled down Roberts' cheeks. He asked "When do I get out of here." Unfortunately, the polygraph test did not prove that Roberts was telling the truth. They are not precise. There is approximately one chance in seven that the test was wrong.
Other discomforting aspects of Roberts' case:
 | Initial reports of the prison riot did not mention that anyone held the guard while he was stabbed. Roberts, weighing 300 pounds, would have been difficult to overlook by observers at the scene. |
| Another guard told investigators that he was struggling with Roberts at the time of the stabbing, far away from the murder scene. |
| Roberts had no blood stains on his clothes. Margaret Phillips of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty said that the attack "...was bloody, just awful, and Roy Roberts’ shirt did not have a drop of blood on it." |
| In 1999, Pope John Paul II asked Governor Mel Carnahan to commute the unrelated sentence of Darrell Mease who had been scheduled to be executed in a few days. The governor agreed and was still receiving considerable flack for that decision when Roberts' case came up for his consideration. The pressure that he felt due to the Mease decision may have swayed his response to Roberts' case. |
Polygraph tests are generally inadmissible in courts. However, Livingston and Roberts hoped that the data would persuade the governor to commute the death sentence. It did not. Roberts was executed a few days later. His final words were: "You’re killing an innocent man and you can all kiss my..." 1
The case of Larry Griffin, also executed in Missouri, 1995:
Larry Griffin was convicted in an case involving a drive-by killing of Quintin Moss, a 19-year-old drug dealer. The only witness testifying at Griffin's trial was Robert Fitzgerald, a criminal from Boston MA who was in St. Louis as part of the Federal Witness Protection Program.
Sam Gross, a University of Michigan Law School professor studied the case. He wrote that Fitzgerald had: "...developed a reputation as a snitch who couldn’t produce convictions because Boston juries wouldn’t believe him."
The first police officer who arrived at the murder scene now says that Fitzgerald's story is false. A second shooting victim now says that Fitzgerald was not present at the shooting. Prosecutor Jennifer Joyce has reopened the case. She said: "I don’t think there is a single prosecutor who wouldn’t take a second look at it. Hopefully [the investigation] will help protect the integrity of the system."
Griffin was executed in 1995. 1
Execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, in Massachusetts, 1927:
Two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were found guilty of murder and were executed in 1927 in the face of worldwide protests. As the 50th anniversary of their execution approached, an investigation was conducted into the defendants' innocence. According to Amnesty International the study concluded that:
| The prosecutor in the case had "knowingly...[used] unfair and misleading evidence." |
| The trial had taken place in an atmosphere of prejudice against foreigners. |
| The judge had presided over the case in a prejudicial manner. |
In 1977, on the 50th anniversary of the executions, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis directed that Sacco and Vanzetti's names be cleared. However, he stopped short of conceding that their innocence of had been established. 2
Additional cases:
Equal Justice USA has prepared a report documenting sixteen probably innocent people who have been executed. 3 They are currently studying additional cases to add to their report.
References used:
- "Missouri death sentence case gets another look. If innocence of executed man is proven, case would set a precedent," MSNBC, 2005-AUG-05, at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
- "Fatal Flaw: Innocence and the death penalty in the USA," Amnesty International, at: http://web.amnesty.org/
- Claudia Whitman, et al., "Reasonable Doubts: Is the U.S. Executing
Innocent People? A Preliminary Report of the Grassroots Investigation
Project," 2000-OCT-26, at:
http://www.quixote.org/ The full report in PDF format is at:
http://www.quixote.org/ This is a PDF file. You may require software to read it. Software can be obtained free from:
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Copyright © 2005 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally posted: 2005-AUG-07
Latest update: 2007-AUG-08
Author: B.A. Robinson
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