What Would You Do if You Were Imprisoned for 18 Years for a Crime You Didn't Commit?

[LAGC]

And to add insult to injury, the state refused to compensate you for taking all those years of freedom away from you after you were found innocent?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110216/ts_yblog_thelookout/texas-man-wrongly-put-away-for-decades-denied-compensation-after-legal-glitch

"Pissed" would be an understatement.

(If there was ever a reason to abolish the Death Penalty, this case might do it: http://www.texasmonthly.com/2010-10-01/feature2.php -- long article, but worth the read. Which is why I always cringe whenever I hear "law-and-order" conservative types say they want to streamline Death Sentence appeals, so that the accused is executed more quickly. It took 18 FUCKING YEARS to exonerate this guy! 18 years!)

[AngryAmish]

1. Get in a fight with the biggest guy in the cellblock the first day.

That is what they say on tv.

[old mark]

2. K&R- I'd get a very nasty lawyer and sue everyone involved. This happens

all too often-the DA's, judges and police won't acknowledge they locked up the wrong person-bad publicity for the next election, you know...

There is a great book called The Innocent Man about a a man who could not get released from prison even though there was another man in prison who had admitted to the same crime...and it was proven that the second man actually did it.
Unfortunately a true story.

mark

ADDED: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innocent_Man:_Murder_and_Injustice_in_a_Small_Town

[rfranklin]

3. wingnut response: "Well, he was probably guilty of something else!"

They have such a fearful worldview that they feel secure when anyone is punished or executed for something even if they are convicted wrongfully.

Perfect example, said to me by a wingnut: "After 9/11 I wanted them to bomb somebody, anybody..."

[Phentex]

4. Write a bestseller, go on Oprah, get therapy...

go to law school, work on the innocence project, eat steak every day...etc.

[lame54]

5. a lot of push-ups