Dolphins give tryout to man who was wrongly jailed for five years

[ckparrothead]

Do attorney's try to sneak in character evidence anyway? Yes, but it is certainly not the key element of a rape case, and shouldn't be the necessary "corroborative" evidence you say was missing.

This is what I was getting at, by the way. I do realize there are explicit rules in place to prevent dragging the victim through the mud but I have three lawyers in my family and I tend to believe them when they tell me that figuring out clever ways to get around the rules and do exactly that is one of the foremost priorities on any defense lawyer's mind when defending someone accused of rape. I especially believe them because it makes perfect sense. Testimony plays a key role in a rape proceeding, and therefore any way either side can make the other side look non-credible will very literally make or break the case in one direction or another. So yes, I do consider that "key" even if you do not.

My issue was more with you willy-nilly throwing the blame on the public defender, even going so far as to allege malpractice. I'm not sure you understand how strong of a statement that is, particularly based on the piecemeal story given by the news.

I raised it as a possibility. I certainly did not suggest the guy be disbarred based on current evidence, or anything of the like. It certainly SOUNDS to me like he gave Brian Banks bad advice.

As for the court system being the one serving up injustice - this really comes down to what I've already said. Do I find a court per se at fault for convicting on the testimony of 15 year old girl? No. As I've said, I think that possibility is necessary for a just legal system. I'd want more detail before hanging the fault on the court system.

Your argument was don't blame the girl, blame the system. Obviously, I think this is wrong.

I never said do not blame the 15 year old girl at all. She lied and she was old enough to know better. But she was also young enough to be a minor and at that age people don't have the same sense of right, wrong and consequences that they do when they are fully matured and developed adults with adult brains.

But you're trying to have your cake and eat it too. First, you say the public defender isn't at fault for advising his client to take a plea deal. This implies that the public defender adequately assessed the likelihood that the courts would convict Brian Banks based solely on the testimony of a 15 year old girl whose story has already changed at least once (told some people happened in an elevator, others that it happened in a stairwell). Fine. Let's say that he correctly assessed that risk. Then that means the courts really would have convicted him without physical evidence based on the testimony of a 15 year old girl whose story changed at least once. And you say that's ok. I say it's not.

The fact of the matter is, he was innocent, or so we're led to believe by this woman's recanting far after the fact. Yes, he was failed by the justice system. I can't put it any plainer than that.

 

[Fixables]

There is a 2nd chance on life right there

 

[tofan62]

Looks good on the Dolphins and who knows, they may get lucky.