The Death Penalty: Does One Size Fit All?

Phoenix, AZ— Some crimes are so horrific that a quick death for the perpetrator feels justified. But our criminal justice system has a fundamental flaw: the standard of proof, “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This nebulous term has become a source of injustice, particularly in capital cases.

Having witnessed numerous criminal trials, including those where the death penalty was at stake, I’ve seen firsthand the confusion over what “reasonable doubt” really means. It’s a vague standard that varies from one juror to the next. And when the crime is especially heinous, that ambiguity can lead to false convictions. People, naturally outraged by terrible acts, can be eager to punish, and often that means overlooking the very doubt that should protect the innocent.

I’ve come to despise the term “beyond a reasonable doubt,” because I’ve watched as innocent people were convicted, and in other cases, where the convicted might have been innocent. Worse, I’ve seen law enforcement and prosecutors in high-profile cases intentionally hide exculpatory evidence to secure a conviction. The pressure to win often outweighs the duty to seek the truth.

Then there’s the issue of eyewitness testimony, which is notoriously unreliable. In many cases, people are absolutely certain they saw someone, only to be proven wrong when surveillance video footage comes to light. The fact is, people lie under oath more easily than in everyday conversation, and when the prosecution’s star witness is a co-conspirator looking for a deal, the system becomes even murkier.

The solution? We must raise the standard of proof, particularly in cases where life or death is on the line. Prosecutors won’t like it, but if we want to eliminate wrongful convictions, we need something more concrete than “reasonable doubt.” No innocent person should ever face death, and the only way to ensure that is to demand absolute certainty of guilt.

Our justice system is many things, but perfect it is not. In recent decades, over 200 people have been exonerated and taken off death row after new evidence surfaced. Some spent the majority of their lives in prison before finally proving their innocence. If we’re going to take someone’s life—or lock them away forever—we should be sure beyond a shadow of doubt.

There’s another issue we can’t ignore. Some killers act in a single moment of madness and, after 20 or 30 years in prison, they become entirely different people. Our justice system doesn’t account for the possibility of redemption or transformation. Should we be sentencing people to death or life without the chance of ever considering the person they might become?

The death penalty, and our system of capital punishment, demands reform. One size does not fit all. The stakes are too high to settle for a standard that allows for uncertainty.

Combating Wrongful Convictions, Redefining Criminal Defense Investigators and powers.

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Phoenix, AZ—Most of my blog visitors know I’m a longtime criminal defense investigator and have worked on many high profile cases helping the wrongfully accused.  

The defense and prosecution is supposed to have parity and equal treatment in the courts but it’s all just pretend.  There is a huge laundry list of issues that work against the accused before their trial even begins.  

One thing that troubles me is seeing the same prosecutors in large jurisdictions working every day before the same judges.  They literally sometimes even sleep together. When a criminal defense attorney comes to their court he or she is an outsider and often treated that way. 

The police have enormous powers to gather evidence such as the Grand Jury subpoena.  They can arrest those who obstruct investigations, tamper with witnesses and can most importantly obtain search warrants.

Defense investigators should just like cops be able to surreptitiously record conversations with suspects, cops and witnesses. 

Defense investigators need similar powers.  Search warrants enable nearly, always instant cooperation for records, documents and physical evidence.  For defense investigators important evidence they learn about is often destroyed or concealed before it can be seized denying fair trials for those accused of crimes. 

Defense investigators are often at odds with police and cannot rely on their assistance. In some cases police attempt to meddle in the defense investigation and that corrupts witnesses and the evidence itself.  Unfortunately sometimes police officers engage in criminal activity in order to convict the innocent. That goes double when it’s a police officer wrongfully accused of a crime! 

Let me suggest that defense investigators trained and licensed should be given limited police powers to arrest criminal suspects and seize evidence. The courts should provide evidence lockers and laboratory testing away from police crime labs to avoid conflict of interest.

Just my opinion and thoughts.  The benefit is that this simple reform another step to fairness in our deeply flawed criminal justice system. In the end it will save millions in cash and a few lives.  

Cops, Criminals, Prosecutors and Wrongful Convictions

Chicago, IL—Too many Americans lose sight of the real function of our Criminal Justice System. It’s not about actual guilt, but simply guilt that must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. If we cannot prove an allegation the accused must go free. That means that there are always going to be some people that get away with murder.

We seem to forget that these days only 35% of homicide cases are solved by arrest. Just three decades ago we solved over 80% of the homicides by arresting, convicting and punishing those suspects we grew to hate.

I hope you’re wondering why the rate of homicide solution has fallen so low? Technology like DNA, surveillance cameras, data trails we leave with our credit, debit and even those Link or EBT cards handed out to freeloaders, clear suspects routinely. The new technology has eliminated thousands of misidentifications by mistaken or deceitful witnesses.

The drastic drop in the solution rate for murder in the last three decades makes it abundantly clear we destroyed many thousands of innocent lives who would have been cleared by modern technology.

Suspects usually come from a special class of people. They live on the fringe of society and tell lies with incredible ease. They have issues with drugs, alcohol and often mental illness. Sometimes they have well-earned and extensive criminal histories. They are the, “Usual Suspects”. Additionally they generally have really bad attitudes and are only to egger to express their hatred of police.

If you take a usual suspect and place him near a crime you can have a perfect storm that may snare the wrong man. This is doubly bad since the actual criminal get’s the euphoric experience of knowing he pulled off a perfect crime.

We all think we have a special instinct to know if a suspect committed the crime. There is no scientific basis for that anymore than the ability to predict which horse will win a race. When cop’s guilt detection instinct kicks in and is reinforced by other cops bad things happen.

Prosecutors jump on the bandwagon and lives of innocents are destroyed even if the accused is somehow later cleared. It’s no secret prosecutors can indict a ham sandwich with ease. While waiting one to three years to get their day in court those later declared innocent have lost their jobs, homes, cars and families.

Getting out of jail with only the clothes that were on your back the day they were arrested is beyond miserable. Imagine when they take suspect’s clothes to the crime lab to cut out samples and jail him in a white paper suit. They open the door and let the now destitute but cleared suspect out wearing that. It really happens.

We all want to see the guilty removed from society and punished. To do that, we need clairvoyants and mind readers. It’s not going to happen at least during our lifetimes.

We can’t help justice by placing our thumbs on the scale. Today we have the avenging “Victim’s Rights” angels of True Crime Gossip Television that will tell us all who is guilty. They are the leaders of today’s lynch mobs. They are at their zenith as they castigate a jury for not convicting someone they hate like Casey Anthony in Florida.

What we need to do is gather real evidence and let an unbiased jury weigh the facts as they exist. We must not be offended or angered if the suspect is freed. By their nature real criminals always reoffend and will soon be in another spin of the Criminal Justice Wheel of Fortune.

The system is not perfect but our own freedom and liberty is endangered when we tamper with the system of justice our founding fathers gave us with their blood.

The Gestapo and the SS dealt with crime for 12 long and notorious years in Germany. They had a “wonderful 100% conviction rate”. Right now in the USA we only have an 80% conviction rate in our courts. We can always raise that to 100%, but at what cost?