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Systemic Errors That Sent 100 Innocent Persons to Death Row
Testimony
Error potential exists in several forms regarding witnesses who testify during a trial. Perjured testimony occurs when a witness gives false testimony and thus actually lies on the stand. Mistaken testimony happens when witnesses make legitimate mistakes as to identity, recollection of events, etc. during their testimony. Recanted testimony happens when a witness later, after the trial, changes his or her testimony and, in essence takes back his or her original statement. Coerced testimony occurs when the police or prosecutor threaten a witness with prosecution or bodily harm if they do not testify a certain way.
Prosecutorial Misconduct
Those prosecuting a case (the District Attorney, Assistant District Attorneys) are required to share all evidence that might be helpful to a defendant's case. If the prosecutors do not do so, they have engaged in prosecutorial misconduct. Prosecutorial misconduct also occurs when the prosecutor puts a witness on the stand knowing, or having reason to believe, that the witness will lie. Prosecutorial misconduct also occurs when the prosecutor makes a deal with a witness to reduce a sentence or forgo seeking a criminal charge without disclosing the deal to the defendant or the Court.
Ineffective Counsel
The job of a defense attorney, especially for capital cases, is to defend his/her client competently and vigorously. Often, capital case defendants are at the mercy of attorneys who (for a variety of reasons) do not perform their duties fully. Ineffective counsel takes many forms including lack of preparation, failure to object to unreliable evidence, failure to present key evidence to the jury, and conflict of interest. By simply not taking the time to read the case material and to go over the evidence, defense attorneys run the risk of missing key points and details which could help their clients. Further, if a defense attorney fails to interrogate witnesses, or fails to seek out witnesses to interrogate, key pieces of evidence and testimony, which could exonerate the defendant, will be missed. Defense attorneys, especially in death penalty cases, are sometimes inexperienced, overworked and underpaid. Some lawyers have failed to do their jobs because of lack of resources, serious health problems, alcohol, drug abuse or addiction or serious mental illness.
DNA Evidence
It is becoming increasingly common for those wrongfully convicted of capital and other crimes to be released when DNA evidence proves beyond a doubt that the person jailed for a murder, rape, etc. could not have committed the crime. Additionally, potentially exculpatory evidence that could be tested for DNA is sometimes lost or destroyed. In a number of states it is still difficult to get access to DNA evidence and testing.
Police Misconduct
Coerced confessions are the most common form of police misconduct. A coerced confession occurs when a police officer forces a defendant to sign a statement admitting that he/she committed the crime. Additionally, police officers may withhold evidence (which could point to another suspect), from the prosecutor, other officers and/or the court systems, or plant evidence at the scene that implicates the defendant. Additionally, testimony from witnesses is sometimes coerced.
Jailhouse Informants/Snitches
Jailhouse informants are inmates serving sentences who often get a reduction in their own sentences for testifying against defendants. These informants may falsely testify to having heard the defendant confess to a crime while the informant and the defendant were held in the same jail facility. Jailhouse informant testimony can be tremendously unreliable, especially if the informant is rewarded for the testimony.
Expert Testimony
Often the prosecution relies on scientific or forensic "experts" to prove a defendant's guilt. These experts are called upon to examine and testify to polygraph tests, hair samples, blood, semen, and DNA tests from such sources to tell the jury whether the defendant committed the crime. Because the jury is told that these witnesses are "experts" in their field, juries often give their testimony considerable weight. If these experts are wrong, or if the scientific approach they rely upon is faulty, wrongful convictions of innocent people can occur. In Oklahoma alone, over one thousand cases are currently being reviewed because some of the state's forensic experts gave inaccurate (and even false), testimony, which likely contributed significantly to many - if not most - of these people being wrongly convicted at their trials.
Other Factors
A variety of other factors can lead to errors in capital cases including newly discovered evidence (including a post-trial murder confession given by someone else), previously unknown witnesses, and reversal on appeals. Between the original trial and the appellate trial, previous evidence or witness testimony may be tossed from a case (for any of the reasons listed above), thus resulting in the defendant being exonerated due to insufficient evidence. Judicial errors are responsible for some wrong death sentences. In more than a few cases people were sentenced to death because a judge gave the jury wrong or confusing instructions.
