DNA Evidence Clears Two Men Who Served 30 Years Each For Rape

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

Judge Tosses Guilty Pleas, But Third Man Already Died In Mississippi Prison

A judge in Hattiesburg, Mississippi today threw out the guilty pleas of two men who had spent three decades in prison for rape and murder after DNA tests showed they were innocent. The decision comes too late, however, for a third man who died in prison eight years ago.

Bobby Dixon, Phillip Bivens and Larry Ruffin were sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of Eva Gail Patterson of Hattiesburg in 1979. Larry Ruffin died behind bars in 2002.

The Innocence Project filed a petition in July on behalf of Dixon and Bivens and a separate petition on behalf of Ruffin just yesterday. The advocacy group had lobbied for new DNA tests of the evidence from the 1979 rape, and tests showed that the DNA matched that of another man Andrew Harris, who is currently serving a life sentence in a Mississippi prison for a 1981 rape.

Bobby Dixon was released from prison last month in order to undergo treatment for terminal cancer, but Bivens, now 59, remained behind bars. He attended the hearing in his prison jumpsuit before being set free by the judge's ruling.

"It was a good result in a tragic situation," said Emily Maw, director of the Innocence Project New Orleans and lawyer for Dixon, Bivens and the Ruffin family. "This is a particularly sad case. Another man committed the crime and then let these men sit in prison for 30 years. We hope it will have an impact on how we look at confessions and guilty pleas."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/dna-evidence-clears-men-served-30-years-rape/story?id=11654532

[johnroshan]

1. Some justice eh..

How quick are we to judge others... I can't even begin to understand the pain of the two innocent men who spent 30 fricking years in prison for something they didn't do!!

[sabra]

2. and the third man who died knowing and defending his innocence..

:cry:

[LiberalFighter]

3. If only the ones involved in the prosecution were alive long enough

to be prosecuted and jailed.

[old mark]

4. Thanks for this...rec. read some of the comments to find how common this is

and how reluctant DA's and police are to admit they were wrong. The whold "justice" system - and the prison system need serious reform.

mark

[democrank]

5. K & R

[pattmarty]

6. There is something to be said for DNA samples to be taken at............

............birth. Having said that, there is ALSO something to be said for prosecuting State Attorneys that bend and twist rules just to boost their conviction rates. These motherfuckers are of the lowest of the low AND should be prosecuted if ANY malfeasance is found in ANY of their prosecutions.

[SILVER__FOX52]

7. Our justice system is not very just..........

America keeps declining and I don't know if we can come back. Especially with feckless Obama in charge and the cum bi ya, bullshit with Republicans.

[Raschel]

8. But did they have their birth certificates?

Teabaggers wouldn't have let them out anyway. That's the kind of country they want to live in.

[suston96]

9. A society is only as great as its system of justice.....

....no offense, folks. But as far as justice for all is concerned, we really suck!

This is happening way, way too often.

[defendandprotect]

10. After three decades, they're free -- and we call this "justice" ...???

[suston96]

11. This will come close: 1 million bucks for each year served ...

- for each of the three, including for the one who died. Tax free.

[defendandprotect]

12. You would trade the last 30 years of your life -- for 30 years in prison ... for the money????

[suston96]

13. Uh, them's the damages collected by past innocents for false imprisonment.

One million dollars a year is what they have been getting, more or less. No amount of money is a "trade" for false imprisonment.

I would like to see the police and prosecutors who were negligent in their processes and conducts that resulted in unjust convictions go to jail for their carelessness.

Maybe the judges also.

[defendandprotect]

14. That's clearer and I certainly agree with it -- !!

Too often I think the old adage about "one crime/one suspect" and it's over i

too often true.