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Was Larry Griffin Wrongfully Executed?

By Jeralyn, Section Innocence Cases
Posted on Wed Jul 13, 2005 at 07:13:45 AM EST
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Did Missouri execute an innocent man? Larry Griffin was executed in 1995 for a drive-by shooting. Yesterday, a report was issued by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund demonstrating the likelihood that he was factually innocent of the crime. The Circuit Attorney's office has agreed to reopen the investigation.

Death penalty advocates like to point out that despite the growing number of wrongfully convicted prisoners later found innocent through DNA testing, it has never been shown that an innocent person has been put to death. That may change.

The timing could not be more critical as the Senate Judiciary Committee today considers a bill to limit habeas corpus appeals in state death penalty cases.

One of the witnesses at the hearing will be Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck says, If this bill passes, a number of innocent people will be executed." Others agree.

Every time doubt is raised about the accuracy of the system and the case in which somebody has been executed, it just causes more and more people to take a harder look at really what's going on here," said Rob Warden, director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at the Northwestern University School of Law. "It's so fundamental to our concept of justice in this country to execute somebody for a crime that he did not commit is just about the worse thing that you can do."

Stephen B. Bright, director of the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights, said everyone should be concerned about the possible execution of an innocent person, no matter who it is.

"The execution of an innocent person indicates that as a society we are tolerating shoddy police work and a sloppy legal process even in cases where the stakes are life and death," Bright wrote in an e-mail. "It shouldn't matter whose life or death is on the line, the verdicts handed down should be accurate and reliable."

In July, 2002, U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff held the federal death penalty unconsitutional on due process grounds. His decision was reversed by the Second Circuit.

Rakoff, in a July 1 decision that discussed the role scientific advances such as DNA testing have played in proving actual innocence, held that "the Federal Death Penalty Act, by cutting off the opportunity for exoneration, denies due process, and, indeed, is tantamount to foreseeable, state-sponsored murder of innocent human beings."

DNA often is not available for years after conviction to prove innocence. How does one prove one's innocence after he's dead? Congress should not take steps to limit death penalty appeals. This bill should be stopped.

It is no exaggeration to say that if this bill becomes law, it will consign innocent people to long-term incarceration or death.

Update: Abolish the Death Penalty blog has lots more.

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    Was Larry Griffin Wrongfully Executed? | 3 comments (3 topical)
    Re: Was Larry Griffin Wrongfully Executed? (none / 0) (#1)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:10 PM EST
    "The Circuit Attorney's office has agreed to reopen the investigation" How nice... 10 years later. "Death penalty advocates like to point out that despite the growing number of wrongfully convicted prisoners later found innocent through DNA testing, it has never been shown that an innocent person has been put to death." How do we know? How CAN we know? We cannot. The sheer number of men and women released from death row in the last few years should make any of the cavemen supporting the DP cringe.

    Re: Was Larry Griffin Wrongfully Executed? (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:10 PM EST
    As a resident of the state at that time, I was outraged when Larry Griffin's case ended the way it did. Many of us had gone on a letter writing and petitioning rampage, merely wanting a second look, to no avail. I am hoping the revisiting of this case, as well as the Lovitt case, will stop the Streamlined Procedures Act in it's tracks.

    Re: Was Larry Griffin Wrongfully Executed? (none / 0) (#3)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:12 PM EST
    Strangely silent on this topic... Wow.

    Was Larry Griffin Wrongfully Executed? | 3 comments (3 topical)