Cheating Prosecutors, Lying Cops, and Wrongful Convictions
by TChris
A dishonest cop. A dishonest prosecutor. A judge who doesn't seem to care. And a potentially innocent man who faces three life sentences.
The cop, Det. Joseph Godoy, investigated a robbery and triple homicide in Tucson, but found no leads until anonymous sources identified some men who may have been involved. After Godoy had that information, he interviewed Keith Woods, a repeat drug offender facing 25 years, who supposedly identified three men he claimed were involved in the crime.
Godoy interviewed Woods, but didn't record the first 45 minutes. "No plausible explanation" was offered why some of the interview was untaped, the Arizona Supreme Court found.
During the trial of two of the men, Godoy testified (falsely) that he first learned of the defendants during the interview with Woods. He didn't mention the anonymous calls. The inference is that Godoy fed the names he received from the anonymous callers to Woods during the unrecorded portion of the interview, then let Woods parrot back the information during the recorded portion. In exchange for his help, Woods got a break in his own case.
The prosecutor, Kenneth Peasley, twice named Arizona Prosecutor of the Year, knew that Godoy intended to commit perjury, but he elicited the false testimony at trial. Having concealed evidence that could have discredited Woods, he argued to the jury that Woods' testimony should cause the jury to convict the two men. The jury did as he asked and the men were convicted.
< Conason on Judy Miller | Judge John Roberts: Too Soon to Jump Off the Cliff > |