Did Arkansas execute an innocent man?

[Eldorado]

"A case in Arkansas will test the limits of an inmate’s right to clear his name even after he has been put to death.

"Ledell Lee was executed in April 2017 after a legal battle that went up to the Supreme Court.

"Now attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union and the Innocence Project plan to file a freedom-of-information request on Thursday asking the city of Jacksonville, Ark., and its police department to turn over evidence from the case so they can perform DNA testing on it."

At the Wall St Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/attorneys-make-rare-push-to-exonerate-an-executed-man-11579791612

At The Appeal dot org: https://theappeal.org/arkansas-executed-ledell-lee-posthumous-testing-will-most-likely-prove-he-was-innocent-lawsuit-says/

The Complaint from his sister at the ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/ledell-lee-foia-complaint

Edited January 23, 2020 by Eldorado

[Vorg]

It wouldn't surprise me if the "evidence" went missing, even though according to the 2nd article they are required to maintain it, and it is stated as being in possession of the Jacksonville Police Department.

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by South Alabam

[aztek]

so it went all the way up to SC and he lost anyway,  if he turns out to be innocent, the whole court system failed from local to supreme. 

[Robotic Jew]

38 minutes ago, aztek said:

so it went all the way up to SC and he lost anyway,  if he turns out to be innocent, the whole court system failed from local to supreme. 

Wouldn't be the first time or the last. 

[+OverSword]

Holy Moses!!!

Quote

Lee, who in 1995 was convicted of the 1993 murder of his neighbor, Debra Reese, maintained his innocence until his death. Though no physical evidence connected him to the crime and alibi witnesses testified that Lee could not have killed Reese, Arkansas executed him on April 20, 2017. His was the first of four executions the state carried out in a week as it scrambled to use its lethal injection drugs before their approaching expiration date. 

 

[Scholar4Truth]

I remember this case, his death warrant was about to expire within just a few minutes and they went ahead with it anyway.  

[Eldorado]

"The Jacksonville City Council will hold a meeting Friday evening to vote on allowing new DNA testing in the Ledell Lee case.."

At ScribD: https://www.scribd.com/document/445056928/Young-v-JPD-Proposed-Consent-Order-Jan-28-2020

[Eldorado]

"A central Arkansas city council voted Friday to allow new tests on fingerprints and DNA evidence relating to the case of a man the state put to death in 2017."

Full report at the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/01/31/us/ap-us-arkansas-executions-evidence.html

[Anamandy]

Horrible if they did.  I suspect the Jacksonville Police will go into CYA mode.