4 years after a man's execution, new tests find someone else's DNA on the murder weapon

[Still Waters]

Ledell Lee, an Arkansas man convicted of murder and executed in 2017, maintained his innocence for more than two decades on death row.

Now, lawyers with the Innocence Project and the American Civil Liberties Union say new DNA evidence found on a decades-old murder weapon, that had never previously been tested, points to a different man.

The new evidence was found after Lee's family and lawyers sued the city of Jacksonville, Arkansas, last year, seeking to have old evidence tested and analyzed. Patricia Young, Lee's sister, has spent years trying to exonerate her brother and has continued her fight even after Lee was executed by lethal injection in April 2017. The development marks a rare attempt to use DNA evidence to prove a person's innocence after their death.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/4-years-mans-rushed-execution-001938370.html

[spartan max2]

Situations like this are the strongest arguments against the death penalty in my opinion.

 

 

 

[aztek]

and still 99.99% of  convicts on a death row, are really guilty,  mistakes sometimes happen, sometimes those are not mistakes, but deliberate action of the prosecution to get a conviction numbers up,   this in not a reason to abolish a death penalty.  it is a reason to investigate what exactly happened, and punish if wrongful conviction was intentional, including putting responsible parties on a death raw themselves. if an innocent man was executed due to their actions. 

Edited May 8, 2021 by aztek

[Golden Duck]

4 minutes ago, aztek said:

and still 99.99% of  convicts on a death row, are really guilty,  mistakes sometimes happen, sometimes those are not mistakes, but deliberate action of the prosecution to get a conviction numbers up,   this in not a reason to abolish a death penalty.  it is a reason to investigate what exactly happened, and punish if wrongful conviction was intentional, including putting responsible parties on a death raw themselves. if an innocent man was executed due to their actions. 

Closer to 96 per cent.  And you reckon you listen to the Founding Fathers. 

Edited May 8, 2021 by Golden Duck

[Buzz_Light_Year]

Just because they found a different set of DNA on the knife doesn't mean it still wasn't the killer.

 

[quiXilver]

Some folks really seem to get off on state sanctioned murders... and the blatant fact that some murdered innocents that arise as 'whoopsy' mistakes are just part of 'taking car of business' and we should just carry on as normal.

There's nothing normal about this kind of normal.

Nauseating and deeply sick.

 

 

What must that man's last few months/years been like, waiting around his cell... not to mention his last few moments.  Sick stuff capital punishment.  Mighty sick.

[aztek]

oh please, wrongful conviction resulting in an innocent man being executed are extremely rare,  otoh, 1/4 of a million people die from medical mistakes,  every single year,  yet i do not see anyone  advocating medical reforms, or anything else,  not a peep from them,  yet same ppl  cry rivers over 1 person executed mistakenly,  now that is Nauseating and deeply sick. 

 

Edited May 8, 2021 by aztek

[+joc]

39 minutes ago, Buzz_Light_Year said:

Just because they found a different set of DNA on the knife doesn't mean it still wasn't the killer.

 

It was actually a club not a knife, but I digress...

Buzz is absolutely correct.  You cannot exonerate the guy because his dna wasn't on the murder weapon and somebody else's was.

It's quite likely that the club belonged to someone else and Lee used gloves.  

This is a shallow attempt to get money out of the State of Arkansas and the City of Jacksonville.

One cannot really speculate as to the character of the executed Lee because...well, he was executed as a ruthless murderer.  I seriously doubt he was just 'walking down the street minding his own business' when someone said, That's him...he did it.

They tried the guy in a court of law and he was found guilty...sentence to death and executed.  Maybe he didn't do it...then again maybe he did...then again maybe he didn't but was guilty of something else just as damning.

So...all  you bleeding heart criminal huggers....go hug a real criminal.  Yeah...that's right...drive your Volvo into the hood and stop and get out and hug the thug standing there by the trashed car, wearing nothing but his skivvies waiting for his connection to show up.  Walk over to him and say, 'I'm sorry you are a criminal but I love you anyway and just wanted to give you a big ole hug.'   Let us know how that one turns out...

Edited May 8, 2021 by joc

[Buzz_Light_Year]

20 minutes ago, joc said:

It was actually a club not a knife

For some reason I assumed it was a knife.

 

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

7 hours ago, aztek said:

oh please, wrongful conviction resulting in an innocent man being executed are extremely rare,  otoh, 1/4 of a million people die from medical mistakes,  every single year,  yet i do not see anyone  advocating medical reforms, or anything else,  not a peep from them,  yet same ppl  cry rivers over 1 person executed mistakenly,  now that is Nauseating and deeply sick. 

 

Actually, tonnes of people do scream for medical reform but because it’s not a chance to score political points the media doesn’t report it unless it’s a really spectacular failure of care on someone the media can create a frenzy around.

[aztek]

3 hours ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

Actually, tonnes of people do scream for medical reform but because it’s not a chance to score political points the media doesn’t report it unless it’s a really spectacular failure of care on someone the media can create a frenzy around.

They do?  i never seen anyone here complain, ever. 

i do hear we need a reform as far as pricing and who pays,  tons of people complain about price,  ironically most of those are not in usa and do not pay our prices. they just complain for the sake of complaining, . but not once i seen anyone  complain about 1\4mil of deaths a year. 

Edited May 9, 2021 by aztek