The OJ Simpson verdict and other blatant miscarriages of justice

CongoDance

I was watching a documentary the other night on the OJ Simpson trial and how he got away with it is beyond me. His victims' blood were all over his car and bedroom.

What else, in your opinion, have been blatant miscarriages of justice?

DecTipp

Steven averys life sentence

CongoDance

DecTipp wrote: »

Steven averys life sentence

His nephew was innocent. Steven? Im not so sure. The Netflix doc left lots out.

Ken.

Harry Gleeson.

The_Valeyard

The A-Team.

RobbingBandit

Bertie and the mahon tribunal.

Fred Swanson

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Satriale

DecTipp wrote: »

Steven avery

s life sentence

GODDAM IT. I'm only two episodes in you fecker.

Whitewinged

Ruben Carter (The Hurricane) is an interesting one, I think. Apparently there was ample evidence that he was guilty and that's why he was convicted twice for the treble murder but was actually released from prison due to a technicality and not how it was portrayed by Hollywood. Bob Dylan won't sing the song he wrote in support of him at the time either.

DellyBelly

CongoDance wrote: »

I was watching a documentary the other night on the OJ Simpson trial and how he got away with it is beyond me. His victims' blood were all over his car and bedroom.

What else, in your opinion, have been blatant miscarriages of justice?

I'm guessing you are white because most black people believe he was correctly found innocent. I think it plays out that way white people Sat he was guilty black people say hhe was innocent. So maybe not a true miscarriage of justice

osarusan

Iwao Hakamada - 45 years on death row in Japan before retrial and exoneration. Police had fabricated evidence for the initial trial.

Death row in Japan is not like USA - execution dates are not known to inmates well in advance, but are actually kept secret, and inmates are often only informed of their execution on the morning of the actual execution.

Hakamada spent more than 16000 nights wondering if this would be his last time ever falling asleep.

J DEERE

Guildford Four and Maguire Seven. Horrible miscarriages of justice in both cases

CongoDance

DellyBelly wrote: »

I'm guessing you are white because most black people believe he was correctly found innocent. I think it plays out that way white people Sat he was guilty black people say hhe was innocent. So maybe not a true miscarriage of justice

Dont be silly. My thinking that he was guilty has nothing to do with his skin colour. It has everything to do with the very large amount of evidence against him.

ceadaoin.

DellyBelly wrote: »

I'm guessing you are white because most black people believe he was correctly found innocent. I think it plays out that way white people Sat he was guilty black people say hhe was innocent. So maybe not a true miscarriage of justice

Didn't he pretty much admit he was guilty in his book "If I Did It"? I'm not sure there are many people who believe he is innocent

The Mandy Power murder case in Wales seems dodgy to me. Sorry, daily mail link

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2845510/Who-REALLY-murdered-married-WPC-s-lesbian-lover.html#article-2845510

CongoDance

ceadaoin. wrote: »

Didn't he pretty much admit he was guilty in his book "If I Did It"? I'm not sure there are many people who believe he is innocent

Yes but he wrote it as a book of fiction so not admitting to the actual crimes.

OJ Simpson was not a miscarriage of justice in that there was no fabrication of evidence. A jury finding that there is not enough evidence to convict, it is simply not established beyond reasonable doubt, is possibly the essence of the justice system. It is completely different to cases like the Birmingham Six. Of course one may disagree with the jury verdict, I don't necessarily, in that the prosecution really botched it. And that is the function of a Court, not to establish truth as if it's some scientific matter, but to see if the weight of evidence is sufficient.

Ruu

Miscarriage of justice!! :mad::mad::eek::eek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYQ4bzY8msg

eviltwin

Adnan Syed

Gatling

CongoDance wrote: »

I was watching a documentary the other night on the OJ Simpson trial and how he got away with it is beyond me. His victims' blood were all over his car and bedroom.

What else, in your opinion, have been blatant miscarriages of justice?

Wasn't aware any such evidence was ever found

Laphroaig52

Sean O'Brien.

Galwayguy35

Max Branning rotting in prison for a crime he didn't commit, free the Walford One.

badabing106

Foxxy knoxxy got away with murder

Pink Fairy

Padraig Nally?

Virgil°

West Memphis 3. 3 kids spend 18 years in prison for the crime of being alternative in bible belt USA.
Whats worse is because the state cannot be incorrect by law they can't even conduct another trial with all the new evidence.
Great documentary on it called "West of Memphis"

AndyBoBandy

Thierry Henry - Nov 2009

scopper

West Memphis 3 is an insane case. Ditto for Avery. Not sure about Adnan Syed.

OJ...comical how he got away with that.

BOHtox

The Montreal Screwjob

PressRun

The execution of 14 year old George Stinney in 1944 has to be one of the most barbaric miscarriages of justice ever committed in the United States. He was convicted by an all-white jury after 10 minutes of deliberation of the murders of two little white girls after supposedly 'confessing' (though there is no evidence of any confession, written or otherwise). There was no physical evidence connecting him to the crime and the police officers who claimed to have gotten the confession from him were never challenged on the issue. He was executed by means of the electric chair less than three months later. His conviction was only overturned in 2014 after it was ruled he had not been given a fair trial, had not received adequate defense and had had his rights violated. His execution was ruled 'cruel and unusual punishment'. The full, gruesome reality of just how racist a legal system can be.

Surprisingly, to this day, members of the families of the two little girls still believe he did it, despite the fact that there was no evidence to connect him to the crime and despite claims that an individual from well-known white family in the community was said to have confessed towards the end of their life.

Capt'n Midnight

Deleted User wrote: »

OJ Simpson was not a miscarriage of justice in that there was no fabrication of evidence. A jury finding that there is not enough evidence to convict, it is simply not established beyond reasonable doubt, is possibly the essence of the justice system.

For a criminal case anything less than 100% means the jury has to say not-guilty.

There was a civil case and he wasn't found innocent or even close to innocent.

The Goldman and Brown families then sued him in civil court, and that jury unanimously found Simpson liable for the murders. He was ordered to pay a total of $33.5 million, made up of $8.5 million in compensatory damages to the Goldmans and $25 million in punitive damages to be split between the Goldmans and Nicole's children.

Say Your Number

Pistorius getting away with murder.

Richard Glossip, who is rotting away on Death Row for apparently getting a lad to kill his boss, he was convicted of it because the murderer said he put him up to it, but there was no concrete evidence that he did order the killing.

Sir Osis of Liver.

Deirdre Barlow and Steve Biko.

ceadaoin.

Virgil° wrote: »

West Memphis 3. 3 kids spend 18 years in prison for the crime of being alternative in bible belt USA.
Whats worse is because the state cannot be incorrect by law they can't even conduct another trial with all the new evidence.
Great documentary on it called "West of Memphis"

Part of them being released meant they had to plead guilty, thereby absolving the state of any responsibility for their wrongful incarceration. One of them was dead set against it, Baldwin I think, and only relented because they were going to execute Damien Echols. He would rather have stayed in prison and cleared his name than be free and guilty in the eyes of the law.

CongoDance

Lads could we use spoiler tags where there are documentaries online about some of these cases. Especially the ones with a few twists and turns in the outcome.

Clonmel1000

Laphroaig52 wrote: »

Sean O'Brien.

Who the fup is Sean O Brien?

Fred Swanson

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Capt'n Midnight

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

For a criminal case anything less than 100% means the jury has to say not-guilty.

That's not current though. In fact, that is completely made up. It's nothing like 100%...though expressing it as some percentage is wrong to begin with - unlike the balance of probabilities which is often explained in terms of 50/50. The opening chapters of any standard textbook on criminal law, or any charge to the jury in criminal trials, usually contains a neat synopsis of the meaning.

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

There was a civil case and he wasn't found innocent or even close to innocent.

It is not the function of the civil case to determine guilt in the usual sense of that word, much less innocence, merely responsibility for a tort.

Azalea

Don't know about blatant, but the Edward Earl Johnson case looks pretty damning.

Sunnyisland

In the 1980s Kelly achieved fame throughout Ireland after he had been sentenced, in 1978, to 12 years in prison for his alleged part in the Sallins Train Robbery. The ensuing campaign to release him became a symbol of the 1980s with 'Free Nicky Kelly' graffiti posted throughout the country. The evidence of torture committed against him and his two co-accused, Osgur Breatnach and Brian McNally, galvanized a campaign for his release. There was a dedication to him in the 1983 Planxty album, Words & Music.

In 1984 Kelly was eventually released on "humanitarian grounds". He received a presidential pardon in 1992, along with over £1 million as compensation following campaigns by Amnesty and the ICCL.

The events of Kelly's arrest and trial(s) were the subject of an edition of the RTE documentary series Scannal, broadcast 22 September 2014.

Dyr

CongoDance wrote: »

I was watching a documentary the other night on the OJ Simpson trial and how he got away with it is beyond me. His victims' blood were all over his car and bedroom.

What else, in your opinion, have been blatant miscarriages of justice?

Don't watch documentaries, is the lesson, I watched the trial as it happened and it seemed obvious a not guilty verdict would be returned, despite most of the legal experts in the media saying otherwise at the time

Ken.

Bambi wrote: »

Don't watch documentaries, is the lesson, I watched the trial as it happened and it seemed obvious a not guilty verdict would be returned, despite most of the legal experts in the media saying otherwise at the time

As soon as the 'glove' happened they should have called a halt right there and then and gone to the beach.

In years to come "If it doesn't fit you must acquit" will be up there with "I have a dream" and other famous quotes.

PressRun

Bambi wrote: »

Don't watch documentaries, is the lesson, I watched the trial as it happened and it seemed obvious a not guilty verdict would be returned, despite most of the legal experts in the media saying otherwise at the time

My mother was engrossed by this trial at the time and watched it as it happened too. She was of the same opinion, that there was no way he was going to be found guilty.

Fred Swanson

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mark13

DellyBelly wrote: »

I'm guessing you are white because most black people believe he was correctly found innocent. I think it plays out that way white people Sat he was guilty black people say hhe was innocent. So maybe not a true miscarriage of justice

You can't be serious, a large percentage of black people sided with O.J primarily because they didn't trust cops at the time, this was soon after the Rodney King beating, so they were angry at the system and wanted some form of revenge.

If you watch any of the recent documentaries on O.J that include recently unearthed footage from his civil trial, you'd have to be gone in the head to think he was innocent.

Here's a clip from one of them, my favourite part is when his eyes almost pop out of his head when he realises he's been caught out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnuOGa6CPkQ

munster87

Some of these are interesting

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wrongful_convictions_in_the_United_States

Fred Swanson

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Dyr

PressRun wrote: »

My mother was engrossed by this trial at the time and watched it as it happened too. She was of the same opinion, that there was no way he was going to be found guilty.

It was actually my old man who was pointing out to me how the defence were constantly bowling the prosecution out.

And yet the experts they wheeled out on sky were happy to feed the media narrative that the prosecution were onto a good thing.

PressRun

Bambi wrote: »

It was actually my old man who was pointing out to me how the defence were constantly bowling the prosecution out.

And yet the experts they wheeled out on sky were happy to feed the media narrative that the prosecution were onto a good thing.

Yeah, it sounds like the prosecution simply didn't do enough to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he did it, while OJ's lawyers just mauled them on the finer details. I'm not even sure if his defence team even entirely believed that he was innocent themselves, but he got his money's worth from them.

B.A._Baracus

There was a thread about OJ Simpson in After Hours a few years back. At one point people were saying how could you defend someone like OJ Simpson if you were a lawyer. Knowing the evidence stacked up against him it was pretty obvious he did it.

Que certain people saying that if they were a solicitor/lawyer they would defend him. Personally I think that is horrible. Like no no, doesn't matter if he is a murderer. I guess greed and morals don't mix.

PressRun

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

There was a thread about OJ Simpson in After Hours a few years back. At one point people were saying how could you defend someone like OJ Simpson if you were a lawyer. Knowing the evidence stacked up against him it was pretty obvious he did it.

Que certain people saying that if they were a solicitor they would defend him. Personally I think that is horrible. Like no no, doesn't matter if he is a murderer. I guess greed and morals don't mix.

Well, everyone is entitled to be defended in court. It just so happens that OJ had the best defence attorneys money could buy.

I recently read an article in the New Yorker (I think) about a defence lawyer who only takes on "the worst of the worst". She has built a career on defending the indefensible. She took on the Boston Bomber, the Unabomber and Jared Lee Loughner. Granted, her aim is to fight the death penalty for these particular clients rather than trying to get them acquitted, and she says she takes them on because she doesn't believe anyone is a monster, but it proves that there are lawyers out there who like the challenge, and everyone deserves a good lawyer in their corner.

Laphroaig52

Clonmel1000 wrote: »

Who the fup is Sean O Brien?

Ah, here....

http://www.the42.ie/sean-obrien-cited-pascal-pape-striking-2384306-Oct2015/

The fact that the Michael Jackson child molestation accusations actually got to court, despite the fact it was all made up and was pretty obvious.