Innocent But Imprisoned for 35 years
|
|
This man has spent 35 years in prison and was innocent the entire time.
 |
In an article all over the news later last week about James Bain, a man who was convicted when he was 19 years old in Lake Wales, Fla of the rape of a 9 year old boy was cleared by DNA evidence after serving 35 years of his life behind bars. He is the now the longest person in prison who has been cleared by new DNA evidence, but what was more astonishing is his request for DNA testing was denied for several years before they finally approved a look at the evidence.
The fact that this man said on live Television that he has no anger toward his accusers, was not angry with law enforcement or anybody and just happy to get a life back was astonishing. Fortunately Florida is one of the states that compensates falsely accused prisoners, CNN reported that he would likely get $50,000 for each year he wrongfully served in prison, this would be a total of $1,750,000 dollars that he will likely be awarded from the state for the wrongful imprisonment. That plus hopefully he might get a book deal about his plight, maybe a movie deal and pickup some interview money and he might be able to at least have a chance at building a life for himself that was robbed from him.
Truth is, there are wrongful imprisonments, because it is a democratic system and guilt or innocence can be conjured and portrayed by an attorney, and sentence carried out by judge or jury that is presented the information and must make a decision this can happen. The system isn’t perfect, but its the best one we have.
I think there should be compensation in all states where a wrongfully imprisoned person is exonerated, I found out that Arizona does not compensate anyone (though they usually win with lawsuits against the state, city and/or law enforcement agencies at some point).
-Justin Germino
 Share This Post
|
Tags: 35 years in prison, Arizona wrongful imprisonment laws, cleared on DNA evidence, imprisoned for 35 years, innocent man cleared on DNA evidence, James Bain, long prison sentence, wrongful imprisonment, wrongfully accused, wrongfully imprisoned
Leave a Comment
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
Vote on this arti... (6)
Klaus @ TechPatio (4)
MinnieRunner (3)
HermanTurnip (2)
Karen & Gerar... (2)
Stories like this are amazing. The system had to have been fairly well convinced of his guilt that he was not able to get a DNA test for so long. It is truly an imperfect system but hopefully more recent technology will assist it in becoming far more accurate.
It is really commendable and uplifting that this guy bears no ill will. It says a lot. He must have done a great deal of soul searching while in there.
Phil@workplace wellness programs´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at
What a sad story. At least it’s never too late to start your life.
I always am greatly distressed when I hear news like this. Thank God at least the mean is finally free and it’s definitely good that he is being compensated, it’s the least they can do! Hopefully with the DNA evidence now available, it will prevent this from happening so frequently. 35 years is a large part of one’s life, how sad for this poor man.
Karen & Gerard Zemek´s last blog ..Jesus Knows You’re Here!
Yeah it is, I think at least the state has a fair payment police, 1.75 million is at least a start so he can begin his life a new and doesn’t have to start a career over from scratch.