Man Cleared of Murder After 27 Years in Jail - Thank you DNA!

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Man cleared by DNA free after 27 years Story Highlights
James Lee Woodard is 18th Dallas County inmate cleared by DNA

Dallas County has more wrongfully convicted people than any other jurisdiction

Woodard spent the longest time behind bars of any wrongly convicted inmate

"I thank God for the existence of the Innocence Project," he said

DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- A Dallas man who spent more than 27 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit was freed Tuesday, after being incarcerated longer than any other wrongfully convicted U.S. inmate cleared by DNA testing.

James Lee Woodard had been in prison for more than 27 years before DNA cleared him.

James Lee Woodard stepped out of the courtroom and raised his arms to a throng of photographers.

Supporters and other people gathered outside the court erupted in applause.

"No words can express what a tragic story yours is," state District Judge Mark Stoltz told Woodard at a brief hearing before his release.

Woodard, cleared of the 1980 murder of his girlfriend, became the 18th person in Dallas County to have his conviction cast aside. That's a figure unmatched by any county nationally, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions.

"I thank God for the existence of the Innocence Project," Woodard, 55, told the court. "Without that, I wouldn't be here today. I would be wasting away in prison."

Overall, 31 people have been formally exonerated through DNA testing in Texas, also a national high. That does not include Woodard and at least three others whose exonerations will not become official until Gov. Rick Perry grants pardons or the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals formally accepts the ruling of lower courts that have already recommended exoneration.

Woodard was sentenced to life in prison in July 1981 for the murder of a 21-year-old Dallas woman found sexually assaulted and strangled near the banks of the Trinity River.

He was convicted primarily on the basis of testimony from two eyewitnesses, said Natalie Roetzel, the executive director of the Innocence Project of Texas. One has since recanted in an affidavit. As for the other, "we don't believe her testimony was accurate," Roetzel said.

Like nearly all the exonorees, Woodard has maintained his innocence throughout his time in prison. But after filing six writs with an appeals court, plus two requests for DNA testing, his pleas of innocence became so repetitive and routine that "the courthouse doors were eventually closed to him and he was labeled a writ abuser," Roetzel said.

"On the first day he was arrested, he told the world he was innocent ... and nobody listened," Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel for the Innocence Project of Texas, said during Tuesday's hearing


Wow... They should just close down that jail and fire all the prosecutors...

CK
 
TWO eyewitnesses convicted this man wrongly. Is there EVER going to come a time when we begin to question the certainty of eyewitnesses out of hand. People all the time claim they see things that put people in prison. Much of that time the consequences are only a few years for the convicted person behind bars so there is NO INNOCENSE project. For 27 years this man has told anyone that would listen that he was innocent and HE WAS! The ONLY thing that put him behind bars was the mistaken testimony of two people. How much are those 27 years worth? What might this man have been if not for the conviction. What other lives were affected by this injustice? Eyewitnesses are mistaken much of the time. Most of the time they didn't know they should be REALLY looking for something and they put the slivers of what they can remember together and create their testimony. Even when they are the victim of a crime they can misidentify the perp. There is a guy that was convicted in El Paso TX of raping a woman, SHE ID'd him and DNA proved she was wrong. This was someone that was so close to her that he was inside her and she could not accurately id him.
 
Socrtease said:
TWO eyewitnesses convicted this man wrongly. Is there EVER going to come a time when we begin to question the certainty of eyewitnesses out of hand. People all the time claim they see things that put people in prison. Much of that time the consequences are only a few years for the convicted person behind bars so there is NO INNOCENSE project. For 27 years this man has told anyone that would listen that he was innocent and HE WAS! The ONLY thing that put him behind bars was the mistaken testimony of two people. How much are those 27 years worth? What might this man have been if not for the conviction. What other lives were affected by this injustice? Eyewitnesses are mistaken much of the time. Most of the time they didn't know they should be REALLY looking for something and they put the slivers of what they can remember together and create their testimony. Even when they are the victim of a crime they can misidentify the perp. There is a guy that was convicted in El Paso TX of raping a woman, SHE ID'd him and DNA proved she was wrong. This was someone that was so close to her that he was inside her and she could not accurately id him.
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Yeah, why is that?
 
Darla said:
Yeah, why is that?
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Because she couldn't think clear enough to ID him. She was being raped and could not get beyond the trauma of that event to accurately ID the guy that actually DID rape her. Because in the throws of a horribly traumatic event, people don't think clear enough to successfully ID a person. And Juries should be told that.
 
I wish to heck we'd give these people something substantial for the misapplication of justice.
 
Damocles said:
I wish to heck we'd give these people something substantial for the misapplication of justice.
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What could you give anyone for 27 years of their life and your entire youth, plus much of your middle age? There isn’t anything in the world. It’s one of the most horrific fates I can think of.
 
Darla said:
What could you give anyone for 27 years of their life and your entire youth, plus much of your middle age? There isn’t anything in the world. It’s one of the most horrific fates I can think of.
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liberal plantation

You can never give that person back their time but going forward there should be something done for them be it money, a job, help finding a job just something. This deserves something more than a 'sorry pal' and here's the front door.
 
cawacko said:
liberal plantation

You can never give that person back their time but going forward there should be something done for them be it money, a job, help finding a job just something. This deserves something more than a 'sorry pal' and here's the front door.
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Oh yeah, that’ll do it, get them a job. As a greeter at Wal-mart, something real cushy like that. Give me abreak! You can start in the millions, but that doesn’t do it anyway.

You freaking squeaky republicans. Oh give him a job. Jesus Christ, 27 years in prison for a crime you didn’t commit and these clowns want to give you a job when you get out. I guess now I have heard it all.
 
Darla said:
Oh yeah, that’ll do it, get them a job. As a greeter at Wal-mart, something real cushy like that. Give me abreak! You can start in the millions, but that doesn’t do it anyway.

You freaking squeaky republicans. Oh give him a job. Jesus Christ, 27 years in prison for a crime you didn’t commit and these clowns want to give you a job when you get out. I guess now I have heard it all.
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Ok, considering the damage has been done and there's nothing you can do about it what would you recommend Darla?
 
cawacko said:
Ok, considering the damage has been done and there's nothing you can do about it what would you recommend Darla?
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Millions in damages. He certainly should not have to work at this job you’re giving him. Hello, he’s been a forced laborer for 27 years now.
 
Darla said:
Millions in damages. He certainly should not have to work at this job you’re giving him. Hello, he’s been a forced laborer for 27 years now.
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How do you know what job I'm giving him? You thought so little of him you offered a job as a Wal-Mart greeter.
 
Darla said:
What could you give anyone for 27 years of their life and your entire youth, plus much of your middle age? There isn’t anything in the world. It’s one of the most horrific fates I can think of.
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Something more than a cheap suit and a $50 bill...

Seriously, something substantial. 27 years of average earnings, all at once. Something like that.

I don't think it would fix things, but it sure would be a better start than a crappy suit and a kick out the door.
 
Darla said:
Oh yeah, that’ll do it, get them a job. As a greeter at Wal-mart, something real cushy like that. Give me abreak! You can start in the millions, but that doesn’t do it anyway.

You freaking squeaky republicans. Oh give him a job. Jesus Christ, 27 years in prison for a crime you didn’t commit and these clowns want to give you a job when you get out. I guess now I have heard it all.
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Again, whether or not it "fixes" anything, it is a danged sight better than nothing at all. Currently, in most places nothing it all is what they will get. And a lawsuit would be worthless because you can't sue for a jury convicting you.
 
Eyewitnesses are useless unless there's something else to corroborate their evidence. Sounds like some lazy cops and lazier prosecutors in Dallas County, mix it up with a bit of "target on the back"/tunnel vision syndrome and you've got major problems in the system.
 
Damocles said:
Again, whether or not it "fixes" anything, it is a danged sight better than nothing at all. Currently, in most places nothing it all is what they will get. And a lawsuit would be worthless because you can't sue for a jury convicting you.
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The state should pay them millions Damo, and the only reason you and Cawacko want to send some poor fuck who was forced into labor for 27 years in the first place, to work as some kind of twisted "reward" is ideology. You guys are really twisted man.

The reason these people are falsely convicted in the first place is because of right wing ideology. Tough on crime! Of course he did it! If the police arrested him he must be guilty of something! Liberal bleeding hearts believe everybody is innocent, they're soft on crime. somebody has to pay.

that's our society now. And until you pinheads wake up, yeah, we should pay em millions, baby millions. And get him the best trial lawyer in the country, and give him half!
 
Darla said:
The state should pay them millions Damo, and the only reason you and Cawacko want to send some poor fuck who was forced into labor for 27 years in the first place, to work as some kind of twisted "reward" is ideology. You guys are really twisted man.

The reason these people are falsely convicted in the first place is because of right wing ideology. Tough on crime! Of course he did it! If the police arrested him he must be guilty of something! Liberal bleeding hearts believe everybody is innocent, they're soft on crime. somebody has to pay.

that's our society now. And until you pinheads wake up, yeah, we should pay em millions, baby millions. And get him the best trial lawyer in the country, and give him half!
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Fine give him money. I said that in the beggining. My response was nothing about ideology it was that this guy should not just be sent out on the street after what he went through.
 
cawacko said:
Fine give him money. I said that in the beggining. My response was nothing about ideology it was that this guy should not just be sent out on the street after what he went through.
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Ok, fine, perhaps I misunderstood you. There aren't many jobs a guy in prison for 27 years could do that don't involve physical labor, and i think that's pretty cold. So just pay him off, it's the only thing left to do after stealing someone's life. It sucks, but that's all there is left. That for the rest of your life, you don't have to get up and bust your ass everyday, and you can do what you want with whatever time you have left.
 
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