Imagine that, a black guy got farked by the system. What a rare and completely unexpected thing.

I'm guessing he didn't have the highest of socioeconomic standings either.

How do you lose 21 stab wounds?

Kanyon: How do you lose 21 stab wounds?

He got better.

/A newt?

zymosan: Imagine that, a black guy got farked by the system. What a rare and completely unexpected thing.

I'm guessing he didn't have the highest of socioeconomic standings either.

How is this guy getting screwed by the system, exactly?

Well thank god for justice!

zymosan: Imagine that, a black guy got farked by the system. What a rare and completely unexpected thing.

I'm guessing he didn't have the highest of socioeconomic standings either.

Read the article more carefully. A black man didn't get farked by the system in the original case, is the whole point. No one was charged for the original crime. Now this guy has been charged, 25 years later.

However, looking at the article, it seems like it's going to be difficult to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Every other piece of original evidence, from the knife, crime scene photos, medical evidence, everything but that one DNA sample was lost. Frankly, if I were the defense attorney, I'd just stand up and say in closing arguments "How can they prove to you that this is the right piece of evidence they're using?" Especially since the prosecutors say that all they have is the DNA that they found in a dusty warehouse where it had been sitting, potentially misfiled, for 25 years, and "circumstantial evidence", even though in the article they admit they have no theory for how the defendant even met the victim.

zymosan: Imagine that, a black guy got farked by the system. What a rare and completely unexpected thing.

I'm guessing he didn't have the highest of socioeconomic standings either.

How is the system screwing him? Was it unfair for the police to give him an extra 26 years of freedom just to rub it in further while he is in prison?

zymosan: Imagine that, a black guy got farked by the system. What a rare and completely unexpected thing.

I'm guessing he didn't have the highest of socioeconomic standings either.

What the hell are you talking about?



FTFA: WASHINGTON - A single piece of evidence long thought lost is now at the heart of a 26-year-old murder case.

The investigation was going nowhere until 2004 when detectives discovered a small box inside the D.C. Police evidence warehouse. A box Prosecutors say contained the DNA profile of a man named Melvin Jackson.

Jackson is now on trial for the 1983 murder of French tourist Raymonde Plantiveau, a mother of six in the U.S. visiting her daughter.

Plantiveau was found in the bedroom of her daughter's Georgetown home. She was raped and stabbed to death. Police called it overkill.

Kanyon: How do you lose 21 stab wounds?

The murder victim was Wolverine.

I'm more curious as to how you lose that much evidence; from the article, it was not just evidence from this case that was lost. Did they need room to store all their Xmas decorations?

It IS washington D.C. Was the murder capital of the U.S. for a while. a 25 year old case has had thousands of other cases follow it. That's one thing that D.C. never lacks, a murder investigation.

h2oincfs: I'm more curious as to how you lose that much evidence; from the article, it was not just evidence from this case that was lost. Did they need room to store all their Xmas decorations?

Stuff like this happens all the time, from a variety of factors. Just off the top of my head, it could be due to:
1. Bad filing systems
2. Corruption
3. Mildew/Rats/Water damage/other problems associated with having huge warehouses.
4. Fire
5. Literally lost because the method of storage changed.
6. Mishandled evidence destruction policies (Lots of evidence is stored up to a certain point, then destroyed, so some might have been destroyed accidentally).

You'll find this happens across the country all the time. CSI's portrayal of evidence from cold cases always being present is faulty at best. If I recall correctly, in New Orleans after Katrina hit, many police department warehouses were flooded, damaging or destroying almost all the evidence in them.

It was in DC and no gun was involved. Not important.

"We believe and unfortunately because its 25 years ago," said Defense Attorney Ross Hecht in an interview outside the courthouse, "none of us have good records from that time frame but we believe Mr. Jackson had consensual relations with the decedent at a time before her passing."

Oh yeah, this is totally plausible. Because a, and I quote, "a reserved 57-year-old mother of six. She was a French citizen who spoke no English" is exactly the kind of person who would go to a foreign country to look for a little strange with a black man half her age.

Hahaha I can't read for shiat :-P

Yea, like that "consensual sex" defense really works...

Maybe the glove didn't fit? Worked at least one other time...

Incompetence in my DC police? It's more likely than you think.

Who cares about violent crime when there are evil drugs to imprison people for?

DNRTFA, but was the man a cop?

So the prosecutor says they "lost" the evidence, but miraculously finds DNA connecting this guy to the crime. So just how is he going to prove positive control of the evidence and there was no tampering? Both of which have to be shown before it can be admitted as evidence in a criminal proceeding.

My guess is the DA is hoping the defendant has a public defender and will talk the defendant into a plea bargain.

WHO is paying for all of this?