Somewhere, Tim Cole must be smiling to see the word "rapist" in quotation marks in the following headline. Too bad the pardon came 24 years too late, after he'd already served 13 years in prison and died there.
Texas 'rapist' granted state's first posthumous pardon
The governor of the US state of Texas, Rick Perry, has posthumously pardoned a man who had died in jail after being wrongly convicted of rape.
It is the first time Texas has issued a posthumous pardon.
In 1986, Tim Cole was sentenced for the rape of a student. He always maintained he was innocent, right up to his death.
He had spent 13 years in prison when he died of an asthma attack in 1999. His innocence was proved by DNA tests nearly 10 years later.
Mr Cole spurned an offer of early parole as it would have meant accepting guilt.
Years after his death, his family demanded DNA tests after they received a letter from a convicted rapist confessing to the crime.
It transpired the man had confessed earlier. He had sent letters to court officials four years before Mr Cole died - but the admission was never followed up.
Mr Perry said he hoped it would give Mr Cole's family a measure of peace.
Mr Cole's mother told the BBC she was ecstatic on hearing the news - as her son had always wanted to be exonerated.
He had written in a letter that he always believed in the justice system, even if the justice system had not believed in him.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8544890.stm
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10 comments:
I no longer believe in the justice system..I believe a deep perversion has set in to where the truth means very little anymore.
Enabling women and girls to openly and willfully lie to law enforcement is a perversion.
He had written in a letter that he always believed in the justice system, even if the justice system had not believed in him.
Lots of people have believed in the justice system, only to be betrayed by it.
"Enabling women and girls to openly and willfully lie to law enforcement is a perversion."
This is true, but is apparently not what happened in this case.
The women was raped, but the wrong man was punished.
Perhaps it was simply a mistake, but even that shows that testimony given in good faith can still be erroneous. No conviction can ever be sound if it is based on nothing more than a single person's testimony.
Mr Perry-- if you happen to stumble upon this blog today... don't make another mistake and demand testing for the DNA for Hank Skinner.
Do you want another posthumously pardon ? This year is election year Sir, do the right thing!!!
CBGirl
My thoughts and prayers go to the Cole family. Thank God the truth came out but it was a bit too late for Mr Cole.
I distrust all government more and more. My eyes have opened to those criminals (law enforcement), supposedly protecting the innocent. Hell, they don't care one bit. They are worse than the 'real' criminals out there because they lie and cheat and distort the truth just to win their cases. Truth has no place in the justice system.
I am sick of it!!!
CBGirl
Wait just a minute here, when I was in college, campus rape activists told me that a woman would never ever, ever, ever lie about rape!
They lied to me!
Follow the money.
He may have believed in the justice system, but I sure don't. Not as long as injustices like this continue.
There is absolutely no excuse for his false conviction. Somewhere in hell a table for twelve is being reserved.
As for the letter from the real rapist exonerating Tim Cole, who are the people who received it and did nothing?
Perhaps the same people who made sure Mr. Cole was put in prison?
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