Comment by grellas | Hacker News Reader

Comment by grellas | Hacker News Reader

This story reminds me of how little most of know about what it means to suffer.

I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to be going innocently about your own business, getting pulled over by a traffic cop, and then suddenly being hustled off into a hellish pit for nearly 30 years - voiceless, helpless, and forgotten while being robbed of everything normal in adult life and while bearing the stigma of child molestor.

We all plan for the perfect lives and then complain when things fall short. Well, in our sheltered little worlds, we have no idea what it means to get kicked in the teeth non-stop over the course of a lifetime. This story gives us just a little glimpse and we can all shudder just thinking about it.

I have nothing but the highest admiration for anyone who could endure all this and still emerge with the abiding spirit that Mr. Towler now displays. It is a small miracle that he is not broken, bitter, and vengeful. Let us hope he can still rebuild his life from its broken fragments.

As someone who works on investigations into such offences; this weighs on my mind constantly.

There are perhaps one or two cases (out of several hundred) that still have me lying awake at night. In deeper moments of reflection I know I made the right call on them, but I still worry about it, as part of the process of self-assessment. Sadly I don't always see so much concern in others within the same field.

Child abuse is one of those horribly amoral crimes that clouds our personnel opinions, and so often I see prosecutors who simply hate the defendant on a personnel level. That sort of approach sickens me, it is exactly the sort of approach that screwed this guy; from the cop to the judge it was the same problem.

I can't talk for anyone else, but stories like this mean that tomorrow, as with every day, I make damned sure I am certain of what I find out. To the extend of putting my own liberty behind what I present. This sort of thing should be required reading in our field...

One thing that has always settled the wrong way with me about television police shows is that they hardly ever approach this topic. I can only imagine what it's like to be a prosecutor or a detective and wondering if you caught the right person. Maybe it's not every case, but as you mentioned, there have to be those one or two where they just keep you awake some nights.

It probably just doesn't make for good television to dwell on this topic. The good guy almost always puts away the bad guy and there's no question about it being the right decision.

I realize cop shows probably portray only a slim resemblance to reality. When I see a show or movie portraying something to do with computers or nuclear reactors there's always that feeling of "that's not how it is in real life!" No doubt, police officers watch the (many, many) shows about their profession with the same thought. However, like it or not, it's these shows that shape the average person's perception of law enforcement. It's the only exposure we get to it, with the exception of maybe being pulled over a handful of times throughout our lives.

Disclaimer: I don't watch any legal shows like Law & Order - maybe they do a better job with this?

In reality a cops job is to find someone for whom the DA can make a case. Innocent or guilty doesn't matter as the ability to make charges stick. A consequence of being driven "by the numbers".

A cops job is to avoid Type II errors or excessive skepticism when investigating wrongdoing. Juries and judges are around to correct in the other direction. Prosecutors arguably lie somewhere in between. That's how the system works and should work. Everybody errs on the side of caution. Cops don't want to just drop investigations and miss finding evidence on people who might be guilty. Juries should be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, innocence or guilt is their job.

You're talking theory, not actual practice. The problem with the system is that every layer assumes it's the job of some other layer to determine if the person is actually guilty or not.

e.g. http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/07/reporter’s-notebook-re...

Most of the layers do their own form of "due diligence" though; the problem is that too often that is based on gut instinct rather than facts.

Don't get me wrong; instinct is a crucial part of it. But when there are zero facts to support that instinct it becomes a problem :)

Absolutely. My point was it has less to do with the numbers game than the nature of the cops' jobs.

I'm shocked at the jury in this particular case. Both the bit about the beard and the alibi didn't create a reasonable doubt? Many are quick to blame the prosecutors, but those 12 jurors should be ashamed of themselves. There's no indication that the prosecutors in this case lied or concealed exculpatory evidence, or that the defense attorney was asleep during the trial.

Have you ever served on a jury? I have. It's 12 people who would rather be somewhere else and will follow what ever the dominate voice says.

I have nothing but the highest admiration for anyone who could endure all this and still emerge with the abiding spirit that Mr. Towler now displays.

Hear. Hear. What was especially harsh for him is that in the prison environment, child molesters are the lowest of the low, the prisoners who are held in contempt by other prisoners. He had to exercise immense self-control to keep his dignity intact in that environment. No one should have to live with a false accusation of having harmed a child.

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