Hacker News Reader

Comment by stelcodes | Hacker News Reader

A year? Curtis Flowers spent over 20 years on Death Row without being convicted of anything. A couple years ago he was set free! Why? Because of a true crime podcast called In The Dark. Seriously. Listen to season 2 and your mind will be blown. The “justice” system in this country is horrific.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Flowers?wprov=sfti1

View on HN

I agree with your distress at the state of the justice system, but it doesn’t make sense to say that someone was on death row without having been convicted. The article you link to explains that his convictions were overturned. Although I would never rely on information in a Wikipedia article, you did link to it, so presumably you find it credible.

Every time he was “convicted”, the prosecution was found to be in blatant violation of laws on appeal. They intimidated witnesses, kept black people off the jury, and more. So no, he was never rightfully convicted! The prosecution broke so many laws, way more than Curtis Flowers ever did! And they just did it over and over again for 20 years. None of them have faced any consequences. They effectively imprisoned an innocent man for 20 years because they didn’t like him. And big surprise, Curtis is black.

What you are describing is different from convicting someone withoht trial, it's way worse.

The prosecution breaking the law doesn't mean the trial didn't happen. "rightful conviction" and "conviction" are very different things.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com