I Have Put This On A Lot Of My Blogs,Plus Your Television Interview.A Massachusetts man who served 32 years in prison before his conviction was overturned two years ago will be put on trial again, after a judge denied defense attorneys’ attempts to throw out what they argued was faulty evidence. In a 39-page decision, Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Robert Cosgrove denied Darrell Jones’ attempt to suppress witness identifications from the 1985 Brockton murder of Guillermo Rodrigues. Get the latest news Boston is talking about sent to your inbox each day. Subscribe here. Defense attorney Paul Rudof claimed police intimidated and coerced five eyewitnesses and used improper techniques when showing them photo lineups. He also argued that some of the witnesses were high on cocaine and intoxicated at the scene of the crime. Cosgrove ruled that despite using outmoded methods of photo identification that would not be permitted as evidence in court today, the police did not violate due process or prejudice witnesses into identifying Jones as the shooter. “Eye witness identification is an invaluable law enforcement tool in obtaining accurate convictions, but also the greatest source of wrongful conviction,” the judge wrote. The judge said Jones’ attempt to suppress the evidence “did not meet his burden that the identifications were suggestive or conducive to irreparable misidentification.” The day of the murder, Nov. 11, 1985, Brockton police detectives interviewed five people who were in a parking lot on the rainy, near moonless night when Rodrigues was shot and killed. All of the witnesses described the killer as being several inches shorter than the victim. Jones was just an inch shorter. The eyewitnesses’ testimony before a grand jury frequently contradicted each other and what they would later testify at trial. In the 1986 trial, none of the witnesses could identify Jones in court. Jones conviction was overturned in 2017 when another judge found the lead investigator had falsely testified in the original trial about a key piece of video evidence, a recording of a witness interview that had been edited. The judge also ruled that Jones had been denied a fair trial because the all-white jury was racially prejudiced against Jones. An investigation by WBUR into Jones’ conviction led to a juror testifying that two other jurors said they thought Jones was guilty because he was black. Rudof, the defense attorney, called Judge Cosgrove’s ruling “shocking and wrong,” and that the decision “is based on testimony of a detective who three judges have now said intentionally lied at the first trial.” The ruling demonstrates “that it’s fine for the police to pressure witnesses to make an ID as long as the police themselves think they’re doing the right thing,” he said. The Plymouth County district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the case, issued a short statement repeating the facts of the case. “Judge Cosgrove has issued a ruling denying the defendant’s motion [to suppress witness identification] and, as a result, the Commonwealth may now present those prior identifications in evidence at the re-trial of the defendant,” the statement read. Jones has been out on bail since 2017, pending a new trial. He declined to comment, saying he wanted his attorney to speak on his behalf. Jones is attending a conference in Atlanta being held by the Innocence Network, an organization that provides pro bono legal and investigative services to those seeking to overturn their convictions. The meeting includes 200 people wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. Jones’ new trial for the 1985 murder is scheduled for May 20, in Brockton Superior Court.

I Have Put This On A Lot Of My Blogs,Plus Your Television Interview.A Massachusetts man who served 32 years in prison before his conviction was overturned two years ago will be put on trial again, after a judge denied defense attorneys’ attempts to throw out what they argued was faulty evidence. In a 39-page decision, Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Robert Cosgrove denied Darrell Jones’ attempt to suppress witness identifications from the 1985 Brockton murder of Guillermo Rodrigues. Get the latest news Boston is talking about sent to your inbox each day. Subscribe here. Defense attorney Paul Rudof claimed police intimidated and coerced five eyewitnesses and used improper techniques when showing them photo lineups. He also argued that some of the witnesses were high on cocaine and intoxicated at the scene of the crime. Cosgrove ruled that despite using outmoded methods of photo identification that would not be permitted as evidence in court today, the police did not violate due process or prejudice witnesses into identifying Jones as the shooter. “Eye witness identification is an invaluable law enforcement tool in obtaining accurate convictions, but also the greatest source of wrongful conviction,” the judge wrote. The judge said Jones’ attempt to suppress the evidence “did not meet his burden that the identifications were suggestive or conducive to irreparable misidentification.” The day of the murder, Nov. 11, 1985, Brockton police detectives interviewed five people who were in a parking lot on the rainy, near moonless night when Rodrigues was shot and killed. All of the witnesses described the killer as being several inches shorter than the victim. Jones was just an inch shorter. The eyewitnesses’ testimony before a grand jury frequently contradicted each other and what they would later testify at trial. In the 1986 trial, none of the witnesses could identify Jones in court. Jones conviction was overturned in 2017 when another judge found the lead investigator had falsely testified in the original trial about a key piece of video evidence, a recording of a witness interview that had been edited. The judge also ruled that Jones had been denied a fair trial because the all-white jury was racially prejudiced against Jones. An investigation by WBUR into Jones’ conviction led to a juror testifying that two other jurors said they thought Jones was guilty because he was black. Rudof, the defense attorney, called Judge Cosgrove’s ruling “shocking and wrong,” and that the decision “is based on testimony of a detective who three judges have now said intentionally lied at the first trial.” The ruling demonstrates “that it’s fine for the police to pressure witnesses to make an ID as long as the police themselves think they’re doing the right thing,” he said. The Plymouth County district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the case, issued a short statement repeating the facts of the case. “Judge Cosgrove has issued a ruling denying the defendant’s motion [to suppress witness identification] and, as a result, the Commonwealth may now present those prior identifications in evidence at the re-trial of the defendant,” the statement read. Jones has been out on bail since 2017, pending a new trial. He declined to comment, saying he wanted his attorney to speak on his behalf. Jones is attending a conference in Atlanta being held by the Innocence Network, an organization that provides pro bono legal and investigative services to those seeking to overturn their convictions. The meeting includes 200 people wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. Jones’ new trial for the 1985 murder is scheduled for May 20, in Brockton Superior Court.

Irish man cleared of murder 74 years after hanging Harry Gleeson to become first recipient of posthumous pardon following case review Sat, Jan 10, 2015, 09:42 Updated: Sat, Jan 10, 2015, 12:12 Mark Hilliard Almost three quarters of a century after being sent to the gallows for a murder he had nothing to do with, Tipperary man Harry Gleeson (above) is to become the first recipient of a posthumous pardon from the State Almost three quarters of a century after being sent to the gallows for a murder he had nothing to do with, Tipperary man Harry Gleeson (above) is to become the first recipient of a posthumous pardon from the State Almost three quarters of a century after being sent to the gallows for a murder he had nothing to do with, Tipperary man Harry Gleeson is to become the first recipient of a posthumous pardon from the State. In 1940, Mr Gleeson walked into a garda station in New Inn, Co Tipperary to report his discovery of a dead body. Moll McCarthy was lying in a field having suffered two shotgun blasts to the face. In the run up to his 1941 conviction for her killing - which then carried the death penalty - the prosecution had withheld information in Mr Gleeson’s trial, encouraged witnesses to hand over falsified statements, beating one, and ignored an alibi for their suspect. Now, he is to be cleared of the crime decades after it took place in a dramatic development representing the dedicated work of the Griffith College based Irish Innocence Project and the Justice for Harry Gleeson group. Part of a global organisation of the same name, the project was formed here in 2009 with the mandate of unearthing new facts in cases where there is a belief a miscarriage of justice has taken place under the remit of the Criminal Procedure Act 1993 and the posthumous pardon procedure. “Nothing can adequately comfort those who have fought to exonerate Harry Gleeson but this posthumous pardon and the clearing of the good name of Mr Gleeson is a proud moment for everyone involved,” David Langwallner, dean of law at Griffith College and Project director said yesterday in the aftermath of their success. The Department of Justice had received a submission on the case last year, claiming several threads of new evidence, much of which had been compiled by the Justice for Harry Gleeson Group which subsequently contacted the Project. It was compelling. The case review found the prosecution had successfully withheld crucial information highlighting discrepancies in their case (in particular relating to the registration of the firearm); that gardaí encouraged witnesses to lie and beat one. Forensic evidence from a US pathologist also proved Mr Gleeson had an alibi. “This case was a tragic miscarriage of justice and the hanging of Mr Gleeson for a murder he never committed is a dark stain on the memory of the State,” said Professor Diarmuid Hegarty, president of Griffith College. “However his posthumous pardon shows that justice is not blind to injustice.” The Irish Innocence Project currently has 21 students from Griffith College, Trinity College and Dublin City University working on approximately 25 further cases under the supervision of eight lawyers working on a pro-bono basis.