A disturbing tale, a wrong which money damages seem inadequate in making right:
A man who spent seven years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of raping a girl at a Bronx daycare center won a $5 million settlement from the city, his lawyer announced yesterday.
. . .
The man, Alberto Ramos, 40, said that while in prison he endured beatings, was sodomized and tried to commit suicide several times. His conviction was overturned in 1992 when a judge found that the prosecutor had withheld evidence that could have resulted in an acquittal.
. . .
Mr. Ramos was one of five men convicted of sexually abusing children at three city-run day care centers in the Bronx during the mid-1980’s. All of the convictions have since been reversed.
. . .
The evidence uncovered during the civil lawsuit was “astounding,” Mr. Rudin [Ramos’ attorney] said.
City child abuse investigators said that they had referred the Ramos case to the Bronx district attorney’s office for prosecution even though they believed that Mr. Ramos was innocent and that the child’s story was false.
Day care center officials said the child had a history of sexual behavior in the classroom. They testified that they not only told the trial prosecutor about evidence favoring Mr. Ramos but had also informed other prosecutors before Mr. Ramos was arrested. No prosecutor disclosed the information to the defense.
An NPR story on this today pointed out how the false convictions of Ramos and the other defendants came during a period of media hysteria on pre-school safety. Apparently the prosecutors were more interested in grabbing headlines than meting out justice.
Yesterday’s lessons should be applied today. And the area most ripe for prosecutorial abuse today–with all its hype and secrecy–is terrorism. Case in point:
Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen being held incommunicado as an enemy combatant, can meet with a lawyer once the government decides it would not hamper his interrogation, Justice Department officials said on Tuesday.
Senior department officials said “dirty bomb” suspect Padilla, a U.S. citizen held without access to a lawyer for more than 18 months, may eventually meet with an attorney. Lawyers for Padilla have been arguing for access to him and the case is pending before a U.S. appeals court in New York.
“Once the intelligence collection efforts are judged not to be hampered or jeopardized by access to counsel, then there’s no objection to access to counsel,” one of the officials said.
How noble of the Justice Department–it may allow Padilla to consult with a lawyer once it’s “safe.”
We don’t have any reason to doubt the DOJ’s judgment, do we?