California: Man released from prison after 25 years on death row , due to FALSE testimony

MicroBrew

Plutonium Belt
@plutonium
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
52,639
Reaction score
24,529
https://www.yahoo.com/news/california-inmate-released-25-years-death-row-233645134.html

In 1991 a 2 year old girl was found dead outside her mother's home.

Vicente Benavides was babysitting the little girl , who was the daughter of his girlfriend. He told police he lost track of the girl and later found her outside injured. Benavides and the girl's mother took her to the ER but she died a week later. On the opinion of 'experts' he was tried and found guilty of rape and murder and sentenced to Death Row. But nearly all the medical examiners (the 'experts' ) later recanted.

-------

A forensic pathologist concluded that the girl died from injuries indicative of being sodomized, and several doctors testified that the girl's injuries were caused by sexual assault.

But nearly all later recanted, saying they hadn't seen her full medical records that indicated there was no evidence of sexual assault when the girl was first hospitalized.


They also said her genital and other injuries may have been caused by her medical treatment and some said the purported cause of death was "anatomically impossible," according to the state Supreme Court's ruling.


One expert on child abuse said the girl likely had been hit by a car, not sexually assaulted.

-------

Not only are cases like this a good example of doing away with Capital Punishment, but there really needs to be criminal repercussions for FALSE testimony, because it does put not-guilty persons behind bars for life.
 
I hate these stories. Begs the question how many innocent people sit on death row right now and how many have already been executed.

Just sick.
 
Not only are cases like this a good example of doing away with Capital Punishment,...

I disagree there. The death penalty should at least be a consideration.

If you've got a guy on video torturing people, and there are 10 living witnesses, and he smirks through the entire court case.... you gotta kill the guy.

There are degrees and lines in all cases. But I do agree that zero witnesses, zero video, zero DNA, etc is not a death worthy case.

Watch some crime prison shit. I've seen guys on death row agreeing that they deserve to die for what they did.
 
I disagree there. The death penalty should at least be a consideration.

If you've got a guy on video torturing people, and there are 10 living witnesses, and he smirks through the entire court case.... you gotta kill the guy.

There are degrees and lines in all cases. But I do agree that zero witnesses, zero video, zero DNA, etc is not a death worthy case.

Watch some crime prison shit. I've seen guys on death row agreeing that they deserve to die for what they did.
I happen to think life in solitary is worse than death.

Yes there are cases where guilt is dam sure, but the problem is policy is applied across the board, against persons where the evidence is not soo damming and obvious as your example.
 
I happen to think life in solitary is worse than death.

Yes there are cases where guilt is dam sure, but the problem is policy is applied across the board, against persons where the evidence is not soo damming and obvious as your example.

Death is cheaper :) and it's not torture. I think that kind of torture is overkill. Just whack the guy.

My example is just a pitch to keep death penalty on the books. But agreed that it should not be applied often.

I just watched a First 48 where a guy shot and killed 2 men and 2 women. He then stabbed 2 children to death to delete the witnesses. 1 other child survived a stab wound to the chest and ID'd the guy BY NAME. The bad guy then confessed. Gotta whack the guy, I think. He did get the death penalty... 6 times. Not sure if he got whacked yet.
 
I happen to think life in solitary is worse than death.

Yes there are cases where guilt is dam sure, but the problem is policy is applied across the board, against persons where the evidence is not soo damming and obvious as your example.
Executing a lot of people gets votes(tough on crime) whether the person executed is innocent or guilty is of no concern.
 
I hate these stories. Begs the question how many innocent people sit on death row right now and how many have already been executed.

Just sick.
The US is the ONLY Western nation that still retains Capital punishment. Infact many non-Western countries have abolished it, while others don't use in practice.

Look at the company the US is in. Oh and the Telegraph is a right of center, pro conservative party paper.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/countries-that-still-have-the-death-penalty/
 
I happen to think life in solitary is worse than death.

Yes there are cases where guilt is dam sure, but the problem is policy is applied across the board, against persons where the evidence is not soo damming and obvious as your example.

It's a matter of opinion.

If there is irrefutable and untainted proof that the suspect is guilty and the penalty warrants death.. kill 'em.

but yeah it is really fucked up that people felt the need to "adjust" the evidence to point one way. I can't believe they would think this is right. sentencing a person to long term jail for something he/she didn't commit... wtf...?
 
How the hell do you go from the poor kid being hit by a car to sodomized?

And these medical professionals need to do some time. The moment they realized their error, they should have been working towards this guy being set free. Recanting is insufficient.
 

there really needs to be criminal repercussions for FALSE testimony, because it does put not-guilty persons behind bars for life.

This part I agree with but some people need to die for the shit they did.
 
If you've got a guy on video torturing people, and there are 10 living witnesses, and he smirks through the entire court case.... you gotta kill the guy.
No, you don't.
Death is cheaper :) and it's not torture. I think that kind of torture is overkill. Just whack the guy.
No its not, its much more expensive than prison because of the lengthy legal procedures and appeals and whatnot. Notice how this guy in the OP was on death row for 25 years, that's 25 years of detention plus all the legal procedures.
I just watched a First 48 where a guy shot and killed 2 men and 2 women. He then stabbed 2 children to death to delete the witnesses. 1 other child survived a stab wound to the chest and ID'd the guy BY NAME. The bad guy then confessed. Gotta whack the guy, I think. He did get the death penalty... 6 times. Not sure if he got whacked yet.
False confessions are a leading cause of wrongful convictions so a confession on its own is no guarantee he did it. But yeah if he got ID'd by name that's a different story. Eye witnesses can be very unreliable but if you know the dude's name that's a bit different.
 

Not only are cases like this a good example of doing away with Capital Punishment, but there really needs to be criminal repercussions for FALSE testimony, because it does put not-guilty persons behind bars for life.
Most of the time false testimony is not malicious but rather a mistake. Do you prosecute people for a mistake? I say no but you do take the possibility of mistakes into account and act accordingly.
 
No, you don't.

No its not, its much more expensive than prison because of the lengthy legal procedures and appeals and whatnot. Notice how this guy in the OP was on death row for 25 years, that's 25 years of detention plus all the legal procedures.

False confessions are a leading cause of wrongful convictions so a confession on its own is no guarantee he did it. But yeah if he got ID'd by name that's a different story. Eye witnesses can be very unreliable but if you know the dude's name that's a bit different.

1: Well of course you don't. C'mon man, it's an opinion. No human has to do anything ever. You can hold in your shit if you want to until you fucking die. Does that mean you don't have to shit? Are we being semantically literal here? Glad you're not my wife!

2: Disclaimer: I'm speaking in ideal world.
Of course every single thing administrated by the legal system or the government is a big giant waste of everything.

3: Idk if they do forensics on shit like this, just to back up their case. But he actually collected all the shell casings and put them in a bag, but accidentally left them at the scene. Idk why they didn't get prints so that's kinda fucked.

Anyways, Jessie Dotson is the guy's name if you're interested. Amongst the murdered were his brother and two nephews.
 
The death penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime.
 
Absolutely terrible. Give this man a billion dollars or so for his ordeal, and give his old cell on Death Row to those professionals who testified bullshit about him and condemned him to death. We had a piece of shit forensic pathologist up here in Ontario whose testimony resulted in a lot of people sent to prison for murdering infants - usually their own child. It turns out that he had no idea wtf he was talking about.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Smith_(pathologist)

And what really happened to him? He lost his license to practice medicine, big fuckin deal. He should be hung upside down like a pinata and beaten to death by the people he sent to prison. It makes me sick that Smith, and those clowns who testified against the guy in Cali, get to skate without any serious consequences for their actions.
 
Back
Top