Just The Facts

S.F. Public Defender Jeff Adachi Discusses the SFPD Crime Lab DNA Scandal

Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual. Thomas Jefferson

There is no state law in New York State requiring the preservation of evidence.  This article from the Philadelphia Inquirer helps explain why this is important. According to Innocence Project statistics, "Of the 261 exonerations involving DNA evidence nationwide, half involved a failure to provide exculpatory evidence to the defense at trial."  Also keep in mind that many of those DNA exonerations required testing of evidence that still existed many years after the defendant was convicted and sent to prison. Had that evidence not been preserved, these innocent persons would never had the opportunity to prove their innocence. Remember, this evidence existed, was preserved but never tested. What about evidence that was never disclosed or revealed? Again, according to this article, "In many states, and under federal law, defendants are given access to government files after conviction. In Pennsylvania, that's not the case. So evidence that could prove that the wrong...

Please watch this series as it will make you better understand how your words can be used to present a different meaning from which they were spoken. You can begin to understand the mindset and the determination of destroying the credibility of an innocent person in trying to prove guilt. Nobody is advocating that the guilty should not be prosecuted. But when the methods used by some law enforcement and  prosectors produce "appearing guilty" results; how does a jury know the difference?