THREE DECADES AFTER Claude Garrett was accused of committing arson to kill his girlfriend, Lorie Lance, a Tennessee judge vacated his conviction, finding him innocent of murder and opening the door to his release. In an order signed on May 6, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins found that Garrett had made a “clear and convincing” case that if jurors had been aware of new scientific evidence at the time of his trial, they would never have convicted him of setting the 1992 fire that sent him to prison for life.
The order comes one month after an evidentiary hearing in Nashville in which leading fire experts testified that the case against Garrett was based on a rush to judgment, a shoddy investigation, and junk science. The hearing followed a reinvestigation of the case by the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office — spurred by The Intercept’s reporting — which concluded last year that it could no longer stand by its conviction. Lawyers from both the Tennessee Innocence Project and the DA’s Conviction Review Unit subsequently asked Watkins to vacate the conviction in light of new scientific evidence that dismantled the state’s original theory of the crime. “If the state had been armed with the information that we now have,” Conviction Review Unit Director Sunny Eaton told the judge, “we would not have indicted this case.”
People were pretty sure this guy didn't do it for years, but that would involve public officials admitting a mistake was made.
Unfortunately, that's not something they are prone to do.
Syl said
May 11 5:13 PM, 2022
A couple of high profile cases spring to mind where the same thing has happened here.
People wrongly convicted because of shoddy or unseen evidence, evidence that could have proved innocence .
How do you give someone 30 years of their life back?
No amount of money could ever compensate.
Digger said
May 11 6:50 PM, 2022
Will he get compensation?
Maddog said
May 11 7:13 PM, 2022
Digger wrote:
Will he get compensation?
Doubtful.
I think you have to prove the state set him up intentionally..
Radley is well known (not well enough unfortunately) in the US for his defense of civil liberties. His wife, who I wasn't aware of, seems to be cut from the same cloth.
Magica said
May 12 3:59 PM, 2022
the deity known as Maddog wrote:
THREE DECADES AFTER Claude Garrett was accused of committing arson to kill his girlfriend, Lorie Lance, a Tennessee judge vacated his conviction, finding him innocent of murder and opening the door to his release. In an order signed on May 6, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins found that Garrett had made a “clear and convincing” case that if jurors had been aware of new scientific evidence at the time of his trial, they would never have convicted him of setting the 1992 fire that sent him to prison for life.
The order comes one month after an evidentiary hearing in Nashville in which leading fire experts testified that the case against Garrett was based on a rush to judgment, a shoddy investigation, and junk science. The hearing followed a reinvestigation of the case by the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office — spurred by The Intercept’s reporting — which concluded last year that it could no longer stand by its conviction. Lawyers from both the Tennessee Innocence Project and the DA’s Conviction Review Unit subsequently asked Watkins to vacate the conviction in light of new scientific evidence that dismantled the state’s original theory of the crime. “If the state had been armed with the information that we now have,” Conviction Review Unit Director Sunny Eaton told the judge, “we would not have indicted this case.”
People were pretty sure this guy didn't do it for years, but that would involve public officials admitting a mistake was made.
Unfortunately, that's not something they are prone to do.
How many more languish in prison innocent. Innocents were executed aswell. Disgusting.
Maddog said
May 12 4:37 PM, 2022
Magica wrote:
the deity known as the deity known as Maddog wrote:
THREE DECADES AFTER Claude Garrett was accused of committing arson to kill his girlfriend, Lorie Lance, a Tennessee judge vacated his conviction, finding him innocent of murder and opening the door to his release. In an order signed on May 6, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins found that Garrett had made a “clear and convincing” case that if jurors had been aware of new scientific evidence at the time of his trial, they would never have convicted him of setting the 1992 fire that sent him to prison for life.
The order comes one month after an evidentiary hearing in Nashville in which leading fire experts testified that the case against Garrett was based on a rush to judgment, a shoddy investigation, and junk science. The hearing followed a reinvestigation of the case by the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office — spurred by The Intercept’s reporting — which concluded last year that it could no longer stand by its conviction. Lawyers from both the Tennessee Innocence Project and the DA’s Conviction Review Unit subsequently asked Watkins to vacate the conviction in light of new scientific evidence that dismantled the state’s original theory of the crime. “If the state had been armed with the information that we now have,” Conviction Review Unit Director Sunny Eaton told the judge, “we would not have indicted this case.”
THREE DECADES AFTER Claude Garrett was accused of committing arson to kill his girlfriend, Lorie Lance, a Tennessee judge vacated his conviction, finding him innocent of murder and opening the door to his release. In an order signed on May 6, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins found that Garrett had made a “clear and convincing” case that if jurors had been aware of new scientific evidence at the time of his trial, they would never have convicted him of setting the 1992 fire that sent him to prison for life.
The order comes one month after an evidentiary hearing in Nashville in which leading fire experts testified that the case against Garrett was based on a rush to judgment, a shoddy investigation, and junk science. The hearing followed a reinvestigation of the case by the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office — spurred by The Intercept’s reporting — which concluded last year that it could no longer stand by its conviction. Lawyers from both the Tennessee Innocence Project and the DA’s Conviction Review Unit subsequently asked Watkins to vacate the conviction in light of new scientific evidence that dismantled the state’s original theory of the crime. “If the state had been armed with the information that we now have,” Conviction Review Unit Director Sunny Eaton told the judge, “we would not have indicted this case.”
https://theintercept.com/2022/05/07/claude-garrett-murder-arson-conviction-overturned/
More at the link.
People were pretty sure this guy didn't do it for years, but that would involve public officials admitting a mistake was made.
Unfortunately, that's not something they are prone to do.
People wrongly convicted because of shoddy or unseen evidence, evidence that could have proved innocence .
How do you give someone 30 years of their life back?
No amount of money could ever compensate.
Doubtful.
I think you have to prove the state set him up intentionally..
This will be considered more of an "accident"..
How many more languish in prison innocent. Innocents were executed aswell. Disgusting.
We have a system where prosecutors get elected and police chiefs seem "tough on crime" if someone is prosecuted and convicted.
That's different than a system where we are looking for justice.