The Innocence Project Blog has a great post entitled Two Oklahoma Exonerations - 10 Years Later. This is harrowing truth. I had the opportunity to listen to Greg Wilhoit, another Oklahoma Death Row exoneree, during a cap pun seminar a few years past -- Greg was convicted on the testimony of two so-called experts --
"Expert witnesses for the prosecution ... convinced the jury that a bite mark on the body of his murdered wife came from him. After a two-week trial, he was found guilty of first-degree murder, and the jury recommended the death penalty. Wilhoit suffered on death row for more than four years. His only hope was Mark Barrett, the public defender handling his appeal. Barrett says Wilhoit’s main problem was his first lawyer’s incompetence. 'His lawyer was the town drunk by the time of Wilhoit’s trial,' Barrett [Wilhoit's appellate defender] says. 'Enough of a town drunk that he had wet himself in some court rooms, [and] thrown up in the judge’s chambers.'” [DPIC]
Oklahoma is not unique.
"Expert witnesses for the prosecution ... convinced the jury that a bite mark on the body of his murdered wife came from him. After a two-week trial, he was found guilty of first-degree murder, and the jury recommended the death penalty. Wilhoit suffered on death row for more than four years. His only hope was Mark Barrett, the public defender handling his appeal. Barrett says Wilhoit’s main problem was his first lawyer’s incompetence. 'His lawyer was the town drunk by the time of Wilhoit’s trial,' Barrett [Wilhoit's appellate defender] says. 'Enough of a town drunk that he had wet himself in some court rooms, [and] thrown up in the judge’s chambers.'” [DPIC]
Oklahoma is not unique.
