Prevalence of False Confessions in the US

By Supporter Contributor Carli Leavitt In 2010, Stephen Brodie, who is deaf, was exonerated after serving 20 years in prison for child sex abuse. The 5-year-old victim explained that her attacker had a “strange voice” which eventually lead police to Brodie. He was interrogated for over 18 hours, oftentimes without a sign language interpreter present.

Coping With Innocence After Death Row

By Marsha Graham The following embedded PDF written by by Saundra D. Westervelt and Kimberly J. Cook, examines the struggles of exonerated inmates, as they attempt to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. [scribd id=137765917 key=key-144nimprbujdqbyovbs5 mode=scroll] Marsha Graham is the driving force behind several blogs, among them AnotherBoomerBlog. She is a good

Texas SC to Study Wrongful Convictions

By BitcoDavid The envelope, Please. And the winner of the coveted Wrongie Award goes to the great state of Texas. In the past 25 years, 117 Texans have been exonerated, and Justice Wallace Jefferson of the state’s Supreme Court, wants to know why. According to the NYT, Jefferson is establishing a committee to investigate wrongful

Eighth and Final Chapter in the Felix Garcia Video Series

By BitcoDavid Here, at long last is chapter 8 in our video interview series with innocent Deaf inmate, Felix Garcia. Those of you who have followed us on this journey know that Felix has served 30 years – so far – for a crime he didn’t commit. DeafInPrison.com is one among many who have worked

Proof of False Confession and DNA Testing Lead to Freeing of Innocent Death-Row Inmate in LA

“I was hungry. All I wanted to do was sleep, and I was willing to tell them anything they wanted me to tell them if it would get me out of that interrogation room.” This is was Damon Thibodeaux statement about his nine-hour interrogation on July 21, 1996 that resulted in his false confession to

County Jails vs. Prison from a Paralegal Perspective

I was asked by BitcoDavid to give my impressions of jail and prison as a paralegal. From 1993 to the end of 2006, I have spent a lot of my time either going into a prison or a jail. I hear many confuse the word jail when they mean prison so let me clarify the

Deaf Couple Sue Over Treatment by Officers

They need policies and procedures for folks who are deaf. People just assume that a deaf person understands what they are saying. Kevin Williams, an attorney for Timothy Siaki [Editor’s note: The following is a transcribed article by Monte Whaley of the Denver Post – dated 11/26/2011.] When Adams County sheriff’s deputies knocked down the

A Word About Our Author’s Pages

As you look at the top of our scroll page, you’ll see a series of tabs, bearing the names of our valued and esteemed contributors. These pages are used by our authors as a place to write about those issues that concern them – not necessarily related to the issue of the Deaf behind bars.