Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Appeals Court Rejects Compensation for SF man who was declared innocent
Amazing: No "innocent until proved guilty" in the People's Republic of California, it seems
A California appeals court has rejected a claim for $445,000 in state compensation by a San Francisco man whose murder conviction was overturned after he spent nearly 14 years in prison. The Court of Appeal said on Thursday that John Tennison, 35, hadn't met the "heavy burden of proof" needed to prove he was innocent of a 1989 murder, even though a Superior Court judge granted Tennison a finding of factual innocence.
The court said the standard for proving innocence to gain compensation from a state board was different from the standard used when Tennison won the finding of factual innocence in 2003. The court upheld decisions by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board and a Superior Court judge denying Tennison compensation.
A state law allows people who can prove they were innocent of a crime for which they were imprisoned to claim compensation of $100 for each day wrongly spent in prison. The board found in 2004 that evidence in the case was inconsistent and Tennison hadn't proved he was innocent.
Tennison was originally convicted of murdering Roderick Shannon, 18, in a gang-related killing in the Vistacion Valley section of San Francisco on Aug. 19, 1989. Tennison was 17 at the time of the slaying and was tried as an adult in San Francisco Superior Court. Tennison appealed in the federal court system after losing state court appeals. In 2003, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland overturned the conviction on the ground that prosecutors had suppressed five key pieces of evidence that favored his claim of innocence. Tennison was released from prison and later in 2003 obtained a Superior Court declaration of factual innocence.
Daniel Purcell, an attorney for Tennison, said he is considering an appeal to the state Supreme Court. Purcell said, "We're disappointed. We think this process was set up to deny John relief."
Report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)
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1 comment:
You have written an excellent article highlighting a largely hidden problem which poisons the American criminal justice system. I share your concern and outrage that prosecutors who abuse their power (and there are many who do) are rarely exposed and even less frequently punished.
You might be interested in my just published novel, “A Good Conviction,” which features a wrongful conviction in a high profile Central Park murder, brought about by a prosecutor who knew the defendant was actually innocent and hid the exculpatory evidence that would have led to a not guilty verdict.
Several prosecutors and appeals attorneys helped me with the legal aspects of a Brady appeal in New York State, and all of them agreed that what I portrayed was both realistic and all too possible.
Perhaps you know Steve Cohen, the federal prosecutor who had much to do with the overthrow of convictions in the Palladium case in NYC. Steve was an enthusiastic reader of “A Good Conviction,” and he has been helping me promote the book …
… including a back cover blurb from Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder, former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney and first sex crimes prosecutor in the U.S., who wrote …
“A Good Conviction is a well written, well paced, and fascinating tale of prosecutorial abuse in the Manhattan DA's office. Makes one wonder how many other times something like this has occurred and just how high the abuse is actually sanctioned.”
Dan Slepian, who produced several critically important TV shows about the Palladium case, has written ...
“Having spent countless hours working with detectives, courts, attorneys, and wrongly convicted inmates I was most impressed with how well researched and accurate your narrative was. You really nailed it. In addition, it was a great read.”
I also refer in “A Good Conviction” to the brilliant series done some time ago by the Chicago Tribune, Trial and Error, How Prosecutors Sacrifice Justice to Win, and Maurice Possley, one of the authors, is reading my book and has promised a comment.
You can find A Good Conviction at ...
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Conviction-Lewis-M-Weinstein/dp/1595941622/ref=sr_1_1/103-7341421-1865416?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180587686&sr=8-1
or at my blog …
http://www.agoodconviction.wordpress.com
I'd like to hear from you about whether you think “A Good Conviction” has value in further publicizing the problem of bad prosecutors and the damage they too often do to innocent defendants.
LEW WEINSTEIN
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