Miscarriage Of Justice by Bruce A Borders Read Free Book Online Page B

uncertainties only added to the anger and frustration Ethan felt at being locked up for something he hadn’t done. This Machiavellian D.A. had not only taken his freedom, but everything he possessed, both physically and emotionally, knowing all along she had the wrong guy! And for what? A feather in her cap? The respect and praise of her colleagues? Just so she could chalk up another victory? Didn’t the truth matter at all? Or was the truth simply an annoying nuisance?
    Through subsequent research, Ethan discovered his case wasn’t all that unusual. Similar circumstances happened quite frequently in fact. Perusing the limited resources in the prison library, he found a book, Guilty Or Not, Here They Come , which substantiated the practice. Written by an attorney, a former prosecutor; the volume exposed the reprehensible conduct and the sinister motives behind it. Ethan was astonished by the results of a poll in which eighty-five percent of District Attorneys questioned, readily admitted that the guilt or innocence of a defendant was not at all important. Their only concern in any trial was whether they could get a conviction. A positive win/loss ratio for their career being the bottom line.
    In addition, the lack of ethics wasn’t limited to District Attorneys the book claimed; most other attorneys felt the same. The better their winning percentage, the more work they were able to procure and the more esteemed and lauded they became. Ultimately, this allowed them to charge higher rates for their services.
    Though a District Attorney’s salary was set and paid by the county, via tax revenue, they routinely received kickbacks, bonuses and payoffs, along with many other perks. And as always, they were preparing for the day when they may no longer be in their current position. A good win/loss record then became a very valuable asset, increasing their net worth to potential clients. Money and power. That’s what it all boiled down to. Justice was somehow forgotten.
    An even more appalling report revealed that sixty-three percent of District Attorneys in America would continue to prosecute a case, even knowing that the defendant was not guilty, if they were reasonably sure they could emerge with a victory. So much for truth and justice. Apparently, this was the new American way.
    Ethan could identify with the sentiment and the author’s perspective. He liked the book so well; he copied one excerpt onto a sheet of notebook paper and hung it on his cell wall for inspiration. The passage was the author’s response, regarding the belief that if a guy is or had been in prison, he obviously was a bad individual and guilty of something.
     
“I too was once so naive, thinking prison was a place for only criminals; reserved for those wayward individuals, guilty of crossing a well-defined line between right and wrong. I was grossly mistaken.
The instances are many of good men, law-abiding men, guilty only of the crime of being innocent without proof, who are spending insufferable days behind the confines of those cold stone walls. Conversely, plenty of cases can be cited where men: evil, brutal, and ruthless, cold and calculating, are walking the streets.
These days it seems the more guilty a person is, the less likely it’ll be that they’ll do time, and vice versa. The guilty go free, while the innocent pay dearly. Is the system broken? No. Quite the contrary, it’s fixed. Fixed in prearranged deals between prosecutors and judges, in collusion with defense attorneys, who don’t seem to care if their clients win or lose—as long as they are paid and their career is bolstered.
Barter system justice.”
 
    Later, through more rumors and scattered bits of information, Ethan learned that Mitch was the crazy uncle of Sara Wyman, the victim’s mother. The man’s time in the mental hospital, according to the gossip, was due to having tried to kill the same girl ten years earlier.
    Six months before Natasha Wyman’s gruesome