CA - Bakersfield To Pay 5M$ For Wrongful Conviction

Wudge

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John Stoll is but one of many, many people wrongfully convicted by juries in Bakersfield California. He will receive 5M$ for his 20 years of wrongful imprisonment. Thirty-four other people were similarly wrongfully convicted as part of the exact same witch hunt.

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/59395087.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS220776+02-Apr-2009+BW20090402

[The above link references a movie (documentary) that was released earlier this year entitled "Witch Hunt". I highly recommend watching it.]

Bakersfield specializes in wrongful convictions. It's the only place in America that can meet the state of North Carolina on equally corrupt terms. Sometimes, I suspect they teach each other how to malign and corrupt our system of jurisprudence.

If you want to gain more insight on how justice is conducted in Bakersfield, which is truly pathetic, I recommend reading "Mean Justice" by Edward Humes.
 
Wudge,

The first link didn't have much back story to it but if those people were indeed wrongly convicted there is no amount of money that can give them their lives back. It's sad to know there are people who have been wrongly convicted--that's not how our justice system is supposed to work. I've always believed that there were probably more people who were wrongly convicted in the 70's, 80's and even some in the early 90's before the consistent use of DNA. And, even DNA evidence isn't always the golden ticket to finding a perp. Hopefully the people who have been cleared will be able to readjust to normal society and have a good life from here on out.
 
Wudge,

The first link didn't have much back story to it but if those people were indeed wrongly convicted there is no amount of money that can give them their lives back. It's sad to know there are people who have been wrongly convicted--that's not how our justice system is supposed to work. I've always believed that there were probably more people who were wrongly convicted in the 70's, 80's and even some in the early 90's before the consistent use of DNA. And, even DNA evidence isn't always the golden ticket to finding a perp. Hopefully the people who have been cleared will be able to readjust to normal society and have a good life from here on out.


The 34 people mentioned in the article were all convicted of sexual moletation and/or the like. They were all innocent. The cases against them were nothing more than manufactured lies supported by hysteria. By my measure, Bakersfield's D.A., Ed Jagels, is a mirror image of Mike Nifong, and the people in Bakersfield have long willingly partaken in the D.A.s charades disguised as a trial. For many a moon, Bakersfield has been a place without a soul.

As regards wrongful convictions, 10% to 15% percent of jury verdicts result in wrongful convictons. Juries accept eyewitness identification as sufficient proof, yet it's well established that the accuracy of eyewitness testimony is only around 70% to 75%. Juries accept testimony from jailhouse informants as reliable, yet it's well known that convicts often and easily lie in order to strike a deal with prosecutors that will benefit the convict. Juries listen to and believe LE personnel when it's well known that their testilying is nothing less than rampant and that the manufacturing of inculpatory evidence by LE takes place all across our nation everyday. Similarly, prosecutors knowingly and happily destory and/or hide exculpatory and exonerating evidence so as to improve their win/loss record, including capital murder cases.

Millions are imprisoned today and with jury verdicts delivering infirmed (sick) verdicts (justice) at a rate of 10% to 15%, it's easy to recognize that we have (and have long had) a huge problem. Changes to the rules of evidence in the 70's made it relatively easy to get a conviction based on weak circumstantial evidence. The birth of DNA testing has proven to be wonderful for some, yet it has freed but a very small fraction of the wrongfully convicted.
 
Wonderful post! I was just going to thank it but can only do so once and felt it needed so much more.
DNA has its flaws to and i thought i would post the following link . It brings to light some very interesting questions that should be explored.
People put alot of blind faith in the Justice system. They asume whatever evidence is backed by the court is proof beyond a reasonable doubt and often it isnt ,just laws are in place to keep out the other side of the story.http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:NAN9KC1gRZwJ:articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/20/local/me-dna20+dna+arizona+search&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
 
Thank you for posting this Wudge! I followed the "Lords of Bakersfield" saga for years. I need a refresher, but IIRC, the DA's office was always suspected of prosecuting people to cover up their own nefarious deeds. In other words, anyone who knew too much or said too much about the powerhouse in Bakersfield, could find themselves falsely accused of a crime and end up in prison.

Below is a snip about DA Jagels:
http://ww2.bakersfield.com/2003/lords/stories/jagels_1.asp

If it's true that Stephen Tauzer's relationship with a young drug addict led to his own brutal murder last September, uncomfortable questions could be asked of Kern County's district attorney.
By all accounts, Tauzer went to bat in an unprecedented way for Lance Hillis, giving him money, cars and lodging, and writing letters to judges on Lance's behalf.
Standing watch through it all was Tauzer's boss and longtime friend, Ed Jagels.
How much Jagels knew of Tauzer's relationship with, and efforts on behalf of, Lance Hillis may be of great interest when the murder trial of Lance's father, Chris Hillis, gets under way sometime this year -- perhaps in August, perhaps even later.
 
Here is the link to a special report about the Lords of Bakersfield:

http://ww2.bakersfield.com/2003/lords/

Why we wrote these stories

A conspiracy theory born in the late 1970s and early '80s had become a long-forgotten legend until last September, when the slaying of Assistant District Attorney Stephen M. Tauzer gave new life to speculation about "The Lords of Bakersfield."
We felt this legend and the crimes that spawned it warranted a closer look. We believed readers would find these stories relevant and compelling.
Californian columnist Robert Price and Assistant Managing Editor Lois Henry researched these stories for three months, interviewing more than 100 people and digesting thousands of pages of court transcripts, investigative reports and newspaper articles, resulting in this report.
This Special Report is large -- perhaps too large for some readers. Nonetheless, we believed it was important for us to be as detailed and complete as possible. And because The Californian was part of the story, we felt a particular responsibility to be thorough.
Mike Jenner
Executive editor



The legend of the Lords of Bakersfield
Posted: 01/20/03 03:40:00 PM
The Lords of Bakersfield. Until recently, it was a little remembered local legend, of interest mostly to conspiracy theorists. But in the aftermath of Stephen Tauzer's Sept. 13 murder and the subsequent arrest of his former colleague, Chris Hillis, the legend has resurfaced. Some of the facts of the Tauzer case appear similar to aspects of the Lords legend, which goes like this: For more than a generation, Bakersfield was run by a cadre of men who led double lives. To the public these men were members of the community's most visible institutions, its justice system and the media. But in truth, according to Lords lore, these men -- a sprinkling of county executives, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, even the newspaper's publisher -- were part of a loose-knit, secretive network.
 
These convictions were all part of the "satanic panic" hysteria of the late 1980's. Some "social workers" coaxed many children into "remembering" sexual abuse that never happened. Law Enforcement, DA's and jurors all ended up believing that incredible conspiricies involving dozens of otherwise law-abiding citizens systematically abusing children in bizarre "satanic" ceremonies based soley on the fact that very young children would suddenly "remember" things happening after it was suggested to them that it "might have happened". Some parents have spent as much a 20 years in prison. Most victims have now been released but a few,including some who pled guilty, are still incarcerated. This is a very ugly "era" in American history that happened so recently that many of those involved are still activly "covering it up".
 
Wonderful post! I was just going to thank it but can only do so once and felt it needed so much more.
DNA has its flaws to and i thought i would post the following link . It brings to light some very interesting questions that should be explored.
People put alot of blind faith in the Justice system. They asume whatever evidence is backed by the court is proof beyond a reasonable doubt and often it isnt ,just laws are in place to keep out the other side of the story.http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:NAN9KC1gRZwJ:articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/20/local/me-dna20+dna+arizona+search&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

The average person in America has no idea how incredibly rancid the accuracy of our jury verdicts truly is. A good deal of insight into this horrendous problem can be gained simply by examining capital murder cases at a macro level.

In 1976, America reinstated the death penalty. From 1976 to date, 1173 people have been executed. From 1976 to date, 130 people who received a death sentence have been exonerated and released from death row. This horrendous ratio of executions to exonerations speaks for itself.

Still, people might better pick-up on the depth of our trial-by-jury problem by recognizing that in trials where the defendant received the death penalty, not only was "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" required but there was also to be "no lingering doubt".

Net, juries had no lingering doubt that the defendant deserved to die, yet in those no lingering doubt cases there have been 130 exonerations. Our jury verdict accuracy is nothing less than ghoulish.
 
A while back, I was on a jury on a shoplifting case involving less than $5.00. Everyone on the jury agreed that the woman was "probably" guilty but the burden of proof was not met, so we, correctly, acquitted her. Had this case involved the murder of a child, there is no question we would have convicted with the same level of "reasonable doubt". The problem with DP cases is that the crimes are generally "heinous" and jurors are going to be very reluctant to acquit if there is a "chance" the defendant is guity. In cases like this, a Judge is supposed to give a "directed verdict" but they often have careers to look out for and re-electiontions to worry about. The classic case is that of the West Memphis 3. I challenge anyone to argue that the evidence presented was sufficient to establish guilt "beyond all reasonable doubt".

The bottom line on this is that Death Penalty cases are particularly suseptable to false convictions because jurors will tend to apply a "lower standard" of proof the more "heinous" the crime.
 
Crusading Calif. D.A. retires, leaves painful wake

The molesters drank blood, the children said, and hung them from hooks after forcing them to have sex with their parents. They murdered babies, prosecutors told jurors, and snapped photographs as the horror unfolded.



Ed Jagels, renowned as one of California's toughest district attorneys, built his career on the Kern County child molestation cases of the 1980s, putting more than two dozen men and women behind bars to serve decades-long sentences for abusing children.
Appellate judges now say most of those crimes never happened.

More at link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/11/14/national/a100107S97.DTL
 
Crusading Calif. D.A. retires, leaves painful wake

The molesters drank blood, the children said, and hung them from hooks after forcing them to have sex with their parents. They murdered babies, prosecutors told jurors, and snapped photographs as the horror unfolded.



Ed Jagels, renowned as one of California's toughest district attorneys, built his career on the Kern County child molestation cases of the 1980s, putting more than two dozen men and women behind bars to serve decades-long sentences for abusing children.
Appellate judges now say most of those crimes never happened.

More at link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/11/14/national/a100107S97.DTL

It's a scum filled office. Still, this is a start.
 
These convictions were all part of the "satanic panic" hysteria of the late 1980's. Some "social workers" coaxed many children into "remembering" sexual abuse that never happened. Law Enforcement, DA's and jurors all ended up believing that incredible conspiricies involving dozens of otherwise law-abiding citizens systematically abusing children in bizarre "satanic" ceremonies based soley on the fact that very young children would suddenly "remember" things happening after it was suggested to them that it "might have happened". Some parents have spent as much a 20 years in prison. Most victims have now been released but a few,including some who pled guilty, are still incarcerated. This is a very ugly "era" in American history that happened so recently that many of those involved are still activly "covering it up".

I remember watching a video of a social worker interrogating a very young child, and to the social worker's dismay the child is insistent that he has never been abused. The social worker has a anatomically correct doll, and wants the young boy to point to where the day care workers touched him. He points to the doll's head, back and arms. Social worker is getting more and more exasperated......"Are you SURE they didn't touch you 'here' and 'here'?" There are cookies on the table and the little boy wants a cookie, but she says "Not til you tell me what happened." He finally catches on that she wants him to say he was touched 'here' and 'here' so he does, and the woman hands him some cookies.

Wonderful truth finding techniques were used, weren't they?

The children's stories became more and more bizarre. They told LE and social workers that they'd seen babies being slaughtered, that there was a private room underneath the day care where they were abused, that the day care had had parties and invited numerous government officials, family members of the children and even law enforcement officers to come and abuse the kids. Kids said the whole abuse sessions were videoed or photographed. No dead babies were found, there was no underground room, no videos/pics. ever were found. No way do I believe that prosecutors truly believed that all the children's induced claims were real. They just picked and chose what "facts" they would believe and what "facts" were just "kids' imaginations."

What a travesty of justice.
 

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