Being in prison for 18 years. Someone else has your job – your life while your stuck sitting behind bars and nobody will believe you when you say you are innocent. You did not commit the crime that put you in prison. New technology becomes available and they can prove that you didn’t do it. The DNA test sets you free but your life did stop for the last 18 years the people you loved may have moved on and you need to get a new job.
Mr. Dwane Dail experience just that. He was in jail for 18 years for a false child rape conviction. DNA annalists was used to prove that Mr. Dail was innocent. He was released form prison last August.
How unfair is that? 18 years wasted… This is making legislatures think about adding new laws for the way cases are handled. And about the way eyewitnesses are treated. Mr. Dail and others in his situation have the option to hold a civil suit but what good will that do? There will be much time spent in court and how much money is enough? People will argue it’s way over the top far too much money but can anybody really put a price tag on 18 years?
What do you think? How much is enough and how would you feel if you were in Mr. Dail’s shoes.
***information from New York Times article “Exoneration Using DNA Brings Change in Legal System”
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Can you imagine the stigma that held for him?? For so long, and then just now to be freed...it's crazy. It's really sick. But I don't think anyone intentionally misleads cases...or that could be just me being naive. DNA is a wonderful thing.