In April 2000, 23-year-old Floyd Bledsoe sat in an Oskaloosa, Kansas, courtroom awaiting the verdict in his first-degree murder trial in the death of his 14-year-old sister-in-law, Zetta “Camille” Arfmann. Throughout the trial, he maintained his innocence. But the jury entered the courtroom and declared him guilty.
Bledsoe was sentenced to life in prison plus 16 years, but doubts about his involvement in the murder lingered. The crime scene yielded little physical evidence, and Bledsoe’s brother, Tom, 25, had originally confessed to the murder before recanting and pinning the crime on Floyd.
After years of fruitless court challenges, Bledsoe was vindicated in a gut-wrenching twist: In 2015, Tom Bledsoe confessed to the murder in a suicide note before asphyxiating himself. Within a month, a judge vacated Bledsoe’s conviction and he was released from prison. The day of his release, Bledsoe recalls, was a mixture of celebration and mourning.
“Before I was locked up, I had 40 acres, livestock, a wife and kids,” he said. “When I was released, I had nothing … I lost my family, my job, my reputation — everything.”
Bledsoe found little support as he adjusted to life outside of prison, including from the state that locked him up for more than 15 years. A bill before the Kansas Legislature would make up for part of that by making him eligible for $80,000 for each year he spent behind bars.
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7 comments:
ouch, well if he was a farmer and would get 80K a year what's someone on the dole worth? 10K a year?
If government works like it usually does, the payment will be taxed and he'll come away with about half.
Maybe the state could make the people who presented "evidence" in the form of fake blood test results, false DNA evidence, false and perjured testimony from witnesses, etc, pay him the $80,000.
How much is what he lost worth? A lot more than $80,000.
I'll bet if theses techs and everyone else in the chain of evidence were held ACCOUNTABLE for their work (they ARE, after all, deciding life and death in many cases) there would be a lot less innocent people in prison (and there have been HUNDREDS released --- innocent!!).
The police and States Attorney are constantly whining about holding people "accountable". You know, making sure "we, the people" are responsible for the consequences of our actions. Asking THEM to be accountable for THEIR actions?? Their testimony, their reports, their "evidence" put people IN PRISON. They just get to say "Ooops, sorry" and THAT is supposed to make up for faking evidence that put someone in prison??! Oh yeah. Right. The TAXPAYERS get to bail you out with a chunk of cash.
When the death penalty is used or someone is getting LIFE IN PRISON, the State BETTER be 100%, absolutely, undeniably, without ANY question, correct in the evidence.
After releasing HUNDREDS of people from Death Row, governors across the U.S. were left wondering "how many INNOCENT people have we killed in the name of justice?". Answer? Probably, quite a few.
They wouldn't owe a dime if we used capital punishment like it was originally used. Just look back on the assassins of Pres. Lincoln, Trial, sentenced, and Justice! No 10 years of feeding and babysitting.
11:03...So............if we kill them fast enough, we don't really need to worry about killing the wrong person?
Hey, if a few innocent people have to die to accomplish our goals, well some people need to be sacrificed sometimes.
You sound like a politician.
Over-zealous prosecutors wanting to prove their worth leads to this. Best recent example: Duke lacrosse team
Not only should wrongly convicted people be reimbursed, these prosecutors should go to jail.
Not bad. $80K per year, plus free room and board, clothing, and medical coverage. Nothing to do but lay around morning til night and no bills to pay. I'd say that's not bad compensation for a legal, but unjust verdict. MOST people don't have it that good.
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