PROVING A NEGETIVE

 So I was watching the replay of yesterday's "Special Report" (FNC) when the OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY segment came on ... in the segment they pop-out/pop-in a few stories in short blurbs from around the nation from Local FoxNews affiliates. 

Today they chose a story from Fox9 in Minneapolis, MN ... actually we get it here too in WI if you are lucky enough to have a deigital antennia, which we do not, thanks to Fmr. President Obama (the alloted amount of possible terms is over, so I'm confortable calling him "former President") ...

The story was about a man who 20 years ago was convicted for a murder -- by a jury trial, but I haven't heard how that jury was made up, no idea of how many men/women, how many from the direct area, nothing about ages, religion, race, etc. - but the trial has nothing to do with the news story ...

iIt was the police line-up procedures of the time ... we are talking 2003 ...

The owner of a neighborhood flower shop was killed - if I remember correctly, it was in or near the store - having been stabbed to death. The police gathered whatever evidence they could, took whatever witness statements there were, and did the detective work.

Not surprising, they found a suspect ... and at least one eyewitness, at least one ... and they set up a line up.

Now you need to know how a line-up works ... and there are a few different types ... I have no idea which one they used for this case.  But they can be a large a "Mug Book" searches to a Photo Array (where photos of simular looking people are placed before a witness, and they chose who they saw) to a Physical Line-up (what you see in the cop shows, bunch of guys standing together - sometimes they talk, most of the time they don't, sometimes there's a 2-way mirror/glass, sometimes there isn't) ... no matter which way it took place ...

It was concidered correct at the time ... but hindsight is 20/20, as they say ...

His family always maintained that he was home in bed at the time of the murder ... they police seemed to have proof otherwise, beyond just the eyewitness testimony.

HOWEVER -- looking back at it now, it has been found that because of a technicallity of the Line Up used ... and that was the ONLY reason given ... he has been let out of prison.

I have not heard if he was in Land O'Lakes Maximum Security prison or not -- but it can not be a very nice place to live, so I'm sure he won't want to go back for any reason.

BUT ... is it right to look back at the way things were done then, with how we see things now?

Don't get me wrong - if they had violated the procedure at the time, then yeah, there's an issue ... but if not, if they are trying to apply modern techniques to an older case, they may run into a bit of a struggle.

The next question is - can the start over again? better yet, should they start over again?

After all, the shop owner's family has hopefully found peace after the conviction - even if the convicted man's family did not - but this is a bit like pulling on a band-aid and taking the scab with it, if you know what I mean.

I pity both families -- the one who lost a loved one to a brutal murder, who thought all the questions had been answered, and are now left to wonder again and re-experience the loss as if it had just happened ... and the family of the man convicted by a jury, sent to prison for 20 years, and now trying to get used to how much things have changed within that time.

Blimy -- what has changed in 20 y3ars?

He must feel like he has landed on a different planet ... so much has changed in 20 years.  

I hope that people realize that he was NOT found Not Guilty -- it was found to simply be a TECHNICAL ISSUE ... so while the man is released ... he is still the same man as before ...

The question is ...

Before what?