"I did this awfull crime"

[Tiassa]

Confession of Achim Joseph Marino to the murder of Nancy DePriest, on February 25, 1998.

Gov. Bush's office ignored murder confession (Salon)

Although Bush's office was under no legal obligation to turn over evidence relating to the crime, its failure to do so raises serious questions about the diligence of Texas' highest law enforcement authorities. Austin attorney Bill Allison represents Christopher Ochoa, one of the two young men whom Marino alleges were wrongly convicted for his crime. (The other is Richard Danziger.) According to Allison, Bush's office had a clear obligation after receiving the confession in the mail: "They should have turned it over to law enforcement."

Marino, who has been convicted on three charges of assault with a deadly weapon, felony possession of a firearm and sexual assault, can hardly be held up as a model of virtue. But in the conclusion of his letter to Bush, Marino took a moral position difficult to disagree with: Bush was "morally obligated to contact Dansinger [sic] and Ochoa's attorneys and famalies [sic] concerning this confession."

Let's take a look at what we know:

- A woman (Nancy DePriest) is killed.
- Two people apparently falsely confess to the crime.
- Someone confesses to the crime
- It turns out DNA evidence supports the later confession.
- The Office of George W. Bush, Governor of Texas, did nothing.

Now, I understand the idea that the executive office had no obligation to turn over the information to prosecutors, but there's a couple of things bugging me about that:

- This is most definitely procedurally accurate. File complaints at the District Attorney's; give evidence to the police. A murder confession is no business of the Governor's Office.
- Executive Office aside, does this not constitute citizens withholding evidence from prosecutors--e.g. obstruction of justice?

Bush was always slippery on the crime issue; first he was tough on crime. Then, in the face of backlash for his death-penalty politics, he reminds us that the Governor of Texas isn't in the loop. Of course, we see that even when he was, he wasn't.

I actually forget what I was looking for when I came across this story. I just thought I'd haul it out and dust it off for consideration. One of the men was released after the Salon story turned the case on its head; the other has suffered permanent brain injury resulting from a prison beating. He sure got what he deserved.

Crime and punishment ....

thanx,
Tiassa

 

[Mystech]

Haha, well that's gotta' be the first time I've ever heard a critisizm of Bush saying that he's been too lenient on crime in the past.

 

[Vertigoll]

lol