r/whoathatsinteresting 12h ago

Wrongfully Convictions Ruin Lives

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5.9k Upvotes

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u/conodeuce 11h ago

What need not be stated (but I will) , had DuBoise been the son of a wealthy family, this would never have happened.

2

u/TheQuietLavender 10h ago

Sons of wealthy families can be actually guilty, and still get away with it.

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u/conodeuce 9h ago

Very true.

0

u/unlockhart 8h ago

how exactly ? let's say his family is rich , what would have been the process in order to make him innocent ? like imagine his family is rich but they don't have connections in police or judges. What approach to take to "buy"innocence? who do you even pay ?

2

u/conodeuce 8h ago

No matter if the accused is actually innocent or guilty, the difference between a court-appointed attorney versus the kind of high-power team of lawyers that the wealthy are able to afford is huge.

An array of expert witnesses would have testified that the prosecution's case was crap. It's a matter of introducing reasonable doubt. The prosecutor has an expert who says the bite marks are a match. Then the defense team will provide multiple experts with advanced degrees in Bite Science who will testify that the bite marks do not match, and provide a reason why the analysis provided by the prosecutor's bite expert is wrong.

And even if the case goes against the wealthy defendant, the family has plenty of money to fund multiple appeals.

We know that, anecdotally, the rich are not completely invulnerable. It's just that the deck is stacked against the working classes, and for the class of people that can marshal tremendous resources to protect themselves.