
This is what it's like for an innocent man to spend thirty years in jail - iuguy
http://www.esquire.com/print-this/ray-towler-profile-0311?page=all
======
grellas
This story reminds me of how little most of know about what it means to
suffer.

I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to be going innocently
about your own business, getting pulled over by a traffic cop, and then
suddenly being hustled off into a hellish pit for nearly 30 years - voiceless,
helpless, and forgotten while being robbed of everything normal in adult life
and while bearing the stigma of child molestor.

We all plan for the perfect lives and then complain when things fall short.
Well, in our sheltered little worlds, we have no idea what it means to get
kicked in the teeth non-stop over the course of a lifetime. This story gives
us just a little glimpse and we can all shudder just thinking about it.

I have nothing but the highest admiration for anyone who could endure all this
and still emerge with the abiding spirit that Mr. Towler now displays. It is a
small miracle that he is not broken, bitter, and vengeful. Let us hope he can
still rebuild his life from its broken fragments.

~~~
ErrantX
As someone who works on investigations into such offences; this weighs on my
mind constantly.

There are perhaps one or two cases (out of several hundred) that still have me
lying awake at night. In deeper moments of reflection I _know_ I made the
right call on them, but I still worry about it, as part of the process of
self-assessment. Sadly I don't always see so much concern in others within the
same field.

Child abuse is one of those horribly amoral crimes that clouds our personnel
opinions, and so often I see prosecutors who simply hate the defendant on a
personnel level. That sort of approach sickens me, it is exactly the sort of
approach that screwed this guy; from the cop to the judge it was the same
problem.

I can't talk for anyone else, but stories like this mean that tomorrow, as
with every day, I make damned sure I am certain of what I find out. To the
extend of putting my own liberty behind what I present. This sort of thing
should be required reading in our field...

~~~
matthiaswh
One thing that has always settled the wrong way with me about television
police shows is that they hardly ever approach this topic. I can only imagine
what it's like to be a prosecutor or a detective and wondering if you caught
the right person. Maybe it's not every case, but as you mentioned, there have
to be those one or two where they just keep you awake some nights.

It probably just doesn't make for good television to dwell on this topic. The
good guy almost always puts away the bad guy and there's no question about it
being the right decision.

I realize cop shows probably portray only a slim resemblance to reality. When
I see a show or movie portraying something to do with computers or nuclear
reactors there's always that feeling of "that's not how it is in real life!"
No doubt, police officers watch the (many, many) shows about their profession
with the same thought. However, like it or not, it's these shows that shape
the average person's perception of law enforcement. It's the only exposure we
get to it, with the exception of maybe being pulled over a handful of times
throughout our lives.

 _Disclaimer: I don't watch any legal shows like Law & Order - maybe they do a
better job with this?_

~~~
danssig
In reality a cops job is to find someone for whom the DA can make a case.
Innocent or guilty doesn't matter as the ability to make charges stick. A
consequence of being driven "by the numbers".

~~~
isleyaardvark
A cops job is to avoid Type II errors or excessive skepticism when
investigating wrongdoing. Juries and judges are around to correct in the other
direction. Prosecutors arguably lie somewhere in between. That's how the
system works and should work. Everybody errs on the side of caution. Cops
don't want to just drop investigations and miss finding evidence on people who
might be guilty. Juries should be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt,
innocence or guilt is their job.

~~~
danssig
You're talking theory, not actual practice. The problem with the system is
that every layer assumes it's the job of some other layer to determine if the
person is actually guilty or not.

e.g. [http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/07/reporter’s-notebook-
re...](http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/07/reporter’s-notebook-reflections-
on-the-jonbenet-ramsey-case/)

~~~
isleyaardvark
Absolutely. My point was it has less to do with the numbers game than the
nature of the cops' jobs.

I'm shocked at the jury in this particular case. Both the bit about the beard
and the alibi didn't create a reasonable doubt? Many are quick to blame the
prosecutors, but those 12 jurors should be ashamed of themselves. There's no
indication that the prosecutors in this case lied or concealed exculpatory
evidence, or that the defense attorney was asleep during the trial.

~~~
danssig
Have you ever served on a jury? I have. It's 12 people who would rather be
somewhere else and will follow what ever the dominate voice says.

------
wisty
They should ban that line "Can you identify the man who did this?"

Original witness statements are the only things that are reliable. After the
victim has identified the "perpetrator" from a line-up, they forget the
original face, and their memories become re-written to include the face they
think is responsible. A friend of mine studying to be a cop knows this (all
cops should know this) but they still persist in using testimony that they
know is unreliable. Can you blame them though? If they didn't use the line, it
would be much harder to get a conviction.

Courts should just read a description, one that was made before the victim (or
interviewing officer) has seen the suspect they dragged in. Or the police
should get a sketch (or computer sketch) of the assailant before anyone
involved has seen any possible suspects.

~~~
citricsquid
The entire damn process should be changed, I sincerely hope these are not
_actual quotes_ because some of these questions are so incredibly leading,
it's ridiculous that they're allowed _especially_ with children involved.

You get a child to admit to anything with the right words and authority,
surely everyone knows this!

~~~
baguasquirrel
The same language used by lawyers and prosecutors are the same words they hear
on TV when the ads roll. Are you surprised?

------
edw519
[Disclaimer: aerospace industry veteran]

When a plane crashes, it is standard procedure to determine exactly what went
wrong, what weaknesses in the "system" enabled what went wrong to go wrong,
what prescription is needed to fix that system, and for the system to be
fixed.

This was a plane crash.

I know this article was about one man, but there's no mention of anything
about fixing what must have been broken in the first place. Sadly, I fear,
because it doesn't exist.

~~~
axiom
Well, the change that prevents this from happening again is DNA evidence.

Definitely the human factors that caused this will still complicate things,
but at least the most egregious kinds of cases can be prevented.

~~~
bugsy
The DNA got him released in the end but it's not the problem with the system
since there are cases with no DNA evidence in which people are wrongfully
convicted the exact same way he was. Here is a summary of what happened. He is
a black. All blacks look alike and are criminals. Therefore he is guilty. This
is what went wrong and needs to be fixed, just as with an airplane that leaks
fuel and isn't detected because of a faulty fuel readout, the answer isn't to
carry more fuel.

Here are some things that are broken.

1\. There is a presumption of guilt.

2\. Prosecutors are interested in their kill ratio, not justice.

3\. Judges are interested in arbitrary exercise of power, not justice.

4\. It is very rare to find a public defender who diligently defends the
interest of the defense. Public defenders work with the prosecution to get the
case through the system.

5\. In some jurisdictions elected judges don't need to have law backgrounds,
or have demonstrated any competence or knowledge of the law.

6\. The prison system is about punishment and exercise of power, not
rehabilitation.

~~~
Sakes
1) Agree: Presumption of guilt is definitely a problem. I would assume we
could blame prejudices, arrogance (over confidence in pre-judging), or
profession apathy for this.

2) Disagree: Prosecutors only caring about their kill ratio is a plus to me.
This is what they should be doing. If they slack in any way because they think
the accused might be innocent they are taking away the power of decision from
the judge or the jury.

3) Wha?: Judges only care about exercising power? This seems like a blanket
statement, like an absolute, which are typically wrong.

4) Agree: I would guess that this is the sad consequence of the talent going
where the money is. In some states lawyers are required to do X amount of pro
bono cases a year. I am sure this helps but maybe there is something else we
could do.

5) ?: Do you have examples of this for Judges that oversee criminal court
proceedings?

6) No opinion here for the prison system.

~~~
pyre

      > 2) Disagree: Prosecutors only caring about their kill ratio is a 
      > plus to me. This is what they should be doing. If they slack in
      > any way because they think the accused might be innocent they
      > are taking away the power of decision from the judge or the jury.
    

What about the prosecutors that do things like test the limits of laws just so
that they can be 'tough on crime.' Example are: prosecuting people under
wiretap laws for filming the police, or prosecuting teenagers as child
pornographers for sending nude images to each other through MMS.

Prosecuting people for filming the police has less to do with 'punishing
criminals' and more to do with political posturing with the police force (i.e.
you rub my back, I'll rub yours).

Prosecuting teens for 'sexting' is more about: 1) looking good with the locals
for being 'tough on crime,' and 2) forcing the prosecutor's morals on other
people (i.e. "I don't think that teens should be sexting, so I'll go all-out
against them to show them that it's wrong, even of the punishment grossly
outweighs the crime.").

    
    
      > 3) Wha?: Judges only care about exercising power?
      > This seems like a blanket statement, like an absolute,
      > which are typically wrong.
    

Read the judges' decision in the teen sexting case in Florida that went to the
state supreme court (I think that it was a state-level case and not a federal-
level case, where Florida was just were the Xth Federal District Court is
located...).

------
RiderOfGiraffes
Similar stories:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2067768>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2067884>

Miscarriages of justice happen. The _real_ crime is that there seems to be no
follow-up, no detailed reports, no proposals for making sure the same mistakes
don't happen again.

That's the tragedy beyond the individual cases. It will happen again, in
exactly the same way, for exactly the same reasons.

~~~
ugh
What gets me about this case is that there was little interest in looking at
new evidence as it became available, even active attempts from the prosecution
to stop the new evidence from being used.

It wouldn’t even be hard for politicians to frame the question of whether DNA
evidence should be tested as often as possible in harsh law and order terms:
For every innocent person in prison, the real perpetrator is running around
free. We want to be damn sure that we locked up the right people!

------
cletus
This reminds me of an episode of the (IMHO excellent) "The Good Wife". In one
episode, it was pointed out that people are much better at identifying and
describing members of their own race, basically the cross-race effect or own
race bias [1].

I'm glad there was finally justice in this matter, even if it was far, far too
late. To Mr Towler's credit, he doesn't seem to be consumed by the obvious
injustice.

The one part missing from the story was any mention of the (other) victim,
Brittany, who would now be in her 40s (if still alive). What were the
circumstances behind her identifying Mr Towler? What are her thoughts on the
matter now?

As must as we can chastise the judge and the prosecutor in this case, there
was an eyewitness account and the alleged perpetrator was identified (albeit
wrongly). How would you react to an accused child rapist on trial?

I wonder what happened to the real perpetrator. I wouldn't be at all surprised
if he is now dead and was probably incarcerated for other attacks.

So this man spent 30 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit. At the other
end of the spectrum, Roman Polanski plied a 13 year old with alcohol, raped
her, absconded to France prior to sentencing [2], remains free and is treated
as a cause celebre somehow hounded even victimized by the authorities.

It's hard not to look at that and see two different justice systems in play.

[1]: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect>

[2]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski_sexual_abuse_cas...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski_sexual_abuse_case)

------
timmyd
In the worlds of William Blackstone

"Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer"

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstones_formulation>

~~~
nazgulnarsil
what about 11?

~~~
pjscott
The general form -- and I forget who first said this -- is "Better that n
guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. Solve for n."

------
cleverjake
On a sadly similar note, there is a really well made documentary called Witch
Hunt (<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1196112/>) in which during the 1970s in
California, multiple children were coerced into accusing their parents of
molestation.

~~~
Duff
The Salem Witch trials are another great example of this phenomena.

------
elptacek
I read a story about Cameron Willingham in the New Yorker a while back:

[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_...](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?printable=true)

There's also an article about him on Wikipedia:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham>

~~~
spacemanaki
That story was incredibly chilling, thank you for reminding me of it. I knew
the feeling I got reading this one on Ray Towler was familiar.

------
jarin
It's scary that something like this could theoretically happen to any of us.

~~~
jbooth
Well, most of us are white. So not really.

~~~
xiaoma
Many white men have also been falsely accused, imprisoned for over a decade
and then released on DNA evidence. If there's anyone that's somewhat protected
from overzealous law enforcement officers, DAs and judges, it probably
wouldn't be a racial group. It would be women.

~~~
dgabriel
Not entirely:
[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/26/48hours/main570187...](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/26/48hours/main570187.shtml)
[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/19/60II/main612675.sh...](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/19/60II/main612675.shtml)
[http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Did-
thes...](http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Did-these-women-
molest-two-girls-908873.php)

I'm sure I can find more evidence, but I'm procrastinating and need to get
back to work.

~~~
xiaoma
The plural of anecdote is not data. Look for statistics relating to
conviction/acquittal rates or rates of DAs deciding not to press charges for
various crimes.

The very worst thing for your odds of getting let go without prosecution or
getting acquitted is being male. Next are being young or black. Being poor,
foreign or unattractive(!) also hurt, but to a lesser degree and less
uniformly.

Obviously a middle-adged white female _can_ be falsely prosecuted, but it's
much rarer than for a random member of the population.

------
nazgulnarsil
one of the problems with the justice system that I rarely see mentioned: the
literacy level of the public has declined to what? an 8th grade level?

You can not tell me that the logic employed in building court cases is at that
level. 12 angry men? In real life there is no juror #8.

~~~
pjscott
Was the literacy level of the public higher in the past? I couldn't find
statistics.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
I had seen a 12th grade level cited, but I don't think the methodology was
rigorous.

------
starpilot
I wonder if the (now 41 year old) victim is aware of all this.

~~~
corin_
I would think it would be impossible for her (and the then-boy) to not be
aware, unless they are now dead.

------
16s
A lot of people look the same to me (unless I know them). They are just faces
in the crowd. Because of this, I'd never swear under oath that I saw a
stranger do something. Unless the person had a very distinct scar or birth
mark or purple hair, etc. that I could vividly recall... honestly I cannot
tell them from the next person.

I think most people are like this, but convince themselves otherwise.

~~~
mhewett
I'm exactly like you. Everyone looks the same to me. But my ex-wife is exactly
the opposite. We once walked into a very crowded baseball game at Candlestick
park looking for a friend who was somewhere in the crowd (we had no idea
where). She found him in less than 30 seconds a quarter of the way around the
stadium. I think most people are somewhere in between these two extremes.

------
corin_
Esquire's not a magazine I'm particularly proud to be a subscriber to, but
articles like this one are what makes it worth while.

They may be a trashy lads mag, masquerading as a high-brow product for upper
class gentlemen, but for stories like this, few publications tell them better.

~~~
zavulon
Couldn't disagree more. They are so far above Maxim, FHM, Men's Fitness and
other trashy magazines that it's not even funny. A lot of times their writing
is absolutely spectacular. In particular, works by Tom Junod, A.J. Jacobs,
David Granger, Chris Jones are always worth checking out.

Here's a link to some of their best stuff:
<http://www.esquire.com/features/page-75/greatest-stories>

And the best thing is, they haven't lost any of their greatness over the last
75+ years - this was one of the best magazine stories I've ever read:
<http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310>

~~~
corin_
I think perhaps I explained my view badly.

Spectacular writing, completely agree, that was the point I tried to make with
"but for stories like this, few publications tell them better", and that's why
I _do_ subscribe to Esquire (both print, UK edition, and iPad, US edition).

However, there is a lot to Esquire magazine that I really don't like, and that
is really very comparable to Maxim, FHM and so on. A few examples:

\- 'Women We Love' (an excuse to show semi-naked pictures)

\- The 'How To...' guides in the middle of the magazine. A couple of examples
currently on their website are "How to Get Some on February 14th" and "How to
Have Sex in the Car" (and even the boring topics like "How to smile" are
generally badly written and fairly pointless).

\- The 'Tough love with Tanya Gold' that appears each month..

And I dislike how much it tends to be aimed at middle/upper class people, from
the adverts to the content. I'm not sure how much of that is because this is
their _actual_ audience, and how much is because their actual audience wants
to feel like they are higher in society than they are. For example, I question
that the people spending £10,000s on a watch are also going to buy a bottle of
£25 whisky, yet you don't see cheap watches advertised, or expensive whisky.
Note that, while it may be cheap whisky, it's still whisky - you won't see
beer advertised by them, that's for poor people!

Ultimately, Esquire mixes trashy with attempted high brow with some superbe
content - and I hope that, like me (and I assume you), there are more readers
who subscribe for the great content than there are who subscribe because they
want FHM-style content while feeling good about themselves. Somehow, I doubt
that's true.

~~~
khafra
Interesting audience--is there a magazine you know of that aims at the
opposite demographic? (I'll take a 1979 Port Ellen and a Casio G-shock any
day).

~~~
corin_
I can't stand cheap plastic watches, but certainly I'd chose a £100-£500 watch
and good scotch over a Rolex and a £30 bottle from the supermarket :)

I've never tried Port Ellen, how is it? Shall add to my list for future
bottles. If I can tempt you away from Islay to Speyside, get yourself a bottle
of Glenrothes some time, even their cheap stuff is surprisingly nice.

~~~
khafra
I do like Camdhu and Tamdhu; I'll have to give Glenrothes a try.

I highly recommend Port Ellen 30; it's the only "ghost whisky" I've tried, but
it certainly invoked a feeling of saudade that such a rich taste will be lost
to history. I'd put the taste somewhere between Talisker and Oban.

------
bwb
Wow powerful story, glad to see DNA testing making a difference in a system
that will always be hit by bias and other problems.

I recommend Truth Machine (book) too, basically a Sci Fi look at if someone
invented a machine that can tell if a person is lieing and how it affects
society...

[http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Machine-James-
Halperin/dp/034541...](http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Machine-James-
Halperin/dp/0345412885)

------
hcurtiss
FWIW, DNA analysis is not, itself, infallible:

[http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727733.500-fallible-...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727733.500-fallible-
dna-evidence-can-mean-prison-or-freedom.html)

------
hellodude129
I love the work of the Innocence Project. I've been a big financial supporter
of them. Please donate if you can.

------
malbs
What I'd like to know is, did they ever find/catch the actual perp?

------
jcampbell1
Not hacker news.

------
maeon3
In cases like these, _all_ of the people responsible for:

A. convicting him on insufficient evidence.

B. failing to free him on sufficient evidence

Need to be brought in and asked for a reason for why this happened. If they
can't come up with a solid reason justifying each action for why this has
occurred, and if they do find a reason, remedies for the failure, then they
have to serve the victims sentence.

When an airliner goes down, bosses and leaders scramble to find a reason to
prevent it from happening again to appease the public, but in a case like
this, a fate far worse than getting injured in an airplane crash, they just
shrug it off and make a vow to be more careful with this kind of thing.

Better 100 guilty men go free than for an innocent man be jailed. The guys who
incarcerated this innocent man better beef up their security systems.
Injustice like this needs to be dealt with, and sadly, never will be. the end.

~~~
haberman
> Better 100 guilty men go free than for an innocent man be jailed.

This is an awful story, but I'm wary of setting up incentives in such a way
that acquittal is the CYA move. People should be held accountable for
preventable errors in either direction, but you don't want to make a
prosecutor personally afraid to pursue prosecution for a case just because of
the possibility that they might be wrong.

~~~
locopati
The possibility of not having sufficient proof is the underlying bedrock of
'innocent until proven guilty'.

------
TheSOB88
I'd love to know the information that's being presented here, but it's
presented in such a lousy and verbose way that I just don't feel like reading
it. Why is it so common for journalism to be faux novelism?

~~~
BrandonM
The guy spent almost 30 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. You
can't spend 5 minutes reading his story. Interesting.

~~~
TheSOB88
I know it sounds deliciously ironic, but I already know the system is fucked
up. But the article didn't really draw me in or give me any clues about why
what _it_ has to say about the subject is relevant to me.

I mean, we all know that dictators are killing people right now. Does that
mean we need to read the stories of their victims' families, and how sad it
is? Every time something like that happens?

------
mdaniel
Thank you, thank you, for posting the print view. One swift backtick and it
was ready to read.

