An interesting perspective on the Deskovic case from a story in Maine's Portland Press Herald this morning.
It's about an anti-death penalty activist up there who heard from Deskovic five years ago -- which would be 2001 -- and began working on his case. Her efforts are being credited with leading to the Innocence Project, and from there to Deskovic's release this year.
What's interesting is that Pirro is catching flack for blowing Deskovic off in the mid-1990s -- we haven't seen the correspondence yet, but Deskovic seems to think it was 1997. But when this woman in Maine heard from him in 2001, she began asking around among her contacts in the advocacy arena. Here's what the Press Herald writes:
" When she mentioned his name to fellow activists, they just shrugged, she said. 'Oh yeah, Deskovic. He has written to all of us. There is nothing to be done with the case,' she said they told her."
So, apparently Pirro had company in blowing him off -- even among activists committed to advocating innocence claims. The Innocence Project itself had said it couldn't help in 1994, the story reports.
Comments (3)
If Andrew Cuomo is going to use this Deskovic case against Jeanine Pirro, then someone should ask him whether he is also criticizing his supposed mentor, Robert Morgenthau.
Remember the Central Park Jogger case? Like Deskovic, this was also a 1989 crime with a 1990 conviction. This case also had DNA evidence that didn't match any of the defendants. It also involved convicted defendants who were proclaiming their innocence.
So, when did DA Morgenthau submit that unmatched DNA to the State Databank? Never. [And Matias Reyes, the convicted murderer and rapist whom that DNA eventually matched, was in prison from 1991 on, and because he was a convicted rapist, would have been one of the first inmates to have to submit DNA into the databank.]
In fact, Morgenthau did nothing on the case until Reyes came forward and confessed in 2002. Only then was a one-on-one DNA comparison done.
What Morgenthau didn't do isn't any different from what Pirro didn't do. If the Innocence Project had asked either of them to put that unmatched DNA into the State Databank before someone had confessed, I'm sure both would have done so. You can't really blame either of them for failing to remember, when the Databank finally went into operation, that they had some DNA in an old case that never matched up. [And in Pirro's case, the old case wasn't even hers.]
Andrew Cuomo, on the other hand, can be faulted for the hypocrisy of accusing his opponent of failing to do something, and not making a similar charge against his old boss.
Interesting article from Portland. More than anything, it made me wonder why an artist in Maine was diggiing into his case and investigating it, instead of the sitting DA in the county (Pirro) asking one of her staff to look into it.
Well, I will tell what the difference between Morgantheau and his protege Andrew Cuomo is compared to Pirro. Simplym both Morgantheau and Pirro are vehement opponents of the death penalty. Granted, that doesn't excuse Morgantheau from not permitting DNA testing of the Central Park joggers. On the other hand, Jeanine Pirro is an unabashed staunch supporter of the death penalty. Life imprisonment is no picnic but both Deskovic and the falsely accused youths in the Central Park jogger rape got out of prison alive albeit much older and certainly after a harrowing unforgivable experience. If Pirro had her way, Deskovic could possibly be dead just like Martin Tankleff right here in Suffolk County. Marty was falsely accused of murdering his own parents 18 years ago and wrongfully convicted over 16 years ago. If the death penalty had been available as Pirro so much wants, Marty would be dead by now despite his obvious innocence. Then Judge Tisch (now former Sheriff, as well) and DA Thomas Spota would have nothing to worry about because no one ever revisits executions to determine if an innocenct person was put to death. Dead men tell no tales. It is of small consolation to Deskovic, the Central Park Jogger falsely convicted rapists and Marty. Much of their lives were lost. However, they still have some life left. At least, Deskovic and Tankleff probably wouldn't have any left if the death penalty (as supported by Pirro but not by either Cuomo or Morgantheau) were the law at the time of their original convictions. That is why NYS should not reinstate the death penalty. Mistakes are fatal and not possible to reverse. Dead men tell no tales.