patrick swiney - an injustice in alabama

Keep your fight up Sherry and Patrick!! There are many thousands around the world who know and believe in this fight for justice.

I am proud to know you and be your friend.

Patrick Swiney is Innocent!! people of Alabama wake up and see what is happening in YOUR names.

The twilight zone, that is the only way you can describe living in Alabama and seeing what the judicial system is doing to its very own citizens. Why they would condone the incarceration of someone innocent is total insanity. It is so difficult to imagine how human beings can put their political aspirations above what is right. Patrick is innocent, it takes no degree in law to see that.......read the case, and like many others in Alabama, you will see HE IS INNOCENT and should have his day in court to prove that fact. WAKE UP ALABAMA.......don't just sit there do something! Don't let this man die in prison for something he did not do.

I would like to shout a loud AMEN to what the member of Patrick Swiney's defense team wrote. As one of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices state, innocence can come too late, never mind evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, DNA testing not available at the time of trial etc. It comes too late and as long as we do not speak out we are part of this injustice!
Esther Brown
Executive Director
Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, Alabama

This is a terrible injustice and it makes me very sad that we even see cases like Patrick's in a so-called civilised, powerful nation... Please let me know if there's anything at all I can do to help. I'm thinking of Patrick and his family...
Warmest wishes,
Mandy Kokani
www.friends4lifers.com

My heart goes out for Sherry and her husband. I have never met Sherry personally, but we have been in almost constant contact via e-mail for over 6 months now. When I contacted Sherry first through her website, I showered her with my problems and she was always there for me despite her own overwhelming problems. She always had an encouraging attitude and good advice to give. I have turned to other organizations here in Alabama about the abuse that my youngest son, as well as numerous other inmates had to suffer from the hands of lawenforcement, as well as jail guards, in Russell County Jail on Nov. 9, 2005, and only got empty promises and lies. Despite evidence that I have and documentation from the jail doctor about my son's injuries, despite a lot of influential people in the judicial system here in Phenix City knowing what was going on, despite all of that and more, nothing has been done to bring to justice the ones that believe that they can just do "whatever they want to with inmates" (innocent or convicted of a crime). My son told me afterwards: "Mom, I did not know if I would make it out here (Russell County Jail) alive!" Well, so far my son is alive, he is not at that jail anymore but, of course, still in prison. Benton was not that fortunate. He was one of the inmates that got beaten and stripped naked that night and numerous others got too. They were not able to contact their families or write statements. Only two statements made it out of this jail. Unfortunately, not enough for the authorities to conduct a thorough and unbias investigation!? Only if people that know about these horrible things are coming forward and testifying to the horrendous occurences will there be any hope for positive changes. My life and the lives of my loved ones are on the line too. These people know where I live, but I would not be able to live with my conscience knowing that not only my son's human rights have been violated but also that of numerous others that have not even gotten their trial yet. The world is full enough of crime, why add to it and make it even harder on the people that truly care about their community as lawenforcement officer, prison guards, judges, lawyers, etc. Why make it almost impossible to trust the people that are supposed to uphold the law. Thanks again Sherry for caring and for being there for me when I needed it most! My prayers will be with you and your husband always!(I wrote a comment already, but for whatever reason ist did not show)

Land of the Free, home of the the Brave. BRAVE? FREE? If America was FREE and BRAVE, people would not have to resort to posting on these forums. One of the saddest facts - on the Springfield, Missouri Forum there is a posting from a murder victim's family member - which has been basically IGNORED by the people who live in their area. But they'e been quick enough to post on the subject of 'Gay Fostering' to shout, and hurl abuse at each other. MORAL COWARDICE.

The same MORAL COWARDICE that applies to this case, and every other case in EVERY country that people prefer to turn a blnd eye to, because it makes them uncomfortable, and they think it doesnt affect them. One day - it may just well do.

Come on America - do what you used to do. Show us the spirit that you showed during WW2. FIGHT BACK - or go under. You are worth more - you can DO more - FIGHT BACK.

I'm not very good at legal terms, but would like to know more about Patrick and the whole story. Can you please explain to me what happened,and where Patrick and his wife stand, in the legal situation? How ill is he? Was he a bad cop, or a good cop wanting to expose bad cops? I've looked at the website, and something looks pretty wrong here.

Clearly, Patrick Swiney is a political prisoner. The overwhelming evidence is that forensically, he could not have committed these murders, but the state maintains his guilt because it can't afford to expose the truth, so Patrick remains in prison in Alabama.
This appalls me as all injustice does. To free Patrick, log onto the 7th edition of my e-zine, which is located at the icon that says Magazine, and make a copy of the page that says Demands for the Government, and send it to the Speaker of the House in Washington D.C. Ask your friends to do so also. If you live outside of Alabama, boycott it for tourism and any products that it produces until Patrick is freed.
Peace,
Arlene Johnson
Publisher/Author
http://www.truedemocracy.net the home of The Journal of History

That is really appalling. We have cases of Injustice over here, but since reading your website, I started to look at some of the other websites as well, and came across this. This is really bad, does the average American on the street know how corrupt the system is?

http://www.publicintegrity.org/pm/default.asp...

Special Report

Harmful Error: Investigating America's Local Prosecutors

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2003 — Since 1970, individual judges and appellate court panels cited prosecutorial misconduct as a factor when dismissing charges at trial, reversing convictions or reducing sentences in at least 2,012 cases, a three-year investigation by the Center for Public Integrity has found.

Sometimes the consequences are severe. In 28 cases, involving 32 separate defendants, misconduct by prosecutors led to the conviction of innocent individuals who were later exonerated, the Center found. Innocent men and women were convicted of serious charges, including murder, rape and kidnapping and assault.
Guilty defendants have also had their convictions overturned. Sometimes those defendants cannot be retried because of double jeopardy rules and are placed back on the streets of the community.
A team of 21 researchers, writers and editors analyzed 11,452 cases in which charges of prosecutorial misconduct were reviewed by appellate court judges. In the majority of cases, the allegation of misconduct was ruled harmless error or was not addressed by the appellate judges, and the conviction stood.

FULL REPORT
  Read the full report. Check out prosecutors. Search the database. See Harmful Error

Because of the relative rarity of reversals, any prosecutor who has more than one reversal to his or her credit belongs to a select club. These prosecutors give recidivism—a word usually used to describe those they work to put behind bars—a disturbing new meaning.

In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Carmen Marino, who served for 30 years as a prosecutor before retiring in 2002, won five convictions that were overturned by the Ohio appellate courts. Appellate judges have ruled that Montgomery County, Ala., District Attorney Ellen Brooks' discriminatory tactics deprived defendants of fair trials four times since she began prosecuting in 1977. Former Hinds County, Miss., District Attorney Edward Peters was involved in six cases in which judges ruled that his conduct prejudiced a defendant.

Center researchers compiled state-by-state summaries, tracking misconduct across the nation:

Of the 523 cases in which Pennsylvania defendants alleged misconduct, 287 were in Philadelphia. Judges reversed or remanded the conviction, sentence or indictment in 41 cases tried in the City of Brotherly Love.

In 35 of the 120 North Carolina appeals which Center researchers studied, defendants pointed to Biblical references made by prosecutors as grounds for reversal.

Appellate judges in ALABAMA cited discrimination in jury selection in 45 percent of the convictions they reversed.

The Hennepin County District Attorney's office, which covers the Minneapolis area, was responsible for 88 of the 240 Minnesota criminal cases in which defendants alleged misconduct on appeal. In 12 of the cases, judges reversed or remanded the conviction, sentence or indictment because of the prosecutor's conduct.
 
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The study also tracks the influence that the top prosecutor in a jurisdiction, elected in some, appointed in others, can have on an office.

Since 1990—the year Walworth County, Wis., District Attorney Phillip Koss was elected to office—there have been at least 27 appellate decisions addressing alleged prosecutorial error. In the 20 years before that, there were three. In 12 of those 27 cases, judges ruled that the prosecutor's conduct required reversing the defendant's conviction.

In San Diego, the office of district attorney has been held by prosecutors who have attempted to make the office more accountable. Yet appellate judges ruled on allegations of prosecutorial error or misconduct allegations in 45 San Diego County cases, of which 8 led to reversals, dismissals or acquittals. Of the 2,341 jurisdictions the Center researched, San Diego stood out for the attempts its top prosecutors made to do things differently.

Perhaps a reflection of their success lies in the fact that the citizenry of San Diego County became so educated about prosecutorial misconduct that when it did occur, they were ready to hold the district attorney responsible and vote him out of office, no matter his accomplishments or intentions.

Front line prosecutors
In most jurisdictions, at least 95 percent of the cases that pour in from the police never reach a jury, which means any misconduct occurs away from public view. The only trial those defendants receive takes place in the prosecutor's office; the prosecutor becomes the judge and the jury. The prosecutor is the de facto law after an arrest, deciding whether to charge the suspect with committing a crime, what charge to file from a range of possibilities, whether to offer a pre-trial deal, and, if so, the terms of the deal.

The Center's investigation tracked career prosecutors, and found some who repeatedly broke the rules:

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals has addressed Walworth County Assistant District Attorney Diane Resch's conduct at least ten times. In half of those appeals, judges ruled that her conduct warranted reversing the defendant's conviction. Three of those reversals, which included various constitutional violations, were child sex abuse cases.

Missouri judges cited Nels C. Moss Jr,. a St. Louis prosecutor, for misconduct in at least 24 cases, yet Moss never faced a disciplinary action during the more than three decades he has been a prosecutor. Over the course of his career, Moss failed to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to the defense before trial; reneged during trial on a pre-trial stipulation with the defense; called the jury's attention to the defendant's failure to testify, thereby compromising the Fifth Amendment rights of the accused; alluded to the defendant's prior criminal record, a violation of the rules of evidence; attacked the character of the defendant with information not in the court record; used inadmissible material from a separate trial of an accomplice; promised during jury selection or opening argument to present testimony never offered; attacked the truthfulness of defense counsel; cast aspersions on the integrity of an insanity defense; and inflamed jurors' passions during closing argument.

The repeated offenses of John Zimmermann, a Nashville prosecutor, led his colleagues, including former state attorneys general and U.S. attorneys, to document his misconduct in a brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court last year on behalf of a death row inmate, Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman, whom Zimmermann had convicted.

Center researchers studied the conduct of local prosecutors, trying to understand their actions within the context of a very difficult job. They analyzed every accessible state appellate court opinion, trial court ruling and state bar disciplinary filing back to 1970 addressing allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Researchers supplemented these findings with additional cases not reported in court records but available through media accounts or learned of through interviews and correspondence with journalists, inmates, defense lawyers, state bar disciplinary counsel, judges and other sources.

The case citations are available in a searchable, online database, along with summaries tracking misconduct in each of the 50 states.

I want to show my solidarity to this case and for the fight in favor of those innocent people that are abused, mistreated, and forgotten by people and for the system. I do respect this fight and I up hold all the warriors of this battle in high regards.

Hello, I run an educational death penalty site , The Abolishment Movement. 122 inmates have been found innocent on death row. If this can happen in a Capital punishment case, it surely happens all the time. Patrick is a good example of that.
Patrick should be released, and senyt home to his family. He has health problems, and should be home where he can seek the care he needs. Too many innocent in prison.
Dee

http://theabolishmentmovement.org/

Patricks case, another typical and outstanding case of injustice in a civilized nation with highest prisoner rate opens serious doubts about folk’s essential organ. Obviously more interested in JAILS, PRISONS, BONDS: Research explaining how living souls are made prisoners for the making of Billions of Dollars for the slave making Governments and their Banking henchmen through incarcerations.(http://www.wealth4freedom.com/money/jail-bond... )
Or: "BOOM OR BUST: The High Cost of Running a Prison Nation"
(http://www.fplao.org/RunningaPrisonNation.htm... )
And:...the Halliburton company has secured a $385 million no-bid contract to build new large-scale detention center in case of an “emergency influx” of immigrants.( http://www.claremoreprogress.com/archive/arti... )
If we shall not assume a simple reason the justice was made fulfilling criminal interests of state’s wrongdoing. Named higher priorities comparable to Guantanamo and other international acts.

I have been aware of the ijustices surrounding Patrick Sweeneys case now for years. My question and heartfelt hope is that this injustice will be recused. The world needs to know about this travesty & tragedy. My support & solidarity always....

No-one seems to take any notice of Wrongful Convictions - the general belief is that someone is just desperate to get their loved one out of prison, or that it's a rarity. It's FAR from a rarity. This being the case, feel obliged to post YET ANOTHER wrongful conviction on this forum.

June 22, 2006, 11:54PM
'In a lot of ways, I still am suffering'

Years after being exonerated in rape, capture of suspect is a step in Josiah Sutton's progress

By ROMA KHANNA
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Josiah Sutton is late, but not because of the complications that so
often have disrupted life for this exonerated man in the three years since he was released from prison: unpaid parking tickets and cell phone bills or the transience of sleeping on a different friend's couch week after week.
Instead, Thursday, Sutton arrived late at his mother's apartment for a reason most mundane, even responsible.
"I'm sorry, the Laundromat was busy," he said, unloading armfuls of
clean clothes from the backseat of his car. "I needed to get this done."
For Sutton, 24, life after exoneration wavers between responsibility and immaturity, forgiveness and anger. His thoughts even vacillate on the recent arrest of a suspect in the 1998 rape for which he served more than four years.

"In one way, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt that was not given to me," Sutton said standing in the living room of his mother's apartment, where he stays when not with friends.
"In another way, I had to suffer for him and, in a lot of ways, I
still am suffering."

Still unsettled
Sutton teeters between embracing an existence as an adult and
indulging in irresponsibility.
He gave his mother and daughter a portion of the $60,000 the state
paid him last year, but he squandered the rest in six months, buying three cars and partying.
Sutton is in contact with people interested in building an
organization to help others wrongfully convicted, but he also dreams of making it as a music producer.
Sutton was 16 when he was arrested in the 1998 rape of a Houston
woman who was taken from her apartment complex at gunpoint, raped by two men and dumped in a Fort Bend County field.

The woman thought she recognized Sutton when she saw him walking down the street five days after the attack. He was convicted the next year largely on the weight of testimony from a former analyst at the Houston Police Department crime lab who told jurors that DNA tests performed on samples from the attack were an "exact match" for Sutton's DNA profile.

Open but inactive
Sutton was serving a 25-year sentence when his case received new
scrutiny in early 2002 amid concerns about the accuracy of tests
performed by the HPD crime lab.
A growing forensic scandal cast doubt on evidence in thousands of
cases and prompted prosecutors to order new tests on hundreds that
included DNA evidence processed by HPD analysts, including Sutton's.
New tests performed in March 2002 excluded Sutton as a suspect in the
case. He was released from prison, pardoned the next year and deemed
eligible for more than $118,000 in reparations from the state — the
first installment of which he received last year.
Although the new tests identified the DNA profile of one suspect and
gave clues about the identify of the second, police had few leads.
The case remained open but inactive until May, when a DNA database
maintained by the state Department of Public Safety found that the
DNA profile taken from a convicted felon, Donnie Lamon Young, matched
the evidence from the crime scene.
Young was arrested last week and charged with aggravated sexual assault.
Learning and rebuilding
Sutton said he has no curiosity about Young and will not attend his
trial.
"Let's just say, if he's the one who did it, that I don't think we
would be two good people to put in a room together," Sutton said.
Instead, Sutton said, he would like to focus on continuing to rebuild
his life and learning to be a responsible adult.
"It's still a daily challenge for me," he said.
Sutton had a harsh lesson in accountability and "frightening"
reminder of his years of incarceration earlier this month when an
unpaid traffic ticket turned into a warrant and he spent about 30
hours in jail.
"I can't even tell you about the flashbacks I had," he said. "It is
the last place I ever want to be — even for a parking ticket."
Sutton is focusing on how he will spend the final installment of his
state reparations, scheduled to arrive in September.
"I am going to make better decisions this time and start a business
or find a way to make the money grow," he said. "I don't regret the
way I spent it the last time — it was a learning experience and I
have grown up."
roma.khanna@chron.com
This article is: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropoli...
3994747.html
__._,_.___

MESSAGE TO JOE PUBLIC wrote:

No-one seems to take any notice of Wrongful Convictions --

You are so right. Finality of judgment is more important to the State than due process and the rule of law.

www.patrickswiney.com

That due process and justice are "bumped" for the sole reason of imposing judgment defiles the spirit of the concept of justice as defined by this country's Founding Fathers. Even in government, discretion is valor.

A review of the record indicates due process in the case of Patrick Sweeney has been sacrificed to "expediency." The constitutional problems aside, the "judgement" in this case, if indeed factually incorrect, cannot be remedied after sentence as been carried out.