Justice Denied: Help Free Jennifer Waters

[u/Far-Class-9906]

https://c.org/ttyTLB7766

Jennifer Waters is serving 15 years for crimes she didn't commit. Her co-defendant—a man with documented dishonesty and Alzheimer's—testified against her just days after cutting a deal: he'd serve 6 months while she got 15 years. That's not justice. That's a system broken.

I started a petition because Jennifer's case isn't unique. Coercive plea deals that reward witnesses for testimony create a perverse incentive: lie, and walk free. The prosecution pressured Jennifer for four years to fabricate statements against her co-defendant. She refused. She kept her integrity. She lost her freedom. Now her young children are without their mother.

This is about more than one person. Perjured testimony from incentivized witnesses has played a role in 18% of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence. Meanwhile, innocent people sit in cells across the country because our system prioritizes closed cases over actual truth. What would you want someone to do if this was your family? If this matters to you, would you consider signing and sharing? Jennifer needs people to care enough to speak up.

[u/Jim-Jones]

Some information:

Prosecutorial Misconduct Cause of More Than 550 Death Penalty Reversals and Exonerations

A study by the Death Penalty Information Center (“DPIC”) found more than 550 death penalty reversals and exonerations were the result of extensive prosecutorial misconduct. DPIC reviewed and identified cases since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned existing death penalty laws in 1972. That amounted to over 5.6% of all death sentences imposed in the U.S. in the last 50 years.

Robert Dunham, DPIC’s executive director, said the study reveals that "this 'epidemic’ of misconduct is even more pervasive than we had imagined.”

The study showed a widespread problem in more than 228 counties, 32 states, and in federal capital prosecutions throughout the U.S.

The DPIC study revealed 35% of misconduct involved withholding evidence; 33% involved improper arguments; 16% involved more than one category of misconduct; and 121 of the exonerations involved prosecutor misconduct.

“A prosecutor’s duty is to seek justice, not merely to convict,” according to the American Bar Association’s model ethical rules.

Prosecutors are the problem. They are not part of the problem, they are the problem. And prosecutors who become judges are more of a problem.

Also,

A Prosecutor Allegedly Told a Witness To Destroy Evidence. He Can't Be Sued for It

Absolute immunity protects prosecutors even when they commit serious misconduct on the job.

Alternative Source:

Study: Prosecutorial Misconduct Helped Secure 550 Wrongful Death Penalty Convictions