This Friday, a Los Angeles man who had been in jail for 34 years was released after FINALLY being ruled innocent. Kash Delano Register (haha, yeah his name is cash register, but that's not the point!) was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison for allegedly killing a 78 year old man, Jack Sasson in his driveway in 1979. The primary reason he was convicted was due to false witness statement given by Brenda Anderson, whose sisters brought forth the issue recently, and because prosecutors hid evidence. The sisters of Brenda Anderson also said they attempted to bring up her false testimony in the killing when the case was first brought to trial, but were highly encouraged by LAPD detectives to keep quiet.
What's more about this case is that Register was eligible for parole for 20 years while in jail, but in every one of his 11 trials during that time, stood by his claim for being innocent, thereby eliminating his chance at parole, which, to me, says a lot about this man. He refused to give in to lies created about him, even if it meant sacrificing the possibility of making it out of jail. In other words, he refused to take an opportunity at being released from jail if it meant giving up the truth and replacing it with a lie. This aspect of the case makes it all the more tragic for me that this man had to spend 34 years of his life in jail for something he did not commit, and yet also all the more deserving for his recent release from jail.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/la-man-cleared-murder-34-years-prison/story?id=20840038
This goes to show that even a "perfect" government still messes up, the sad thing is the guy that actually killed this man never had to serve jail time.
ReplyDeleteWow, this man. 34 years is a long time. He missed out on most of his life. I wonder if he had children that he missed out on seeing grow up. I mean, this is terrible that an innocent person can have to endure such a mistake.
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