Comments on: Eric Volz Freed

Eric Volz Freed

John of Michigan — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 11:20:36 -0800

Eric Volz Freed. Following a thirty-year sentence and a later appeal, Eric Volz was set free by a Nicaraguan court. As discussed in The Blue previously. His family's statement.

By: LarryC

LarryC — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 11:24:23 -0800

As discussed in The Blue previously. A discussion that went spectacularly well!

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 13:00:25 -0800

Well, that's good. I wish prosecutors who persecute these innocent people like this suffered penalties more often. The guy in the Duke Rape Case got disbarred, but how often does that happen? Our justice system is pretty fucked up, IMO. (I mean I know this happened in Nicaragua, but it sounds like their system is pretty similar)

By: photoslob

photoslob — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 13:09:22 -0800

Tony D'Souza wrote a great piece on the Volz case for Outside magazine.

By: Eekacat

Eekacat — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 13:47:53 -0800

I heard Britney Spears' sister is pregnant too.

By: M.C. Lo-Carb!

M.C. Lo-Carb! — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 14:10:17 -0800

That first link is doing some strange auto-reloading in Firefox for me. Anyone else?

By: jock@law

jock@law — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:19:20 -0800

delmoi posted: Our justice system is pretty fucked up, IMO. Really? How so? I'll assume you're going to law school, so you can help change it. Right?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 16:24:58 -0800

Really? How so? You really think everything's all peachy? How about all those innocent people who get taken off death row decades after incarceration? How many people are in prison right now for lesser crimes that the innocence project doesn't focus on? If you think that's all fine and dandy, then obviously I disagree with you. I'll assume you're going to law school, so you can help change it. Right? Law school? Why would I waste my time on a career with such a low earnings potential?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 17:41:24 -0800

(And realistically, the best way to change it would be through legislative action to change laws, rather then simply litigating)

By: aeschenkarnos

aeschenkarnos — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 02:02:40 -0800

(And realistically, the best way to change it would be through legislative action to change laws, rather then simply litigating) This generally doesn't happen. The law would have to be changed by the same legislators who established it in the first place. This isn't going to happen unless the law is so obviously and egregiously bad that it actually harms the interests on whose behalf the government brought it in. For legislative action to change laws there really needs to be an intervening election, with a change of government brings in enough new legislators to make the change. Alternatively, between changes of government a lot of bad laws are gotten rid of through conflict with laws of higher priority (eg, in the USA, the Constitution). This requires a litigation step, which requires that a plaintiff with standing be affected by the law.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:35:07 -0800

The law would have to be changed by the same legislators who established it in the first place. Well no, the most effective way to effect change would be to get better legislators elected.