Eric Volz Freed
December 23, 2007 11:20 AM   Subscribe

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.
posted by John of Michigan (10 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
As discussed in The Blue previously.

A discussion that went spectacularly well!
posted by LarryC at 11:24 AM on December 23, 2007


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)
posted by delmoi at 1:00 PM on December 23, 2007


Tony D'Souza wrote a great piece on the Volz case for Outside magazine.
posted by photoslob at 1:09 PM on December 23, 2007


I heard Britney Spears' sister is pregnant too.
posted by Eekacat at 1:47 PM on December 23, 2007


That first link is doing some strange auto-reloading in Firefox for me. Anyone else?
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 2:10 PM on December 23, 2007


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?
posted by jock@law at 3:19 PM on December 23, 2007


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?
posted by delmoi at 4:24 PM on December 23, 2007


(And realistically, the best way to change it would be through legislative action to change laws, rather then simply litigating)
posted by delmoi at 5:41 PM on December 23, 2007


(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.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 2:02 AM on December 24, 2007


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.
posted by delmoi at 2:35 PM on December 24, 2007


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