Darryl, an African
American man, was sentenced to death in 1988 because of an
alleged murder of a 16 years old girl. Nonetheless, his
conviction is probably marked by racial factors.
Indeed, no physical and
overwhelming evidence is given against him. The only witness, as
a matter of fact, was brought in by his former girlfriend only
nine months after the kill, and after that their relationship
was broken.
Some policemen, indeed,
declared to have seen the supposed victim alive some days after
the alleged crime. But this evidence was ignored on trial by
judges, who in exchange gave relief to another prisoner with the
same claim.
More, his legal defence,
appointed by the court, as often happens, acted quite
improperly. Unfortunately, Darryl didn’t have money enough to
afford an experienced lawyer. When the trial was opened, for
instance, the members of the jury were assembled in a few hours
-while in a capital case generally it takes at least four or
five days- and were not previously questioned by his lawyer, as
it always occurs. Nor his legal representative exhibited any
mitigating documentation before the judge.
Further analysis carried
out after the alleged victim’s body was found, showed that it
belonged to a 20-30 years old woman, and not to a teen-ager.
The racial prejudice
against Darryl is clearly pointed out in some off-the-record
quotes released by the judge heading the trial, that were
reported by the press at large.
His execution is
tragically set on April 20th 2010.
