Innocence Project now holding up a scary
mirror for all of us
By Charlie Mitchell
post@vicksburg.com
The Vicksburg Post
VICKSBURG — It's not unusual to hear a person behind bars insist the
state got the wrong guy.
Using DNA, however, The Innocence Project has been doing something
unprecedented in Mississippi: Proving it.
It's unsettling stuff - or should be - to those who have been comfortable
believing that while police and courts may not be perfect, it's almost
impossible for people who have done nothing wrong to wind up in prison.
Take the case of Arthur Johnson.
In 1993, he was convicted of raping a young woman in Sunflower County at
gunpoint. Johnson provided an alibi and said he didn't do it. Jurors,
however, believed the victim who testified that Johnson was the man who
attacked her. The judge gave Johnson 55 years in Parchman.
Last week - after serving 16 years - he had his first meal with his family
as a free man. Under the auspices of The Innocence Project, the DNA found
in semen found on the victim's clothing did not match Johnson's DNA. The
state doesn't know who raped the woman. Science says - conclusively - it
wasn't Arthur Johnson.
Earlier last month, the exonerations of Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks
attracted larger headlines, perhaps because Brewer had spent 10 years
sentenced to die.
Brewer was convicted of taking a 3-year-old child, the daughter of an
ex-girlfriend, from her Noxubee County home in 1991 before raping and
killing her and leaving her body in a creek. Eighteen months earlier and
in the same county, another 3-year-old girl had been taken from the home
of an ex-girlfriend of Levon Brooks, and he was also found guilty of
raping and killing that child and leaving her body in a pond. He got life.
In Brooks' case, there was no DNA confirmation of his innocence, but there
was something else. As The Innocence Project pressed the case,
investigators determined that an initial suspect, Justin Albert Johnson,
who had a history of sex crimes, lived near both children's homes when
they were kidnapped and killed. When questioned again by authorities,
Johnson, now 51, admitted both homicides. And at his trial, which should
be soon unless he enters a plea, prosecutors will have more than his
confession. Johnson's DNA will link him - conclusively - to the victim in
the Brewer case.
Nationally, The Innocence Project has scored more than 200 reversals, but,
you know, they're a bunch of bleeding hearts. Yes, our beloved John
Grisham is a board member and, with Scott Turow, hosted a fundraiser in
Jackson - but Janet Reno, too? This state's a natural destination for
quixotic do-gooders, right?
Yes. Always has been. But there's also this: They really are right. Aside
from ending the personal injustices endured by Arthur Johnson, Brooks and
Brewer, The Innocence Project is also showing the state how it can do
better.
For instance, the Legislature could add Mississippi to the 42 states that
already provide post-conviction DNA testing where there's a claim of
innocence.
Mississippi could modernize the Crime Lab.
Mississippi could hire a medical examiner, the first since the last one
left in 1995.
Mississippi could expedite post-conviction hearings when new or additional
evidence tends to show a jury has been misled.
Those who think of The Innocence Project as meddlers - as some in the
Legislature do - are making a big mistake. It's just as important to make
sure the innocent are not convicted as it is to assure the guilty are
convicted.
The reason should be obvious and if it's not, ponder this: Growing up, do
you think Johnson, Brooks or Brewer ever imagined himself in prison for
something he didn't do? But that's what happened. And if it could happen
to them, why couldn't it happen to anyone?
Charlie Mitchell is executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. E-mail post@vicksburg.com.
Copyright © Mississippi Innocence Project