Socialist Action /September 2001
Another Death Row Prisoner Released
Charles Fain was released from prison in Idaho
on Aug. 23 after nearly 18 years on death row. DNA tests proved that he
wasn't responsible for the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl, for
which he was convicted in 1982.
The tests were performed on three hairs found on
the clothing of the victim. At Fain's trial an FBI specialist testified
that the hairs matched Fain's. But in June 2001, when the hairs were subjected
to DNA tests at a Virginia laboratory, the results demonstrated conclusively
that they could not have come from Fain.
Charles Fain was the 11th death row inmate to be
exonerated by DNA evidence over the last decade.
Fain's trial is typical of the way people are convicted
of crimes in this society. Key evidence used against him was the testimony
of two jailhouse snitches who said that Fain told them he had committed
the crime. We now know that their testimony was a lie, concocted in order
to receive favorable treatment from the state.
It is a common practice for prosecutors to use
snitches to win their cases. Prisoners are offered special treatment if
they provide information about someone else. A person facing a long prison
sentence will often be willing to tell the prosecution what it wants to
hear.
Ricky Chilton, one of the informers against Fain,
was facing 230 years on various charges, but was released after only three
years following his deal with the state. Chilton originally stated that
he was threatened by the prosecution to testify.
The jury never heard certain evidence of Fain's
innocence that existed at the time of the trial. The prosecution objected
to introducing into evidence the results of a lie detector test, which Fain
had passed, and the judge agreed.
The state can apologize today for making a mistake,
but nothing can compensate for the 18 years of imprisonment and fear of
death that Charles Fain endured.
"This case demonstrates that those who presuppose
that only the guilty get the death penalty are wrong," stated D. Frederick
Hoopes, one of Fain's attorneys.
There are many more cases like Charles Fain's.
Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, at least 96 innocent death
row inmates have been exonerated and released in 22 states. How many innocent
people are still languishing on death rows across America because of police
and prosecution frame-ups, racist courts, and inadequate court-appointed
attorneys? How many people have already been killed because of them?
The state has blood on its hands. We can't let
it continue. - PAUL McKIM
Socialist Action /September 2001 |