There are hundreds of wrongful convictions every year. Most of these wrongful convictions are caused by false eyewitness testimony. Robert Dewey was one of these people. He sat in jail for 17 years for something he didn’t do. What would you do in that situation?
On June 4th, 1994, a 19-year-old girl is found dead in her bathtub. Her name was Jacie Taylor. Robert Dewey was a suspect because the police heard from Taylor’s friends that she was afraid of him. Dewey became even more suspicious when he gave the police a fake name. The police found a shirt of Dewey’s with oil, grease, and bloodstains on it and think that the blood was from the victim. Dewey said it was his own blood, but the police didn’t believe him. When they ran DNA tests on the blood, it came up as a match to the victim, Dewey, and 45 percent of the population. Fingernail scrapings of the victim were taken to get the DNA of the attacker, as well as samples of semen found on the blanket. Both of these were tested and came up as a negative match to Dewey. Even with this setback, the prosecutor built a circumstantial case against Dewey. They said that the blood on the t-shirt he was wearing the day of the crime we a match to the victim. They said that the only reason the fingernail scrapings and semen didn’t match Dewey was because he had had an accomplice. The prosecution also emphasized Dewey’s suspicious actions in the beginning of the investigation. Despite the weakness of the prosecutor’s arguments, Dewey was found guilty of first-degree murder and sexual assault. In 2007, Dewey and his attorney contacted the Innocence project. The DNA was retested and Dewey was found not guilty. The DNA that was found matched the DNA of a man who was already serving a life sentence for a home invasion rape and murder. After 17 years spent in jail for something he didn’t do, Robert Dewey walked away a free man.
I feel that this is a massive injustice. There is no reason for this man to have served 17 years of his life in a prison for something he did not do. It is unimaginable the amount of psychological pain he is in right now. I mean I even get sad when someone wrongfully accuses me of eating his or her cookie. Stories like this make me disappointed in the justice system and investigations today. These demonstrate that some people are content with just closing the doors on a case and not caring if the right person is locked up. The only thing that matters is that the public sees that they have put someone behind bars. I am sure that this is not representative of a vast majority of the police force and justice system, but the fact that it happens at all is just horrific. I would like to take a moment of silence for the officers and judges who are doing good work and solving cases to find the true suspect.
Thank you for your participation in that moment of silence. I think that the people that are put through this kind of injustice should be heavily compensated for the years they spent in prison. It seems like the only thing that can even come close to helping these people deal with the pain.
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