Another Horrific Murder, Jason Mattison Jr, in Baltimore

I want the name of the judge who over ruled his conviction

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 12:07:44 PM CST

Innocence Project

It looks like the judge was making the decision based on the technicality that was brought up by the Innocence Project. The question should be whether the Innocence Project fully believed Parrish was innocent or were they just trying to get him out of jail on the technicality for some reason

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by: ScottJ @ Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 12:57:10 PM CST

Yeah, I worry...

That cases like this are going to do serious damage to defendants' rights organizations.  Clearly, nobody ever seriously thought this guy was innocent.

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by: lw @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 17:12:25 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Thanks, Louise!

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by: kevinchi @ Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 13:01:46 PM CST

(((HUGS)))

I lived in Baltimore for years, as you know, and this HURTS. There seems to be so much wrong in the world some days...

My heart goes out to his family, friends and the entire Balto community.


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by: Louise @ Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 16:35:48 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Lethal Injection

I can only imagine how the family suffers...

Makes me so angry.

This is why I support the death penalty.  A classic case of a convicted murderer being let loose on society based on a technicality.  I don't want him locked up, he could escape, he could get released again, he could kill someone inside the prison.  I want to know for sure this man will NEVER kill again.

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by: zazu @ Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 13:55:08 PM CST

A "technicality" is

what we call it when the prosecutors and/or judges (or others in the court system) violate the rights of someone who we're pretty sure is guilty.  And anything that keeps someone from "getting off on a technicality" can be used to ensure more convictions of people who happened to be on the bad side of someone with the power to have them locked up and fake a case -- and the death penalty's certainly one of those things.  The response here isn't "lock 'em all up, throw away the key, and screw the collateral damage", it's to get pissed off at sloppy prosecutors and judges.

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by: M @ Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 16:53:54 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I'm assuming you simply weren't familiar with the specifics of this case

This person was given time served for second degree murder after having been allowed to change his guilty plea to an Alford plea (basically the same as no contest, but nuanced with a bit of "we all know I'm guilty but not admitting it").  When a defendant enters an Alford plea, they are treated as guilty.  The fact that he was allowed to enter one ten years later shouldn't reduce his sentence by 2/3.

It is absolutely mind-boggling that this person was set free--and totally indefensible.

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by: lw @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 04:19:43 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Interesting how the "specifics"

include no references to the legal issues that allowed the plea to be changed ten years later -- that is, to the issues which we're talking about.

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by: M @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 10:51:19 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Interesting (and hypocritical) that you mention no "specifics"

...because your position is indefensible given them.  

I'm curious: What magical "issues we're talking about" make him less guilty, or the sudden reduction in sentence somehow proper?  I'll notice that while I detailed some of the specifics of the case, you have thus far not mentioned a single of the "issues which we're talking about."  You merely allude to them as if they somehow completely back up your position.

Since I'm still totally convinced you haven't bothered to read up on the case, I'll just relay those "specifics" to you:  At the time he originally entered a guilty plea, his defense attorney allowed two misstatements to be read into the record.  1) That there were three witnesses to the killing, when really there were only two, and 2) That the murder weapon was found with him when he was apprehended, when in fact it was found during a later search.  

Because of these egregious miscarriages of justice, he was allowed to change his guilty plea to an Alford plea. When one enters an Alford plea, they are still treated as guilty.  Yet, he was not.  He was set free.

This man was freed in spite of effectively twice entering a guilty plea to murder.  Within months of being freed, he raped and murdered a 15-year-old boy.  Anyone defending that decision must be doing so out of ignorance, and is embarrassing themselves and true champions of the falsely accused everywhere.

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by: lw @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 14:53:12 PM CST

[ Parent ]

You're the one

who started referring to "the specifics of this case" -- and proceeded to drop any reference to improper findings of fact.  Yes, you've corrected that now -- and added an apologia for everyone involved who pushes the position that respecting the rights of the accused isn't important when we know the person is guilty of some degree of the crime accused.  That's what some of us are objecting to -- because if a sentence based in part on a violation of the rights of the accused is valid, it's valid in cases where the violation stems from bias as well as those where it's (presumably) accidental.  It was that principle that led to this person only serving 10 years (not just "set free" without serving time) instead of the longer sentence which could have protected Jason Mattison.

The "technicalities" are in place to protect those who are convicted when they shouldn't be or sentenced to more than they should have been -- it's the responsibility of judges, prosecutors and others in the system to keep this from happening when people should be in prison longer, and they dropped the ball here (starting with their push for false findings of fact).

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by: M @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 15:02:26 PM CST

[ Parent ]

No, actually...

The article linked to and being discussed on this blog made very clear "the specifics of this case."

And it is completely laughable to suggest that because his plea changed from one form of guilty to another--both for second degree murder--that his sentence should have been reduced.  None of the facts in this case suggest it should have been.  He was still guilty, by all accounts, of the same crime.  The differences between his first plea and his second amount to nuances that should be taken into account if he commits another...  Oh wait.  Too late.

We are not talking about someone whose guilt was ever seriously in question.  We are not talking about someone who was the victim of police or prosecutor misconduct.  Pretending that we are to save face on a blog does a disservice to people who are.  

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by: lw @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 17:08:22 PM CST

[ Parent ]

What'a the mandatory maximum for second-degree murder

in Maryland? I guess that's the question...or...

This story seemed to say that the judge overturned both convictions.

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by: kevinchi @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 15:03:52 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Just looked it up

The maximum for second degree murder in Maryland is 30 years. Which is what he was sentenced to for his first degree murder conviction.

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by: kevinchi @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 15:07:19 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Technicality

The Baltimore Sun writes about legal technicalities when it want's boost readership.  A few weeks earlier they wrote about the Innocence Project in regard to this child's killer.

http://bit.ly/7bp5oS

Legal protections apply to or should apply to everyone, not just those we like.

On a more positive note, Jaysen's school is establishing a scholarship fund in his honor.  

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by: GregC @ Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 14:03:07 PM CST

This guy still entered a plea that amounts to guilty.

There was no reason for him to have been set free, all legal protections granted.

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by: lw @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 04:21:07 AM CST

[ Parent ]

never forget

Just as people say "Never forget" in regards to the Holocaust and 9/11 and other atrocities, we should have that concern for this loss of a young life.  Horrific crimes of this sort are happening all too frequently.

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by: Passionforprog @ Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 16:50:00 PM CST