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Ft. Lauderdale Police Dept
Serial killer Eddie Lee Mosley killed 10 women and children after police arrested an innocent man in connection with earlier killings.
The arrest of Jerry Frank Townsend on Sept. 5, 1979 ended the hunt for a brutal serial killer and rapist who had terrorized a predominantly African-American neighborhood in northwest Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
But it began an enduring miscarriage of justice.
Townsend spent 22 years of his life in prison until he was exonerated by DNA tests that did not exist when he was arrested. Eddie Lee Mosley remained free to continue to rape and kill until his 1987 arrest and confinement in a state hospital for the criminally insane.
The deaths of 10 women and children who were murdered after Townsend’s wrongful arrest have been linked to Mosley by DNA testing or other evidence.
Now, relatives of three of those victims are calling on longtime Broward State Attorney Mike Satz – who is up for re-election – to finally investigate the actions of police detectives whose testimony convicted Townsend.
“It matters a hell of a lot,” said Clarice Tukes, 72, whose 20-year-old daughter, Arnette, was raped and strangled five months after Townsend’s arrest. “My daughter would still be alive if they hadn’t arrested the wrong man.”
“I want this reopened,” said Jacquelyn D. Miller, the daughter of Geraldine Barfield, whose body was found in a field adjacent to the Immanuel Church of God in Christ near Sunland Park on Dec. 19, 1983. She was 35.
“I’ve carried this with me 28 years. I want Michael Satz to tell me why he allowed this to happen, why a killer was allowed to remain on the streets,” she said.
Compared to Jack the Ripper
Satz was in his first term as Broward’s top prosecutor when Townsend was arrested.
The case captured the public’s imagination: A black serial killer compared by police to Jack the Ripper. Townsend, they said, had admitted to wanting to “rid the world of prostitutes.”
The victims, however, were not prostitutes.
Associated Press
Jerry Frank Townsend pleaded guilty in 1979 to a string of rapes and murders in Broward County, Fla., that he did not commit. Prosecutors set aside those convictions after learning in April 2001 that DNA evidence cleared him of the crimes.
Townsend, a grown man with the mental capacity of a child, was led by detectives to confess to a string of rapes and murders he did not do. He was convicted of six murders and a rape in 1980 and sent to prison for life.
In 2009, eight years after DNA proved his innocence, the Broward Sheriff’s Office agreed to pay $2 million over five years to settle a civil rights lawsuit alleging that its detectives fabricated evidence, concealed exculpatory evidence, tampered with witnesses and coerced false confessions out of Townsend.
Miami, where city detectives were accused of similar wrongdoing against Townsend, paid $2.2 million to end another suit before trial in 2008. Taxpayers spent at least $1 million more to pay lawyers to defend the police.
Broward Bulldog reported in 2009 that transcripts of Townsend’s Broward trial and hearings contain disturbing evidence of crimes like perjury and the falsification of police reports by BSO detectives and other officers. Several relatives recently saw the story.
For example, BSO detectives testified that Townsend led them to the scene of four Broward murders, and provided them with details only the killer would have known
But Townsend wasn’t the killer. So the detectives’ damning testimony takes on new meaning.
There is no statute of limitations on perjury in an official proceeding that relates to the prosecution of a capital felony. Whether the law could be enforced regarding original police testimony against Townsend is unclear because today’s statute is somewhat different than what was on the books in the 1980s.
Nevertheless, neither Satz, Broward’s state attorney since 1976, nor the Broward Sheriff’s Office has investigated the actions of the BSO detectives whose testimony sent Townsend to prison, Mark Schlein and Anthony Fantigrassi.
The settled lawsuit contended those detectives framed Townsend to advance their careers. Schlein has declined to discuss the case. Fantigrassi has said he never lied to convict Townsend.
Fantigrassi retired as head of BSO’s Criminal Investigations Unit in 2005. Schlein retired in 1993 as a lieutenant colonel, later worked for the state and is today an attorney in private practice in Tallahassee.
The lawsuit said Mosley is believed to be responsible for 41 rapes and 17 murders between 1973 and 1987, when he was declared incompetent to stand trial for the 1983 Christmas Eve rape-murder of Emma Cook, 54.
Victims and their familiesKatrenna Bentley, a hedge fund accountant, was 11 years old the day her grandmother died. She still vividly recalls seeing her battered body on a slab at the Mizell Funeral Home.
“I remember her laying on the table and seeing skin under her nails and hair in her mouth. They said she fought back, bit him in the head,” Bentley said. DNA from that trace evidence was matched two decades later to Mosley.
Katrenna and her mother, Mary Bentley, Emma Cook’s daughter, both said they want the state to investigate the actions of the police who handled the Townsend case.
“Every Christmas I relive this and get a sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach,” said Mary Bentley, 61. “If they had investigated it properly from the beginning they could have caught Mosley earlier and he wouldn’t have ended up killing my mom or the other people. They should pay.”
“I would love to see that happen,” said Calvin Sapp, 68, a semi-retired construction worker and older brother of victim Geraldine Barfield. “It seems like very seldom that people of color get the type of justice that they give everybody else.”
The victims’ relatives are not alone in wanting an investigation.
Justice served?
Broward’s elected public defender, Howard Finkelstein, said, “The fact that these officers were allowed to lie and cheat to frame an innocent man, and then were allowed to go on with their lives as though they did nothing wrong and nothing happened is not only illegal, it’s a sin.”
Finkelstein said Townsend’s case is “the best example” of a local criminal justice system where authorities have for decades often ignored the crimes of police officers that plant evidence or commit perjury to make cases against suspects.
“That they turned a blind eye to such a heinous crime is the exact reason that most minorities in Broward feel they don’t get a fair shake – and they’re right,” said Finkelstein said.
Satz, who rarely talks to reporters, referred a request for comment to a subordinate who said prosecutors reviewed the Townsend case before the DNA tests were done and found insufficient evidence of perjury.
“In regards to the officers involved in that case, we know what it takes to charge someone with perjury,” said Assistant State Attorney Carolyn McCann. “People on the outside don’t know about the elements of the crime. They just think that if it smells bad and looks bad it’s a crime. In a perfect world, that would work. But we have to follow the law and can’t just harass people.”
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Broward prosecutors, however, have made little effort to actually make such a case. Asked if her office ever confronted Fantigrassi or Schlein about their graphic testimony at Townsend’s trial, McCann said, “Not that I’m aware of.”
A study released in May by the National Registry of Exonerations showed that Broward accounted for nine of Florida’s 32 exonerations since 1989 – more than twice as many as any other county in the state. Most of those exonerated defendants were black.
Townsend, who lived in Hallandale Beach at the time of his arrest, is one of two Broward men cleared of murders now attributed to Mosley. Frank Lee Smith spent 14 years on Death Row for raping and killing 8-year-old Shandra Whitehead in her bed in 1985. He died of cancer on Jan.30, 2000, less than a year before DNA tests identified Mosley as the girl’s killer.
Three weeks before Townsend’s 1979 arrest, Fort Lauderdale police Det. Doug Evans identified Mosley – known around his northwest area neighborhood as “The Rape Man” – as the prime suspect in the rape-murders in his jurisdiction. Evans based his case on witness testimony and physical evidence, but the BSO detectives blew him off.
Evans later helped catch Mosley and free Townsend. Before his death in January 2011, Evans told the Broward Bulldog that he was disappointed authorities had never investigated police misconduct that had caused Townsend’s wrongful arrest and conviction.
Evans’ friend and colleague, ex-Fort Lauderdale Det. Roy Brown, said, “Doug always pushed for an investigation, always wanted one, but it’s been a hard rock. They let it sleep, they let it lay and they moved on and there’s no justice and nobody is held accountable for it. You’ve got to want to pursue them.
“The public should have a right to know this stuff: A serial killer running around killing people and nobody cared,” said Brown.
Clarice Tukes, whose daughter Arnette was murdered not long after Townsend’s arrest, was Doug Evans’ cousin.
“They knew who it was that did it. They knew Townsend didn’t do it, Mosley did. Doug told the whole family he did it. He said he didn’t know why they won’t take his word. That hurts,” said Tukes.
Her grandson, Dominick Richardson, was 3 years old when his mother died. He’s grown now, with three children of his own. His daughter Arnette is named in his mother’s honor, Tukes said.
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Just disgusting....plain ole scary and disgusting. I am glad the families of the victims are getting this info to the public eye.
I know you can only believe a portion of what you read and that you will only get part of the truth but this is something else. I actually researched what I could and I have got to say I am appalled and dismayed.
The police detectives and prosecutors that railroaded an innocent man should all be charged with aiding and abetting the real rapist & killer.
This is why I'm against the death penalty when a killer is not caught at the scene. The system decides who it wants to convict, and then works to accomplish that - rather than trying to find the truth.
The detectives and prosecutor are all guilty of murder after that fact but a system that protects cops at all cost will never see them prosecuted
Here we see again the trashing of all law enforcement based on the failure of a few. Every cop is not corrupt and most criminals convicted of violent crimes are indeed guilty. If the system were in fact corrupt this would never have come to light. Someone didn't give up on this case. And the killer was eventually caught and removed from the public (what a monster he was!)
This is a terrible case and an obvious failure of justice but our justice system is still the best in the world. I do pity these families (and the man wrongfully convicted). But it was still fate that brought their relatives into contact with this serial killer. They say nobody cared but also said these apparently corrupt detectives did this to further their careers. So obviously is was an important conviction to obtain. Hardly the first time a mentally deficient defendant has been convicted and it likely happened because he was easily coerced.
Surely now there is great pressure for an investigation of these detectives as this story is now in the national press?
I hope you can be so dispassionate and say it was just "fate" if some tragedy occurs to your child.
If I, as a civilian, know of someone committing a crime, and I knowingly ignore or "cover up" this knowledge, I can be charged as an accessory or an accessory-after-the-fact in the commission of the said crime or crimes. Be it theft, rape, drug use, selling or transporting, assault or murder. Does "voxrationis" believe Law Enforcement Officers have general immunity from the laws that bind the rest of us? This is what is really behind the decline of our country - multiple groups declaring that the laws are for others or that they have "special exemptions".
No, this is not an argument against corruption. A much more likely argument is "There are so many of these corrupt judgments that one has come to light despite an effort to cover it up." Did you even read the article? Because this is what it actually says:
This is not an isolated case. What we do know is that at least 32 cases were travesties. Think about that "at least." We don't actually know how many.
Do you know that per capita, America has 5 times as many criminals as the rest of the world? We mock China as having a corrupt and yet we have more criminals than they do.
Do you suppose it is because Americans are just inclined to be criminals or do you suppose it is because we don't really have "still the best in the world" justice system?
But I have a fairly simple suggestion to fix problems like this. If you are ever involved in a case like this, judge, jury, district attorney, and cop, you get to serve the same amount of time as the innocent man. If he got put to death, you are all up on murder charges. Because that is what you did: you killed an innocent man.
Let me ask those who think this is a bad idea: Do YOU want to live under a 'justice system' where you can be put in jail for doing nothing? Do you think there should be strict penalties for people who abuse you like this man and the further victims of the real murderer were abused?
Mark, Capital Punishment will only work if Carried Out..... Currently it is just a JOKE..... If the Police & PROSECUTOR are found guilty of distorting evidence related to the crime then they also should be EXECUTED..... The way it stands right now there really is no punishment if they railroad someone like this.....
Voxrationis:
"Here we see again the trashing of all law enforcement based on the failure of a few. Every cop is not corrupt and most criminals convicted of violent crimes are indeed guilty. If the system were in fact corrupt this would never have come to light."
If a cop gave you a ticket and you asked how much it was goiing to cost, he would answer, "I don't know." That will be the first of as many lies as needed to convict you. When he says "I don't know," he is almost certainly lying. These cops go to court and see the result of their tickets and the price the judge charges. Cops are if nothing else, inveterated liars.
As to your, "If the system were in fact corrupt this would never have come to light."
It all came to light not because of a lack of corruption, but because of the invent of DNA. One of the biggest problems with police is their lack of intelligence. The average IQ of a cop is between 80 and 100, 100 being the national average (Google). Added to this low mentality is the basic reason anybody would want to be a cop. Most people who become police officers want the power that comes with the job. The power to excercise "Street Justice," including the apparent right to kill with impunity.
>If a cop gave you a ticket and you asked how much it was goiing to cost, he would answer, "I don't know."
I think this is done per their lawyer advice to prevent bargaining and even appearance of bargaining.
We have a higher percentage of Whites committing mass murder, killing their families. Whites murder on a large scale. I am white, but duh, if you are going to categorize minorities, we have to give credit to the Crazy White Men with Guns.
Seems that prosecutors sometimes love to play the "Let's wrap up this case with the first person who looks like a suspect." It's about numbers to them, numbers of prosecutions.
If I were of the families of the victims, I would be absolutely furious.
What's truly appalling is the fact that an innocent man was kept in prison AFTER the real killer was caught.
Just one more disgusting report of a horrible miscarriage of justice for Mr. Townsend. Who gives him back 22 years and does he receive just, and I presume, much-needed compensation from the State of Florida for this wrongful conviction?
Blessings and good fortune to this man who requires a new start in life, and definitely, a 'hand up!'
One thing that could be done for all the victims is to ensure Mr. Satz is not re-elected in November. These miscarriages of justice are all of our fault as we demand security over justice. Mr. Satz and his ilk are just doing what we are demanding, make us feel safe, even if we're not.
Actually, it's more an indictment of the district attorneys who are ultimately the ones who decide what cases will be pursued, what evidence will be emphasized, and direct investigations once the decision is made to build a case.
But, all I said was that the fact that this kind of corruption exists in the first place makes me against the death penalty. It does not in any way trash law-enforcement as a whole. And just because by-in-large the right people are prosecuted, doesn't mean that the process is perfect. It is not about truth with prosecutes. It is not about truth for defense attorneys. It is about winning the case in front of them. The "truth" is an abstraction in court.
This story only seems shocking if you still operate under the delusion that the American CJS has 'justice' as its prime motivating factor, when in fact the real goal is social control and the maintenance of the status quo. If viewed from that perspective, the actions described in this article would seem perfectly logical, although still abhorrent.
Before someone decides to shoot the messenger (e.g., "we got the best damned CJ system in the entire world, and don't you forget it!"), I'd only ask that you consider the model which I've proposed, and then think of how many exceptions to the 'rule of law' we have seen in America within our own lifetimes. How many wealthy people can you name who've gone to prison? Whatever number you might come up with will pale in comparison to the figures for those of lesser means. Or did you attribute that to some moral superiority on the part of the 'elite'?
David, the problem is simple. the mental conditions that draw most people to law enforcement should be the factors that disqualify them.
Unbelievable...with policemen like these, who needs criminals. The DA should be impeached and put on trial himself (last time I checked, obstruction of justice is a crime, and this fits the bill). The blase reactions of the authorities involved just floors me. Hopefully some housecleaning will put these birds behind bars, so they won't put another innocent man in prison, and send a message to other law enforcement officials to do their job PROPERLY!
My condolences to the families who lost their loved ones to this monster of a serial killer, and my hats off to them for staying on the authorities tails and not letting them sweep it all under the rug.
BILL, ... FYI, ALL PROSECUETORS, are guaranteed >>> "IMMUNITY" AKA: (total immunity) from any and all prosecuetion for their- illegal - actions and lying, ... or any type of misconduct, ... in the performance of their DuTIES to get a Prosecuetion rate that is Commendable and upstanding & irrevocable FOREVER.
UNO thaa perjury is fine and dandy: when and IF you are a kop, judge, jury, lawmaker, prosecuetor, or any kind of a POLITITION.
Talk about a miscarriage of justice, this is a prime example. Every prosecutor, lead detective, and even the Judge in this whole mess should be sanctioned, if not outright fired for negligence, malfeasance, and stupidity. Not only should the accused's family be compensated for his incarceration, but the victims of the real perpetrator should likewise be allowed their day in court to demand justice and restitution even though money for murder is never equal. This story needs to make national TV so the real dunderheads can be exposed. Poor, sloppy detective work all around and intimidation of a mentally handicapped "subject." is not acceptable justice. Now it is time for JUSTICE--the right way.
WHY do you think that 99% of keystone kops, dickktectives included & prosecuetors/judges, are thought so poorly of???
Yesss their REPUTATION Preceecs them & justly so it appears all too often. DISSSS-GUSTING.
They will pay eventually ... a lot more painfully then man can make them pay.
Piglizard, I'm sure that's a great comfort to the victims of the flawed system. Justice now!
I wish can agree w you Piglizard but life is not fair. What goes arounds and comes around is a myth. I totally agree these men of justice should pay or get their license revoke.....
with liberty and justice for some
I am no longer astounded at what happens in the name of justice here in the south. The people we have enforcing the laws are as big cheats as the criminals themselves. This is actually the second article I've read this morning where somebody in a position of trust, with public safety and health in the palm of their hand, violated that trust and the public pays the price. This is gut wrenching, heart breaking, and entirely inappropriate procedure regarding these officers. Until we-the people- start demanding that those who hold high office be forced to undergo everything that we have to just to get that job at Walmart.
Let us all start demanding that those in power be subjected to random drug testing, both before, and for the duration of their tenure. Between Penn State, the Dr. that kid in Colorado was seeing, and now this from Fla. and that idiot judge in Ten. that was high while he heard a death penalty case, it seems to me that the ones who need to be double and triple checked for job fitness and performance are the ones making the rules we have to follow, but they get a free pass for. All elected officials and their appointees need to be randomly and routinely checked for drug use as well as have periodic psycho screenings to monitor how their position has affected their job performance, and any treatment they may need to assure us that the individual is the best for the job.
My condolences go to the families of the victims, and my disgust goes to the police and prosecutors who unjustly convicted an innocent man, presumably just so they could mark it as closed.
It is not just the south, dear Lady. It is everywhere in this corroding land. Just look at the highest legal power in the country, he is as corrupt as they come but he is only one of many, like his predecessors. I use him as example because he is the one the spotlight is on now.
The criminal justice system in this country sucks, it is about convictions not truth.
Are you talking about Eric Holder's attempt to prosecute the gun criminals, looking for DAs that would prosecute them, and not finding any?
That isn't a failure of the man. That's a failure of not having gun laws.
When a teenager can walk into a gun store and legally buy $300,000 worth of weapons, you have a problem. Refusing to admit it doesn't change that. Blaming Eric Holder for it doesn't change that. Corruption amongst Congressmen who voted against him doesn't change that. Sorry.
Bryon, what ever you say, I just noticed the dark glasses. If a teenager walked in a gun store and bought $300,000 in guns, I doubt very seriously it was done legally. Most states require a waiting period (cooling off period) and the ATF requires a background check.
people who feel like they have a future do not commit crimes unless they are insane.
This is another of the many flaws in the United States @ present. It all starts with the Federal Govornment, and works its way down to the State, and local level. The only thing that will change it is the Citizens of this country to stand up and let the "overseer's" know that we will not stand for it any more...
Question is, when it comes time to confront the "man", will you be ready??? Or stand in line with the rest of the "sheeple"????
I get what you're saying and hear your passion, Shawn, but, how exactly does one (or millions collectively) go about confronting "the man"? And, how would we know when "the time comes"?
We all know the justice system (as are many parts of the systems that run in our country) is flawed/corrupt and/or just otherwise broken, but, it sounds like you're suggesting burning down the whole village.
Just saying that sometimes you need to tear a "building" down the the foundations for a "total" renovation....
Our Founding Fathers would be shooting by now.....
Just sayin.....
Our "Founding Fathers" were the "big money movers and shakers" of their time. That's why they spoke of "pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" in the Declaration of Independence. Do you really see Mitt doing this? The Koch Brothers? Any one, liberal or conservative, worth more than $100 Million? You bet your booty NO! Someone has to pay$$$ to "renovate" and there aren't any who will pay for those who are hurting, they only want to pay to get themselves higher.
@givemeabook ,Kinda like mitt taking $77.000 tax deduction on anne's "therapy" horse. It may be legal but just because you can doesnt mean you should.
guys like Romney create the system. I'll bet these cops will vote for him. it's a state of mind. the right wing wants to do god's job of punishment thinking god will favor them. GOD WILL NOT FAVOR THEM. But he does have a special place for them, it's called HELL! Burn baby Burn
And now we let cops keep money they confiscate. We're going in the wrong direction. Now that society has advanced ... no, let me start over. Now that legislators have completely mucked up the system, we need to start over and restructure how our country functions. Complexity and confusion is the strategy employed by many businesses and industries to make it difficult for the layperson to understand what's really happening. But the public isn't stupid. This kind of crap has gone on long enough. We need to bring common sense, decency, and a love for God back into the picture. Prosecutors that willingly break the law for the sake of conviction rates should be made to suffer the same sentences that innocents face.
Let's let the average American participate in the structuring of our legal system. The lawyers clearly can't be trusted. We need to simplify. Would it take a lot of work, sure. It would also create a lot of jobs that we need. Use the Internet to educate people about the issues, and let's get to the business of fixing our country. Keep the 1% out of it. They clearly can't be trusted. If the 99% come together, the 1% won't be able to do anything about it. And we can do this peacefully. All we have to do is band together and target special interests. Ever notice this? When Monday is a holiday, traffic on the Friday before is non-existent. That's because 10% of people take the Friday off too. We don't need to build more roads, we just need to get a few more people working from home. The same philosophy applies to forcing change in the right places. If we bring a specific businesses sales down 10%, executives cower because their bonuses are at stake.
We can do this America. We must band together. We must do it soon. It's time to wake up the sleeping giant. But now, the enemy is among us. Fortunately, we know who they are.
Bring "love for God" back into the picture? These criminals are all God loving, God fearing christian people.
ROFLMAO
There is nothing unusual about miscreants in the criminal injustice system covering up for other miscreants in the criminal injustice system. Most of them don't give a rat's ass about who goes to prison, innocent or guilty, so long as they clear the books and get the kudos. And we'll be waiting 'til hell freezes over before anyone involved in this fiasco admits to making a mistake or doing anything legally or morally reprehensible. The system is irreparably broken and only works for those operating the system. Besides, the victims were Black and the actual criminals were a bunch of cracker racists prosecutors and cops.
To start this off right...I hope that we can leave race out of it. We need to come together to eradicate this issue not drive that wedge in deeper. It will do no good to turn off those that would be willing to help those that could use it by starting a race battle. Yes it is all too familiar but it is not the singular issue at hand. It was crooked people who were supposed to be doing what they were paid to do but took their power in the badge too far. These useless individuals who thought that these families would just go away were wrong! And now the families need everyone they can get to see this. The race hating/baiting is only going to make me and others like me just say ugh and click on to something else...its not worth it.
you may choose to turn your head and "say ugh and click off", but the fact is that this IS a racist issue. "A study released in May by the National Registry of Exonerations showed that Broward accounted for nine of Florida’s 32 exonerations since 1989 – more than twice as many as any other county in the state. Most of those exonerated defendants were black." ... from the article above, and if we can't learn to face that and have honest open discussions about it without accusing people of "playing the race card", we will never solve these issues.
OK...So you want race in the mix....watch the tensions rise and have the whole thread turn into obnoxious children? People who can think of nothing but hate spewing or frothing from their finger tips?
I was just hoping that we could discuss this situation without the added "Cracker" bit and other racial HATE BASED commentary.
of course there's a racial component here! "
Members of minority groups are disproportionately represented among DNA exonerees –70 percent of the 240 people exonerated with DNA after serving years for crimes they didn’t commit were people of color. Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld recently told the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s Defenders Online blog that racial bias and the possibility of cross-racial misidentification are both causes of wrongful conviction. Neufeld said:
and no, doeyes, i don't want the whole thread to turn into a hate-spewing contest. my point is that if we don't FACE the racial component and learn how to discuss without the hate, we can't solve it.
This happened in Florida--really surprising! NOT!
white trash heaven
Virtually every case prosecuted by these people should be reopened to determine where else they lied and manipulated evidence. It stands to reason they did this frequently to further their carriers.
Same old crap I experienced/saw in NY where I grew up! There's a distinct kind of mentality that surfaces when white detectives/police officers come in contact with men/people of color, and that's a fact!! DNA testing is definitely an answer from heaven, in the name of justice!
Unfortunately this issue happens with murders down to DUIs. Fabrication and hiding evidence is so rampant in the law enforcement area. This happens all over the country. At trials, you are asked 'Do you swear to tell the truth", etc. You, the accused, will tell the truth. They, the accusor, will lie as long as it benefits their accusation. What a sham. Half the time you are guilty before you even enter the courtroom. This has been a misnomer of the court system. Law enforcement is deemed to be credible, which is far from the truth. Don't get me started on prosecutors and lawyers.
Pete,,You got that right! Alot is about the little towns making money. If they don't like who you are ,,well you know.
It's very difficult to uncover wrongdoing in an organization where all of the players can implicate each other in one way or another. There may be no honor among criminals, but fear of justice can bind them together just the same.
Interestingly, that's also what they say about George W. Bush. Except in his case, he's linked to the deaths of tens of thousands in Mesopotamia, which also includes women and children. But there was no conviction.
Homicide detectives are very good at manipulating a suspect during an interrogation. The man who falsely confessed to some of the murders, had the mental capacity of a child according to the article. He was like a sheep before wolves.
This guy Satz should be the one behind bars for the rest of his corrupted life. This county needs a total house cleaning. Every police officer who was involved in this wrongful sentence should have to finish it out themselves. They could dedicate a cell block to these scum bags and put them all together and let them see what it is like.
I cannot even imagine how this poor man spent 20 years of his life in prison for doing nothing in what we consider the greatest nation in the world. Is just unspeakable. It is a crime in itself.
This is like a story out of some third world @!$%# hole where justice does not exsist. Maybe that is just what this state in question is.
I am a former police officer and for good reason. I saw the kind of crap so called career minded police offers would pull to improve thier image. I also saw plenty more that sickened me to the profession.
District Attorney's are some of the worst because they want to be judges and maybe if they screw enough citizens they make it to the Federal Courts.
If people only knew half the BS that goes on the criminal justice system they would be affraid to step out of their homes. It is not just in the venue where this story took place. Look at some of the more infamous Police departments and their history of corruption. Does Frank Serpico ring a bell.
But like so many other things wrong with our society folks we are at fault because we let them do it. They work for us we do not work for them.
I hope Mr. Towndsen is able to live out the remainder of his life with all the happiness possible and have a quality life. And once again take this DA and his band of corrupt brothers and look them up so deep they will have to pump day light to them.
I can believe that. I don't know to to be scard of the most. Cops or punks. The cops have the LAW on there side.
Most of the time you can tell a cop from the other punks because they are arrogant and filled with false pride. Plus,you can't carry on a conversation with them around, because the know more than everybody else about every subject. Even nuclear physics.
Townsend, who lived in Hallandale Beach at the time of his arrest, is one of two Broward men cleared of murders now attributed to Mosley. Frank Lee Smith spent 14 years on Death Row for raping and killing 8-year-old Shandra Whitehead in her bed in 1985. He died of cancer on Jan.30, 2000, less than a year before DNA tests identified Mosley as the girl’s killer.
What happened to Townsend is bad enough but if it hadn't been for those endless appeals the law and order Right-wingers complain about, Frank Lee Smith could have easily been executed for a crime he didn't commit. Instead he was "fortunate" enough to spend the last 14 years of his life on Death Row. One more reason why the death penalty should be abolished.
How sad that Broward County is once again in the news for abuse of power. How strange that they do not commit to a full investigation and house cleaning. This can only harm them further. In the eyes of the nation they are not simply shooting themselves in the foot, they've shot themselves in the stomach. Without treatment it is a slow and painful death.
Sepsis has set in. Are you doing anything about it, Broward County? How about you, Florida? Do you care about upholding the law and common decency? Or are you only interested in voter fraud?
Police officers, like everybody else, are merely products of their environments. America has always been a racist country and always will be. As long as Blacks continue allowing America to trample over their dignity, she always will. It's time for a Black Spring!
To label it "justice" when governmental crooks railroad a mentally handicapped man into prison is a misuse of the english language. Instead, label it what it is "misjustice".
So we have the best "misjustice" system in the world.
That's why it is called the "criminal justice system".
The occupation police- they're our heroes, or so we are reminded by pastey faced politicians. What is it with FL's gov't officials being oblivious to basic honesty and law? It seems to be a dysfunctionally run state in many ways.
A bunch of self-serving, dishonest, criminal jerks. Then they wonder why the general public isn't filled with admiration and respect for them. Maybe they could wake up and understand that we are not as naive and gullible as they would please like to believe we are.
Oh, this goes on and on, and it's getting worse these days, as too many cops have a superior attitude of how the (many bureaucratic) laws only applies to citizens and not them. It's why the US has the HIGHEST per-capita incarceration rate in the WORLD.
Police apparently framed a mentally disabled man for rape and murder even as another detective's (different department) evidence against the real killer was ignored. I'm usually against the Federal Government sticking it's investigatory nose into local matters but if this case does not scream for a Federal Civil Rights case nothing does. Obviously, we are not hearing both sides of the story and should not pre-judge until all the facts are in, but the fact that no investigation has been ordered after all this time tells me it is time for the Justice Department to get involved. I am a big supporter of police on almost every level but when police are violating the law they need to be held accountable.