Human frailty can implicate wrong person, professor says.
It took South Carolina officials more than 90 years before they admitted that they executed the wrong men for the murder of a Confederate veteran.
And that is the central problem with the death penalty in the United States, Paul Finkelman, a professor of law and public policy at Albany Law School, said yesterday during a speech at Wake Forest University School of Law.
The Griffin brothers were the great uncles of the radio talk-show host Tom Joyner, and last October, Finkelman and others were able to get what is believed to be the 1st posthumous pardon for a capital case in South Carolina's history.
"What I would hope is that people who prosecute capital cases begin to realize that human frailties, vindictiveness, racism all lead to executions, and that those executions are sometimes wrong," Finkelman said
after his speech.
Early in the 20th century, Thomas and Meeks Griffin were young men just starting out and the owners of a 138-acre farm, making them the wealthiest black men in Chester County. They were well-respected, Finkelman said.
John Lewis was a Confederate veteran who was living alone in the town of Blackstock, about 40 miles north of Columbia. He was separated from his wife, who had caught him in bed with a black woman. Lewis was found shot to death in April 1913. His revolver, watch and a good chunk of money were missing, Finkelman said. Police immediately suspected Anna Davis, a black woman with whom Lewis was reported to be having sex, and her husband, Bart Davis. According to accounts, Bart and Anna Davis were known to go to Lewis' house 2 to 3 times a week, Finkelman said.
Just as they were about to leave town, they were arrested and put in jail, but then police traced the stolen revolver to John "Monk" Stevenson, a career criminal who told police that he had gotten the gun from Bart Davis' brother. Stevenson, who was black, eventually implicated the Griffin brothers and 2 other black men, and said he was a lookout when Lewis was killed. He took a plea deal and ended up with a life sentence.
Stevenson later admitted, Finkelman said, that he implicated the Griffin brothers because they were wealthy, and he figured that they could afford a good attorney to get them exonerated.
The only evidence against the Griffin brothers was an overheard conversation between Stevenson and the Griffin brothers that seemed to imply that the Griffin brothers were involved. The 4 men were indicted on July 6, 1913, and 2 days later, the trial began. Soon after, all 4 men were convicted.
In a strange twist, the same attorney who represented the Griffin brothers also represented Lewis in his separation from his wife, Finkelman said.
W.H. Newbold, the attorney, had even offered $100 for someone to do a more thorough investigation, but he also believed that the Griffin brothers were innocent.
Afterward, appeals failed, and even though prominent white people, including the mayor of Chester, a judge, and one of the jurors in the murder case, asked for a pardon, then-Gov. Richard Manning refused. In 1915, the Griffin brothers, along with the 2 other black men, were executed, all within an hour.
Joyner first found out about his great uncles in February 2008 during a PBS documentary done by Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates. The documentary explored family roots with famous black celebrities.
Finkelman joined with Joyner and others, including Columbia attorney Stephen Benjamin, to win a pardon for the Griffin brothers.
The S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services board granted the pardon in October 2009.
Source: Winston-Salem Journal, April 17, 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment