Thursday, December 17, 2009
DNA clears Fla. man after 35 years behind bars
In 1974, James Bain was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and raping a 9-year-old-boy. Now, 35 years later, he has been released thanks to DNA testing which has proven him innocent. Bain spent more time in prison than any of the other 246 people found innocent by DNA testing. The longest-serving before Bain was James Lee, who was released last year after spending more than 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The 54-year-old Bain used a cell phone for the first time and called his elderly mother to tell her that he had been released. He stated that he was not angry, and that he was looking forward to some fried turkey and Dr. Pepper. The courage of this man is unfathomable. I really hope that the rest of this man's destroyed life is full of joy.
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5 comments:
I hope this man can live out the rest of his life in peace and perhaps even get a reasonable stipend from the government who wrongly convicted him. Thank god we now have improved technology so we can put more of the RIGHT people behind bars, or at least keep out the WRONG people. At the same time, if DNA testing has only cleared 246 people, not to make lesser of the awful position these innocent people were put in, but that is not a huge number, which would make me believe that generally most of the people convicted of these crimes are in fact guilty, so at least we are doing somethings right. Still, I wish all the best to this man.
Side note-what connected him to the crime in the first place that was concrete enough to have him convicted as guilty.
Wow that's crazy to hear. I cannot imagine how it would feel to spend 35 years in prison for a crime that you didn't even commit. I wonder if they caught the right guy. Just as Sally said, I really hope that this man can live peacefully and happily for the rest of his life. It isn't fair that he had 35 years of his life wasted behind bars for being wrongly convicted. I feel very sorry for this man. :[ I am very surprised that "he stated that he was not angry." I would be extremely mad if something like this happened to me.
Whenever I hear these stories, it makes me appreciate the fact that I am growing up in a generation where I won't have to deal with this, haha.
I feel like the government should give this man a MAJOR compensation for taking 35 years of his life.
It's terrible to hear the innocent men and women have to spend countless years behind bars because of wrong conviction. I remember hearing once that a man was released from prison after 50+ years because he was proven innocent. This man was given a small amount of money as compensation (maybe a few thousand dollars). Personally, I don't material things can compensate for a chunk of my life.
Wow this is ridiculous. He spent the best years of his life in prison. He should get some kind of reward to pay back all those years or something. There's so many things he's missed out on, but at least he's happy and appreciating the little things in life. I'd be pretty frustrated if I were him..
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