Pittsburgh to participate in Freedom March for the wrongfully convicted

June 22, 1:16 PMPittsburgh Grassroots ExaminerMike Boda

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JUSTICE, n. A commodity which is a more or less adulterated condition the State sells to the citizen as a reward for his allegiance, taxes and personal service.
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Most people are in possession of a healthy skepticism regarding the competence and integrity of government employees and entities.  Even the bureaucrats themselves, elected, appointed, or some combination of the two, rhetorically bash "big government" (the tatters of any social safety net) as they campaign, while increasing the size and scope of the State. This was one of many ways that "liberal", Bill Clinton, continued  the so-called "Reagan Revolution".

Whether it is a driver's license center, the IRS, or some other agency of your choosing, almost everyone has at least one or two pet bureaucracies that they consider to be the epitome of incompetence and inefficiency. These agencies tend to be chronically understaffed, yet their workloads increase as they continue to be granted more authority over our lives. The real people that populate these constructs are only human and they have bad days and make mistakes like the rest of us. Most people have life experiences that help them to understand that governments are not the infallible, omniscient, altruistic giants that they work so hard to convince us they are. 

Unfortunately, unless an individual or their loved ones have experienced firsthand, the kinds of flaws and shortcomings that are built into bureaucracies, as they exist within the legal system, as they have experienced with with a tax bill or building permit, they tend to assume it is somehow infallible. This is especially troubling, since the legal system represents the direct application of  government power, which is primarily the monopoly on "legitimate" violence, and is biased along racial and class lines, among others. Many hard-working, well-intentioned people, have their worldview irreparably shaken when themselves or someone close to them is wrongly accused or convicted of breaking the law. The same graft, corruption, and politicking that exist in other sectors of government are present in the unabashedly, for-profit legal industry, which has a much higher capacity to ruin, or even take lives, than the other agencies typically singled out for abuse. These kinds of personal experiences seem to be compelling the organizers of this coming Saturday's Freedom March, for the wrongfully convicted, to be held locally, indowntown Pittsburgh, at 11am, in the portico of the City-County Building, as well as other locations nationwide.

Local organizer and contact, Mary Ann Lubas (724-695-1964), whose son was convicted of a crime of which he maintains his innocence, issued the following statement on June 19, 2009:

NATIONAL FREEDOM MARCH FOR THE WRONGLY CONVICTED

In order to raise public awareness of a national problem that has become a national shame, a National Freedom March for the Wrongfully Convicted is being held simultaneously in many states on June 27th. The Pennsylvania march will be held in downtown Pittsburgh on the Steps of the City County Building starting at 11:00. There will be speakers and informational materials on wrongful convictions.

PENNSYLVANIA— An estimated 10% of all prisoners in the U.S. have been wrongfully convicted. According to a recent report released by the Pew Center on the States, the U.S. correctional population -- those in jail, prison, on probation or on parole -- totaled 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 adults. This means that up to 730,000 people in the correctional population may have been wrongfully convicted. In the last 3 decades 238 Americans have been exonerated with DNA evidence after spending an average of 12 years incarcerated.

The severity of this problem has begun to be recognized in Pennsylvania and other states.

Speakers at the March will include Dave O’Hara, a member of F.A.S.T. False Allegations Solution Team, a representative from the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the ACLU have also been invited.

Dave O’Hara had been falsely accused for a crime that cost him dearly financially and emotionally. He is now dedicated to helping others that were wrongfully accused and convicted and remains an active member of F.A.S.T. Mr. O’Hara’s speech will provide insights into the devastation a wrongful conviction can cause to the innocent and their families as well as the need for systematic reform to help reduce these injustices. Another aspect will be the role that judges play in perpetuating wrongful convictions by putting procedure over innocence, rubber stamp denying appeals, and generally looking for any and every means possible to affirm convictions no matter what the facts are or the quality of the legal arguments which are based upon the fairness of trials.