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Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
The still unfinished business of police reform
When lawmakers finally reached agreement on the wide-ranging piece of reform legislation in 2020 — which ranged from banning choke holds to creating new standards for certifying those with arrest powers — they largely punted on a change that would have made it easier for victims of police misconduct to get justice while still leaving in place protections for the vast majority of officers who do the job honorably. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up That reform involves the complicated issue of qualified immunity for police officers — a doctrine that rightly shields police from civil lawsuits while doing their duty but has also shielded many of those bad actors accused of abusing police powers. Advertisement The issue is far from theoretical here. A Advertisement The Innocence Project warned a As a practical matter, victims' only option is typically to take their chances in federal court. The police reform law made only one tweak in the rather contentious immunity doctrine here and that was to remove its blanket protections from those officers who had been decertified. Bigda has But as the American Civil Liberties Union told that same commission, the POST's process of decertification can take years, and '[v]ictims of violence should not have to wait for an administrative process to conclude before they can have their day in court.' Now the lawmakers who chaired that special commission — which failed to reach consensus on major changes to qualified immunity in 2022 — are attempting to make good on one of its recommendations, by easing the path for such suits using the state's civil rights law. The language should be removed because those are far from the only kinds of misconduct; for instance, the commission's report lays out a hypothetical scenario in which an officer shoots someone without justification but can avoid liability because a gunshot isn't 'threats, intimidation, or coercion.' Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, called the phrase a 'crucial flaw' in the law. Advertisement 'This language is unique to Massachusetts, and it means that even egregious cases of police misconduct often don't get past the courthouse steps,' she said in a statement to the editorial board. 'That's obviously wrong, and it's just one reason why [the bill] is so sorely needed.' The bill, she added, 'would allow courts to break the cycle of misconduct and establish clear legal guidelines to stop police from acting with impunity.' Police in the state, including the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, and the Massachusetts Fraternal Order of Police registered their opposition to the bill during a recent 'This is not about shielding misconduct,' Eric Atstupenas, general counsel to the chiefs association, told the Judiciary Committee. 'Accountability certainly exists through federal litigation, through [Peace Officer Standards and Training] decertification, through strong internal discipline. What does not exist is a state ready for the wave of litigation this bill would invite.' He's right in that nearly all lawsuits today are indeed pursued in federal court. But those efforts are often to little avail. 'If this bill were to become law, the state would become the preferred forum, not because it serves victims any better but because it becomes the force of leverage, or it creates leverage, not justice,' Atstupenas said. 'It's going to create longer timelines, higher costs, more settlements driven by financial pressures, not by the merits of the particular case.' Frankly, though, the idea of creating some legal 'leverage' for victims of police misconduct and more timely settlements doesn't sound like a bad thing — if it makes police departments sit up and take notice of misconduct and deal with it promptly, rather than close ranks around officers unworthy of the uniform. Advertisement Since the death of George Floyd, a number of states — Colorado, New Mexico, and Connecticut to name just a few — have continued to whittle away at their police immunity laws. This is far from the total dismantling of police immunity many advocates wanted during the fight for the police reform bill, but it is a worthwhile improvement in delivering justice that is still a work in progress. Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us
GMA Network
16-07-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
October execution date set for Texas man in 'shaken baby' case
HOUSTON, Texas - A Texas judge on Wednesday set a new execution date for an autistic man convicted in a problematic "shaken baby" case. Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set October 16 as the date for Robert Roberson to be executed by lethal injection for the 2002 death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki. Roberson, 58, had been scheduled to die on October 17 of last year at the state penitentiary in Huntsville but his execution was put on hold after he was subpoenaed to testify before a Texas House of Representatives committee. The Texas Supreme Court temporarily stayed his execution in response to the extraordinary subpoena from state lawmakers looking into Roberson's controversial conviction and the use of "junk science" in criminal prosecutions. A bipartisan group of 86 Texas lawmakers had urged clemency for Roberson, citing "voluminous new scientific evidence" that cast doubt on his guilt. Roberson would be the first person executed in the United States based on a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, according to his lawyers. His case has drawn the attention of not only Texas lawmakers but also best-selling American novelist John Grisham, medical experts and the Innocence Project, which works to reverse wrongful convictions. Also among his supporters is the man who put him behind bars -- Brian Wharton, the former chief detective in the town of Palestine -- who has said "knowing everything that I know now, I am firmly convinced that Robert is an innocent man." Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson's attorneys, criticized the decision to set an execution date while the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is considering new evidence in the case. "Texans should be outraged that the court has scheduled an execution date for a demonstrably innocent man," Sween said in a statement. "Everyone who has taken the time to look at the evidence of Robert Roberson's innocence... has reached the same conclusion: Nikki's death was a terrible tragedy. "Robert did not kill her. There was no crime." Roberson has always maintained his innocence and his lawyers said his chronically ill daughter died of natural and accidental causes, not abuse. The diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, made at the hospital where Roberson's daughter died, was erroneous, they said, and the cause of death was pneumonia, aggravated by doctors prescribing improper medication. Roberson's autism spectrum disorder, which was not diagnosed until 2018, also contributed to his arrest and conviction, according to his lawyers. There have been 26 executions in the United States this year, including four in Texas. — Agence France-Presse
France 24
16-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
October execution date set for Texas man in 'shaken baby' case
Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set October 16 as the date for Robert Roberson to be executed by lethal injection for the 2002 death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki. Roberson, 58, had been scheduled to die on October 17 of last year at the state penitentiary in Huntsville but his execution was put on hold after he was subpoenaed to testify before a Texas House of Representatives committee. The Texas Supreme Court temporarily stayed his execution in response to the extraordinary subpoena from state lawmakers looking into Roberson's controversial conviction and the use of "junk science" in criminal prosecutions. A bipartisan group of 86 Texas lawmakers had urged clemency for Roberson, citing "voluminous new scientific evidence" that cast doubt on his guilt. Roberson would be the first person executed in the United States based on a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, according to his lawyers. His case has drawn the attention of not only Texas lawmakers but also best-selling American novelist John Grisham, medical experts and the Innocence Project, which works to reverse wrongful convictions. Also among his supporters is the man who put him behind bars -- Brian Wharton, the former chief detective in the town of Palestine -- who has said "knowing everything that I know now, I am firmly convinced that Robert is an innocent man." Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson's attorneys, criticized the decision to set an execution date while the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is considering new evidence in the case. "Texans should be outraged that the court has scheduled an execution date for a demonstrably innocent man," Sween said in a statement. "Everyone who has taken the time to look at the evidence of Robert Roberson's innocence... has reached the same conclusion: Nikki's death was a terrible tragedy. "Robert did not kill her. There was no crime." Roberson has always maintained his innocence and his lawyers said his chronically ill daughter died of natural and accidental causes, not abuse. The diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, made at the hospital where Roberson's daughter died, was erroneous, they said, and the cause of death was pneumonia, aggravated by doctors prescribing improper medication. Roberson's autism spectrum disorder, which was not diagnosed until 2018, also contributed to his arrest and conviction, according to his lawyers. There have been 26 executions in the United States this year, including four in Texas.
San Francisco Chronicle
10-07-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
2 men cleared in 1994 killing that sent them to prison for decades. New DNA tests cast doubt
NEW YORK (AP) — Two men who went to prison as teenagers for a 1994 killing were exonerated Thursday, after prosecutors said new DNA testing and a fresh look at other evidence made it impossible to stand by the convictions. Brian Boles and Charles Collins served decades behind bars before they were paroled; Collins in 2017 and Boles just last year. They're now free of the cloud of their convictions in the death of James Reid, an octogenarian who was attacked in his Harlem apartment. A judge scrapped the convictions and the underlying charges. Boles "lost three decades of his life for a crime he had nothing to do with,' said his lawyer Jane Pucher, who works with the Innocence Project. Collins' lead lawyer, Christopher Conniff, said Thursday's court action righted 'a terrible injustice.' 'While today's order cannot return to him the 20-plus years he spent in prison, he is happy that his name is finally cleared,' said Conniff, who's with the firm Ropes & Gray. A message was sent Thursday to a possible relative of Reid's to seek comment on the developments. A maintenance worker found Reid, 85, beaten and apparently strangled with a telephone cord, after noticing the man's apartment door was open, according to a New York Times report at the time. The apartment had been ransacked, according to the newspaper. Boles lived in the same building, and Collins was staying with him. The teens came under suspicion after they were arrested in a robbery about a week later. Collins and Boles gave confessions that their lawyers say were false and prompted by heavy-handed and threatening police interrogations. Boles recanted his admission before his trial, but he was convicted of murder; Collins subsequently pleaded guilty. Both were 17. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office now says the purported confessions were contradicted by witness statements indicating Reid was alive hours after the teens claimed he had been killed. The men's trial lawyers and courts never got to see those statements. Nor were they given a lab report that undermined a detective's testimony linking Collins to a footprint found at the crime scene. Bragg, a Democrat who wasn't in office at the time, demurred Thursday when asked about officers' conduct, instead faulting 'the systems that were in place decades ago.' All the police and prosecutors who worked on the case likely retired or changed jobs years ago. While these old pieces of evidence proved to be problematic, new technology blew another hole in the case when prosecutors and defense lawyers reinvestigated it. A new round of DNA testing, using techniques unavailable in the 1990s, found that genetic material on Reid's fingernails didn't match Boles or Collins. It's not clear whose DNA it is, and Bragg said for technical reasons, the sample can't be fed into law enforcement databases to search broadly for a match there. But it could prove very helpful if a lead is developed in some other way, he said, urging anyone with any information to come forward. 'The injustice had many dimensions,' Bragg said. 'Mr. Boles and Mr. Collins — decades in prison. And a family that does not have closure. And a society that has someone at large amongst us for decades for a homicide that remains unsolved.' Boles, 48, took college classes in prison, earned a sociology degree this May and is building a career in working with marginalized people, his lawyers said. Lawyers for Collins, 49, didn't shed light on his pursuits.
Winnipeg Free Press
10-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
2 men cleared in 1994 killing that sent them to prison for decades. New DNA tests cast doubt
NEW YORK (AP) — Two men who went to prison as teenagers for a 1994 killing were exonerated Thursday, after prosecutors said new DNA testing and a fresh look at other evidence made it impossible to stand by the convictions. Brian Boles and Charles Collins served decades behind bars before they were paroled; Collins in 2017 and Boles just last year. They're now free of the cloud of their convictions in the death of James Reid, an octogenarian who was attacked in his Harlem apartment. A judge scrapped the convictions and the underlying charges. Boles 'lost three decades of his life for a crime he had nothing to do with,' said his lawyer Jane Pucher, who works with the Innocence Project. Collins' lead lawyer, Christopher Conniff, said Thursday's court action righted 'a terrible injustice.' 'While today's order cannot return to him the 20-plus years he spent in prison, he is happy that his name is finally cleared,' said Conniff, who's with the firm Ropes & Gray. A message was sent Thursday to a possible relative of Reid's to seek comment on the developments. A maintenance worker found Reid, 85, beaten and apparently strangled with a telephone cord, after noticing the man's apartment door was open, according to a New York Times report at the time. The apartment had been ransacked, according to the newspaper. Boles lived in the same building, and Collins was staying with him. The teens came under suspicion after they were arrested in a robbery about a week later. Collins and Boles gave confessions that their lawyers say were false and prompted by heavy-handed and threatening police interrogations. Boles recanted his admission before his trial, but he was convicted of murder; Collins subsequently pleaded guilty. Both were 17. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office now says the purported confessions were contradicted by witness statements indicating Reid was alive hours after the teens claimed he had been killed. The men's trial lawyers and courts never got to see those statements. Nor were they given a lab report that undermined a detective's testimony linking Collins to a footprint found at the crime scene. Bragg, a Democrat who wasn't in office at the time, demurred Thursday when asked about officers' conduct, instead faulting 'the systems that were in place decades ago.' All the police and prosecutors who worked on the case likely retired or changed jobs years ago. While these old pieces of evidence proved to be problematic, new technology blew another hole in the case when prosecutors and defense lawyers reinvestigated it. A new round of DNA testing, using techniques unavailable in the 1990s, found that genetic material on Reid's fingernails didn't match Boles or Collins. It's not clear whose DNA it is, and Bragg said for technical reasons, the sample can't be fed into law enforcement databases to search broadly for a match there. But it could prove very helpful if a lead is developed in some other way, he said, urging anyone with any information to come forward. 'The injustice had many dimensions,' Bragg said. 'Mr. Boles and Mr. Collins — decades in prison. And a family that does not have closure. And a society that has someone at large amongst us for decades for a homicide that remains unsolved.' Boles, 48, took college classes in prison, earned a sociology degree this May and is building a career in working with marginalized people, his lawyers said. Lawyers for Collins, 49, didn't shed light on his pursuits.
