Our World

After 15 Years of Prison, Man set free

Fifteen years ago Jeffrey Mark Deskovic was sentenced, by a jury, to serve 15 years in prison. Deskovic was convicted at the age of 16 of raping, beating and strangling a classmate. During the trial the jurors were told that the DNA at the scene did not connect Deskovic to the crime. Instead the jurors went of the statement given by a police officer, during his testimony, saying that Deskovic had confessed to the crime. The judge gave Deskovic a sentence of fifteen years to life for his crime. Deskovic was put in prison at age 17.
Recently a judge set Deskovic free. Deskovic now 33 years old was said to be not guilty after a more sophisticated DNA test proved that he did not commit the crime. Upon hearing the news, Deskovic sat very still. Slowly he rose to hug his lawyers and quietly left the court room. Deskovic has been arguing his innocence for years.
“I was supposed to finish out my education, begin a career,” he said. “Marry, have a family, spend some time with my family, share the last years of my grandmother’s life with her.” Deskovic was devastated while talking to reporters about the years he lost being locked up for a crime he did not commit.
Police took Deskovic as a suspect when he became exceedingly interested in the trial and insisted on being at the crime scene. Deskovic says that during his trial his confession was made after hours of investigation and was pressurized into the statement. He also argues that he was not given time to seek legal consul.
The real man guilty of killing Angela Correa was traced and is currently imprisoned for another murder. The name has not yet been released.
Even the victim’s step father says he has a feeling that the police had the wrong man in custody. “He went to church with our family, he ate at our home, he was a friend,” he said. “He lost all his life. He didn’t finish school. He lost the best years of his life.”
During Deskovic’s sentence he spent much of his time playing chess, he also converted to Islam. “It was a major factor in surviving prison in terms of my mental sanity,” he said. “It gave me something else to throw myself to.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/nyregion/20cnd-overturn.html?hp&ex=1158811200&en=ef631e3810137b02&ei=5094&partner=homepage

posted by Anonymous @ 9/20/2006 04:46:00 PM