If you are looking for a whale of a "fish story" you should have Mr. Green tell you how he and his office were solely responsible for the exoneration of Douglas Warney who was wrongfully convicted of Murder 1st - a murder he did not commit:
"An investigation initiated by District Attorney Michael C. Green and led by the Second Assistant District Attorney Larry K. Bernstein, Chief of the Appeals Bureau, Wendy Lehmann, and Investigator Robert Siersma of the District Attorney’s Office, and Investigator Thomas Donovan of the Rochester Police Department resulted in the conviction of Eldred Johnson, Jr. based on DNA evidence and a confession. As a result of the evidence uncovered by our investigation, the People did not oppose an application on behalf of Douglas Warney to vacate his conviction and the dismissal of the indictment against Mr. Warney. Mr. Warney was released from state prison, where he had been incarcerated since his conviction in 1997." - MONROE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE ANNUAL REPORT 2006.
This whale of a story completely ignores the fact that Warney's exoneration came after years of tireless work by The Innocence Project and after Green's continued opposition to the re-testing of the DNA evidence that could exonerate Warney by using more sophisticated DNA testing.
Why was Green so obstinate you ask? Well, the answer is easily found. The quality of the case against Warney was recognized even prior to his indictment in 1996 by NY Times writer Bob Herbert:
"Prosecutors tend to salivate over the benefits, political and otherwise, of sending someone to the great beyond. Lethal injections, hangings, firing squads, whatever. Death penalty cases excite them. They know that three-fourths of all poll respondents favor capital punishment and that the population is programmed to applaud killing in the name of justice. A successful capital prosecution can make a prosecutor feel powerful, popular and righteous all at the same time.
But there are problems with the case against Mr. Warney, who, three weeks after his arrest, still has not been indicted. The closer one looks at the case, the more it appears that Douglas Warney did not kill William Beason.
Mr. Warney, 34, is a pathetic individual. He is retarded, delusional, suicidal and in the last stages of AIDS. He has signed a confession but his lawyer, Thomas H. Dunn of the Capital Defenders Office, noted that Mr. Warney "is suffering from AIDS-related dementia." Someone seeking the facts in this case, and not just a notch in a prosecutor's belt, might see that as one reason why much of Mr. Warney's confession is so out of touch with reality.
Example: Mr. Warney said in his confession that he stabbed Mr. Beason many times and "even sliced his throat to make sure" during a struggle in Mr. Beason's kitchen. It turns out that despite the fury of this alleged attack no blood was found in the kitchen. Investigators believe Mr. Beason was murdered while in his bed.
Example: Mr. Warney said he cut his finger during the attack, but a medical examination shortly after his arrest showed no evidence of a cut. Blood was found at the scene that did not match the blood of the victim, but tests have excluded Mr. Warney as the source of that blood.
Example: Mr. Warney said he drove his brother David's brown Chevrolet to Mr. Beason's house and returned it to his brother's residence after the murder. According to Mr. Dunn, David Warney does not own an operable car. He once owned a brown Chevrolet, but it hasn't been registered to him since 1990. No brown Chevrolet has been found.
Example: Mr. Warney said he disposed of his own bloody clothes in a pail outside his apartment. The Rochester Police Department, according to Mr. Dunn, never tried to locate the clothes. Investigators for the Capital Defenders Office conducted a videotaped search of the area in the vicinity of the apartment (there had been no trash pickup in the intervening period), but no clothes were found.
Example: Mr. Warney said that on the day of the murder he shoveled snow at Mr. Beason's residence. "I went outside," the confession states, "and shoveled his driveway." A neighbor of Mr. Beason's who was home all day said no one shoveled Mr. Beason's driveway.
Mr. Warney's confession appears to be the rantings of a man who has only a passing acquaintance with reality. In court hearings thus far, the District Attorney of Monroe County, Howard Relin, has offered no physical evidence linking Mr. Warney to the crime."
- Bob Herbert, "In America; Prosecutor's Prize," NEW YORK TIMES, January 29, 1996.
The fact that our community swallowed this "fish story" hook, line and sinker is sad.
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