Innocence is not always enough

Here is a revealing story which shows how a lack of self starting inertia can affect our justice system. It takes pro bono lawyers to get the job done.

Pardon These Innocent Men, Governor Warner: Margaret Carlson Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- It can be easier to put a man in jail than to get him out, even in America, even when everything says you're innocent. Sometimes being innocent works against you, because it means someone somewhere has made a mistake. The system rallies round the accuser, not the wrongly accused. Better that an innocent man remain in prison than the legal system be put on trial. That's the sad state of affairs in Norfolk, Virginia, where three young sailors appear to have been pressured into confessing to the rape and murder of a Navy wife, Michelle Moore-Bosko. The three men, who are 29, 33 and 35 years old, are serving life terms with no possibility of parole. Their cause has been taken up by the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal clinic, and by three law firms working pro bono, Hogan & Hartson LLP, Holland & Knight LLP and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

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