A tale of " blind justice" in the USA

[VCheng]

Having lived both in Pakistan and the USA (amongst other places) I think I will still continue to trust the US legal system more than any other!

 

[Spring Onion]

There are anomalies in judicial systems everywhere, no system is fallible.

By using just one such example that you hunted out and found, highlighted by the media of that same country, and using it to show your own Justice system in a good light..........is a sign of insecurity.

i see this is more authentic than the christian woman thread about Pakistan where NO name of the judge, no name of the court and no evidence has been given in the news item on some obscured internet website.

 

[Spring Onion]

Brilliant - take an isolated case with no details, and smear it in such a way that the entire nation is guilty of gross injustice, and the whole system is "broken."

There is only one "spin" I'm seeing here.

Take it other way round instead of putting blame on entire system just discuss this case and give your justification

 

[VCheng]

Take it other way round instead of putting blame on entire system just discuss this case and give your justification

Here is some information about the case from Wikipedia:

Sara Kruzan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

More:

Text from: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_W_wkruzan17.46f8c6d.html

New murder trial denied for Riverside woman supported by Demi Moore

10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, February 16, 2010
By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise


A judge has quickly rejected a petition seeking a new trial for a woman who killed her former pimp inside a Riverside motel room nearly 16 years ago and now says she had no chance to show she was the victim of "intimate partner battering."

On Feb. 5, attorneys for Sara Kruzan, who was 16 when she shot George Gilbert "G.G." Howard, filed their petition in Riverside County Superior Court. It was meant as a first step in addressing a case that, through Twitter and actress Demi Moore, became a celebrity cause.

In the 60-page request for a writ of habeas corpus, attorneys also argued that the trial judge erroneously believed he had no discretion to impose anything but a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.


But last week, Judge F. Paul Dickerson quashed the action, writing that Kruzan failed to show a reasonable probability that her trial could have been different had expert testimony been admitted on intimate partner battering and its effects.
He also said her attorneys "failed to back up" the contention that the original judge misapplied law in her sentencing.

"We're obviously disappointed," said Marc Boman, one of Kruzan's attorneys. "But we will continue to pursue this."

Special circumstances attached to Kruzan's first-degree murder conviction allowed a mandatory life prison term, despite her age. At her 1995 sentencing, the judge said the teen had "no moral scruple" to shoot one pimp at another's behest.

Prosecutors had argued that Kruzan was no longer employed by Howard when she lured him to the Dynasty Suites on Iowa Avenue in March 1994, shot him in the neck with a pistol and stole $1,500 from his pocket and his Jaguar.

She confessed upon her arrest four days later, eventually testifying that Howard's rival had threatened her life if she didn't carry out the crime.

No Expert Testimony

Kruzan's attorneys, working with the National Center for Youth Law, had asked that either her sentence be set aside, her conviction dismissed or reduced to voluntary manslaughter, or the court order a new evidence hearing.

"No one was given even a partial explanation of the forces that combined to cause an adolescent with no prior criminal record to shoot a 36-year-old in a motel room," they wrote of the lack of expert testimony.

Now 32, Kruzan has benefited from belated interest in a videotaped interview she gave several years ago from prison. In the 2006 clip, she calmly describes being abused as a child, raped and groomed for prostitution from as early as 11.

The Human Rights Watch-produced segment, posted online to bring attention to California's youth sentencing laws, went viral last fall. Demi Moore, an activist against human sex trafficking, linked the video to her popular Twitter account.

"She was a child. Unprotected," Moore wrote. "I think she deserves a 2nd change. Do you?"

Although Kruzan already had friends and attorneys working her cause, the tweet helped make it an international story.

Abused upbringing

In Riverside, however, Howard's relatives took offense at Kruzan being classified as the victim, and they denied that he was a pimp.

A declaration from Kruzan, filed with the petition, described Howard as a controlling presence who found her in a vulnerable state. Prior to meeting the man, she said, she had been molested by her mother's friends and relatives, lived in a drug house and attempted suicide.

She said Howard showered her and her friends with gifts, and made her believe she would escape her life of abuse, which included being gang raped at 13. Instead, she wrote, he slowly indoctrinated her into a life of prostitution.

At 15, Kruzan moved in with a friend's uncle, a 25-year-old parolee. That man arranged for Kruzan to rob Howard, knowing he had a large amount of money.

With a pistol in her purse, Kruzan took Howard to a movie and then to the Dynasty Suites. Inside, after Howard undressed, turned on a pornographic movie and pulled out a sex toy, Kruzan shot him.

Her original attorney persuaded her to reject a plea bargain that offered possible parole. At trial, she was the only witness for her defense.

"Unprepared for cross-examination, deeply depressed, medicated and unable to joust with a skilled prosecuting attorney," the petition reads, "Sara agreed with virtually every leading question the prosecutor asked."

A probation officer indicated that special circumstances of murder in the course of robbery and lying in wait required that Kruzan be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. But a then-recent change in state law had given courts discretion with eligible juveniles.

"With no witnesses to provide scientific, behavioral or other evidence concerning the degree of Sara's culpability and potential for reform, the court imposed what it mistakenly believed to be the only possible sentence: life without the possibility of parole," the petition reads.

Dickerson, the judge who rejected the action Feb. 10, did not ask prosecutors for a reply or request a hearing of further evidence. Boman, the attorney, said his team will attempt to present more evidence to show that the lack of expert testimony directly affected the original verdict.

Since being sentenced, Kruzan has earned her high school diploma and has enrolled in college courses. She leads her prison's Committee For Youth, and now resides in its "Honor Dorm."

"Sara has accomplished all this behind bars," the petition reads, "and with the belief that she would remain there for the rest of her life."

Reach Paul LaRocco at 951-368-9468 or plarocco@PE.com

 

[Chogy]

Take it other way round instead of putting blame on entire system just discuss this case and give your justification

I denounce any injustice, anywhere in the world.

U.S. trials like this are 99.99% jury trials. They take 12 normal citizens who determine the guilt or innocence based upon the evidence. I'd rather have a trial by 12 citizen jurors than have some big-wig judge pass sentence on me. Who knows what his agenda is?

There is no human-made system that is perfect. There are always mistakes. (O.J. Simpson set free). When injustices are seen, people of sound moral heart should speak up.

 

[VCheng]

Please see above. The legal system is still working in this case too. The original law has been changed, and a petition is underway.

The US legal system may be slow but it works a vast majority of the time the first time, and works out the correct answer in the few exceptions where it does not achieve that the first time.

PS: Even O.J. got convicted later that is perhaps quite effective too.