16-05-2014, 01:27 AM
(This post was last modified: 16-05-2014, 04:24 AM by Drew Phipps.)
Joseph McBride Wrote:"Prosectors in Dallas have said for years, 'Any prosecutor can convict a guilty man. It takes a great prosecutor to convict an innocent man.'"
You know that's a joke, right? Not a very funny joke, to be sure, but still a bit of the dark humor that many folks in the criminal justice develop as sort of a callus to the miserable business that is criminal justice.
Henry Wade and the DA's office barely got involved in the Kennedy/Tippet case. They filed a charge and went to a couple press conferences and talked to (too many) reporters. Those folks didn't have time to "railroad" anyone. If there was evidence planted in advance, the conspirators did it. If there was evidence fabricated (or lost) in the investigation, the blame for that must fall squarely on the FBI and the Dallas PD. Prosecutors don't like to get too closely involved with the evidence collection part of the investigation, because that tends to make them witnesses and thereby unable to perform their prosecutorial duties. After indictment, of course, that changes.
High visibility cases, like this one, carry a great deal of pressure, which does tend to have a corrupting effect. But I doubt that the "pressure" had a chance to "get to" the DA, who is more of a benchwarmer during the early phase of a case.