When the only way to go free is to plead guilty
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- čas přidán 20. 02. 2018
- A confounding case in Baltimore shows just how far prosecutors will go to keep a win on the books.
Check out ProPublica’s feature story on the use of the Alford plea here: www.propublica.org/article/wh...
In 1987 police detectives - who’d later be made famous by David Simon, creator of “The Wire” - used flimsy evidence to pin a burglary, rape and murder case on James Thompson and James Owens. They were both sentenced to life in prison. Then 20 years later, DNA evidence cleared each of them of the rape and unraveled the state’s theory of the crime. But instead of exonerating the two men, prosecutors dangled the prison keys, pushing them to plead guilty to the crime in exchange for immediate freedom. What prosecutors offered was a controversial deal called an Alford plea. Last year, ProPublica investigated prosecutors’ use of Alford pleas and similar deals in cases of wrongful convictions, and found they often cover up official misconduct. Check out the story of the two Jameses above to see what happened after the Alford plea was offered in their cases.
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What about your racist lies about the Netherlands? Who told you that nonsense and where are your sources?
hey guys, just an idea, but you should go more public with these video, so that every state in USA knows about them, so that both man get to be known and what happens when a broke up system just wants to finish a case no matter the consecuences!!!
Not sure about MD but in many states it's illegal to ask if a person is a felon on a job application.
I've been screwed by the justice system. It happens. You get told "go to prison for a few years, or plead guilty of a case you could beat if you were a rich guy, and get probation." 5 times on probation for BS that they make you sign papers saying you can't go back "ex-post-facto" and be found innocent... everyone seems to get screwed by the system.
Honestly Vox this is going pretty low. I mean you are acting like Owens and Thompson went through the same thing. Thompson falsified evidence, accused an innocent person knowingly of a crime he did not commit. He took away his own life for $1000, accused and took away the life of an innocent man and robbed the family of justice because he made false accusations. Like there is no comparison. Owens is truly innocent, Thompson is guilty of multiple crimes, so as far as him being a felon he deserves what he got.
So two innocent people went to jail for more than two decades because one was a greedy liar.
MRLONG758 the liar is not innocent at all
Thompson misled the police and the prosecutor,, Made owens lose 20 decades of his life to a "Simple lie" Just so that he could get 1000 dollars.. Oh! he also didn't care about a murderer getting away just so he could make a quick buck.
Long story short.. Thompson is not innocent.
@@ggh2140 *2 decades
G Gh you probably live a sheltered life as a spoilt brat, do you know what impoverished people have to do for money? But of course since you’ve probably never experienced it, it’s a an atrocious action. The world isn’t black and white, it’s shades of grey.
@@thekingblingbling7589 I don't see how that justifies any of what he did? Also ad hominem. "do you know what impoverished people have to do for money?" No, he didn't "have" to do that, lol.
the real murderer is laughing their socks off. can you imagine doing something so terrible, and 2 other people take the blame! and it all started over a 1000 dollar reward
Money is a hell of a drug
Beach Looking Guy I need to travel back in time to show the police this video
@@MW-dg7gl no they usually offer the reward for info that leads directly to the capture. if you call in with irrelevant information you don't get paid. and usually the people that know the information they want, are criminals too. so they get out of paying them anything.
@@MW-dg7gl they'll do anything to fix a big case
He killed and still living freely unbelievable 😨
Imagine spending half of your life in jail because your greedy friend framed you for a just $1000 🤦♂️
Lol sounds like crackhead situations
At that time is like 10k now
It wasn't his friends fault he did cause it but thats all the police
Two things I learned here, that I already knew:
1. Be very careful with what type of people you hang around with
2. Never travel to america
high five
You said it best brother
Scary here 😔✋
Hahahahahaha
Yes
"I'm totally innocent but plead guilty!" any system that allows this has no regard for justice!
@Daniela Ferreira but didn't they have a prof that's reliable, that they are innocent? And why would u accept the plea, trading ur reputation for freedome? Isn't freedom free for the good ppl? If I'm wrong sorry and plz correct me
@@AirishGabo He took the deal because he was tired of being locked up and wanted to be released right away rather than wait months or even years for an new trial. As silly as this seems you can never understand until you, yourself are locked up. There is nothing worse than being in jail/prison where you literally have your freedoms taken from you. There is nothing worse than not being able to do what you want, when you want to do it.
I'm astonished at how 'keeping score' seems more important for the prosecutors than doing the right thing. Why would they go to that length to protect some else's mistake a long time ago. And even if the victims sued the city so what, it's not like the money is coming out of their pockets. I just feel that in this part of the world, individuals wouldn't go that far to protect the institution.
@@AirishGaboyou do know you can be innocent and still get convicted
its a legal system, not a justice system
Owens better get MILLIONS not a couple hundred thousand.
Owens received $9 MILLION in settlement from the city of Baltimore!
And then some innocent dude gets in jail for more than 30 years Becouse a 14year old kid said he was the murderer. He got out they gave him 67$ only🙄 that's 30 years of his life gone for 67$. Wow
Barbie Kat and we still have people on the streets that are broke 😔
@@roistin3944 who are you talking about?????
@@brielle7226 Yeah, but I'd rather be broke on the street for a few years than lose 20 years of my life...
*Tries to frame an innocent man.
*Gets convicted of the very same crime he tried to frame someone of.
Surprised pickachu face
Stupidity has no cure
after owens has sued the state, he should sue thompson
I doubt Thompson has any assets, prob wouldnt be worth it, and even if you could get a few thousand dollars from him, considering he framed him for murder over $1,000, i dont think i would risk having ANY further interaction with the dude over a couple thousand bucks- dude has the morality and intelligence of a pinecone
Thompson himself has nothing. You can’t get anything from a man that has nothing. He too no work and lost 20 years behind bar.
And win what his boots and shirts
I say, given the circumstances, Thompson has got enough just by the virtue of being unable to position himself in a job. That's his punishment, and a really hard one. It's curious that he committed such terrible mistakes both when he requested the 1000 dollar reward and when he took the deal to go free.
He's annoyed they never caught the real murderer, when in reality his lie is probably the biggest reason they never did. I do feel really sorry for Owens, but the other guy went to jail while trying to incriminate his totally innocent friend and make a quick buck. While also letting a real murderer get away. Don't get me wrong the police should have done a better job, but that doesn't absolve him.
digit432 agreed. Thompson is an idiot. Screwed over an innocent guy and then screwed over himself. I find it hard to believe when he said he didn’t know that taking the alford plea meant that he’d still be guilty. What kind of lawyer out there would not explain that to their client.
Sure but the police, detectives, and prosecutors are professionals whose job it is to figure this out. They basically didn't care that there was no other evidence or even a motive for the crime. Yes Thompson was wrong, but many others who had way more responsibility did not have any consequences at all, especially not jail.
CR S at most obstruction of justice if it’s classed as a felony, in this case it would be lying in court, he would have gotten 10 years at most.
I agree. His lie destroyed his life and another’s life.
digit agreed! perhaps ribs next?
Land of the free.
*terms and conditions may apply. Consulting your attorney to see if freedom is applicable to you.*
Home of the brave
*Certain rules and restrictions apply, void if bravery is not opportune*
Daniel Sadjadi Okay bud.
You need to go to work to LIVE.
You don't have to get married.
You don't have to have kids.
You pay taxes to sustain society.
You pay bills to sustain society.
You don't need to watch TV.
You don't need to follow fashion.
You don't need to act normal.
You follow the law so that you and others can LIVE.
Daniel Sadjadi doesn't sound anything better from (i suppose) your motherland, my beloved country. even though i suppose, from your name, your ancestor were immigrants, too, in my country.
ps: no hard feelings, ok? i don't know you nor your ancestors, only doing a little typical name profiling bitter joke. if you find it offending, i apologize sincerely.
Gas and Games beware of the cia killin ya for this comment
The most expensive $1,000 ever.
Dang right
He spent 27 years in prison, at 24 hours that 236k hours, which makes the time/money payoff 0,0004 cent per hour, which is 2300 times less than a wage of 10€ an hour. Yeah it wasnt a good investment
@@46Bax We got ourselves a clever man
Did he even get the money?
Thompson isn't the brightest bulb is he
@Scribbli Chheery Is he dead now?
Not the sharpest bowl in the bowl drawer
he wasnt the sharpest tool in the shed
Not the dankest strain in the grow room.
@@johnnyrottenpiss not the crispiest chip in the bag
If you force people to plead guilty for something they didn't do, you let killers run without fear of the police since people were convicted instead of them.
That's terrible, especially in a country where yon can be sentenced to death.
Private prisons etc.
thats criminal justice system for you..
but statistics says that you catched a guy who rapes womens and people think police did their job so
yeah, but you'd still have the real culprit running around, possibly doing the same thing again. And depending on how incompetent the next detectives are he might be doing it for a while.
How scary that you can lose so much time from your life for something you had nothing to do with, I felt really bad for Owens. I hope he gets compensated for the life he lost.
Just because someone else lied about you, it's worrying to think of how many people are in the same situation, where someone else's lie gets them in big trouble like that
no amount of money can repay the time he lost.
Most of them only get like 500K in compensation probably
Science with Katie depending on the state he lives in, he may or may not be compensated. Some states have resources and programs in place to compensate persons who have been wrongfully imprisoned, some states have nothing and those persons get nothing. Some walk out with what they came in with, some places may give you a bus ticket. It's not the same across all 50 states and it's not right in those states that don't try to give them something or help.
This is how it is in a shithole country.
This guy, who planted the knife deserved every Year he sat behind bars. Not only did he destroy the live of an innocent man, but also allowed the real murderer to get away, due to the police not making further investigations.
Not really. The police knew his story was implausible, but the state wanted an easy prosecution for good pr. They wanted an exit, and he gave it to them.
Exactly. I don't know why he thinks the police should reopen the investigation. It's a cold case because of him.
@@laurent1144 Excuse me? i dont know how people come up with these opinions like they didn't just watch and see that the police were aware that his story was implausible and they had given him a handwritten false story to follow up with..... word for word? even after two decades, they gave him Alford plea deal to keep from the investigation from being rightfully opened.
@@Mo-xh4vv he is still at fault for giving in a knife for 1000$ and trying to frame another man for the crime. Both him and the police are guilty.
I'm dumbfounded that the police seems more interested in solving a case just for 'the record' instead of actually catching a dangerous person who is potentially still roaming the streets.
"Society does not believe innocent people go to prison."
Such a powerful quote, yet it's the dark truth. For all our technology and science, the best justice system the US could come up with was one built on capitalism and public perception.
Sorenkair Extremely sad that 94% of those accused and their supposed victims will never get justice because that 94% are forced or threatened into taking a plea.
It's an accurate quote, BUT Thompson isn't an innocent person.
@@laurent1144 He was innocent of the crime he went to prison for.
Democracy, republic, I don't know why people are arguing over this when it's clearly an oligarchy.
战争的贪婪和仇恨是解决贫困和苦难的唯一办法。போரின் பேராசையும் வெறுப்பும்தான் வறுமைக்கும் துயரத்திற்கும் ஒரே தீர்வு.Ketamakan dan kebencian terhadap peperangan adalah satu-satunya penyelesaian kepada kemiskinan dan kesengsaraan.युद्ध का लालच और घृणा ही गरीबी और दुख का एकमात्र समाधान है।
Am I supposed to feel sorry for Thompson? Because I do not.
Feel bad for Owens, though.
CJusticeHappen21 well he Lied sure costing both of them a lot of time, but even if it was just Thompson I‘d still feel sorry for him.
He is innocent of the murder, lying was wrong of course but to be called a murderer when you’re innocent that’s not right, it’s a failed justice system.
yeah, thompson was a scumbag
Same. He was guilty of lying to the police AND the court anyway. So it serves him well. For $1,000 and a grudge he ruined so many lives and the actual killer got away.
I don't have much respect for him, and he deserved some punishment, but it still doesn't change the injustice and bad policing of forcing a false confession out of a citizen.
CJustice sorry but what Thompson did was truly heinous and unforgivable. he was not only ready and willing to send a innocent man to prison for life( or worse), his actions helped to allow a murderer to go unpunished all for a measly sum of money. karma let him off easy. God rest that poor woman denied justice.
Innocent until proven poor.
This is so true and so scary at the same time.
FAST EDDIE
Well, he did lie.
You mean, innocent until proven rich?...
Both wealth and intelligence have very much to do with this case.
Mark Young You’re wrong for two reasons. One, he lied out of desperation for $1000. Two, if either man had the ability to pay a good lawyer they would have been exonerated prior to being sentenced to life by a predatory system. Law enforcement saw two destitute scapegoats and knew they had no recourse for a proper defense.
If a movie was made about this, James Franco would be the perfect James Owens. That picture of Owens when he was young looks so similar to how Franco looks right now.
I will vote for Robert Knepper?
I thought he looked similar to Robert Downey Jr
@@hyunwhang9121 Haha yeah his younger self resembles James Franco but older version is really leaning towards T-bag.
Why is everyone called james
@@hyunwhang9121 robert sheehan?
Show this to your children when you tell you, “ It was just a little lie.”
no not at all
if you sneeze loudly when you're in your car and then the driver next to you gets distracted and presses the gas pedal and then a child crossing the street gets hurt is that your fault ? the cause and effect chain has to be strong enough just because one thing you do leads to ruining someone's life doesn't mean it's your fault
Yes
One little lie and an entire police force refusing to do their job properly.
Goes to show that the state doesn’t really care about solving the crime and catching the ACTUAL perpetrator. They just want the record to show someone was officially found guilty.
Wheelman GT this is so true
They only care about conviction, most DA's are elected and want to show how "good" they are at "solving" a crime. So they can become a State AG. Our entire justice system is flawed and should be overhauled.
@@MyMomo17 it's easy to want this, but a lot harder to implement. You say our entire system is flawed. imagine other countries where it is "guilty until proven innocent." Overall our system is pretty lenient for the guilty, and most of the times the criminals are rightfully convicted. That being said, no one innocent should be locked up for something they didn't do. Luckily now, as technology has gotten better it is a lot harder to get wrongfully convicted of a crime you did not commit.
@Austin Martín Hernández facts! you don't have one of the most civilised countries with the LARGEST prison system in the world by accident.
Shameful
Sucks that their entire conviction was based off his lie 😦
Janiece Williams
They were young and stupid and terrified of the law. The thing is, always lawyer up. Because yes even in innocence sometimes you believe the cope are zeroing in on you so you say what you can to distance yourself.
PumpkinEskobarr if they were old enough to be married with kids the excuse "young and dumb" is not applicable
Janiece Williams dont lie
Janiece Williams Hahaha! Plenty of young dumb people have kids and are married. What world you living in? Haven’t you seen daytime television, court tv? Sheesh. When you get older you learn things... doesn’t always apply to all though.
Take the young out, they still stupid and terrified and we’re innocent. Happy?
PumpkinEskobarr dumb all day but they were not young at all. 18 and older is not classified young. Why is that always the first excuse?
That is so sad how Owens spent 20 years in prison for no reason. He will *never* get this time back, and he was deprived of so many opportunities. He deserves more, even though it won’t be enough to make up for the time that he has lost:
But did he get the $1,000 reward?
🤣🤣🤣 of course not
If he did though..
Hard to feel sorry for him when he literally plated evidence against someone he knew, for a THOUSAND dollars. Also he helped to real killer getaway by messing with the police work.
E H, exactly. It was just horrible what he did to Owens.
E H
But he plead guilty...
InabilityToBeBrief Blame the shitty detective and police work on that case. When they found his testimony to be questionable they doubled downed to maintain the false narrative they had by implicating both men instead of revisiting the narrative in full.
The detectives and the police failed the murder victim and the state backed it all so they could get a conviction and a closed case on the books. They are the true criminals here.
exactly. those detectives went, "hey, he changed his story 8 times! he MUST have been one of the killers!" like, wtf?
That's a bit unfair to the detectives. How many times do people come forward with a murder weapon, who live right by the victim? They had every reason to believe he was involved and he confessed to the crime. They didn't have DNA evidence at the time and believed they had a scientific match with the hair. What exactly do you think detectives do? Contrary to what you see on TV, it's not magic.
All for 1000 dollars.
Lasta like 4k after inflation
still not worth 2 lifes wasted in prison
and then you get fb posts saying will you live in this mansion without internet for 2 years and get $10000000
2k after inflation actually form 1987 to now
This has to be one of the most twisted examples of "karma" I have ever seen.
@Panda Pup Karma has been around at least before 1500 BCE. It's not a "new age" thing, it's part of Hinduism.
**This reply is somewhat wrong, please do your own research on new-age/ bramanic times (if you would like) and do not trust the information above.
@@hmmmm2905 But it doesn't exist, like God which has also been a part of every major religion. Life isn't always fair
@@adityamathur6938 I'm an atheist actually, and I never said anything about it existing or not. I solely talked about it being a new-age thing. My reply was still wrong though, just not for your reasons.
@@hmmmm2905 ok
in May 2018 Owens was awarded $9 million in a settlement :))
Alford-plea should be unconstitutional. You can’t on one hand be able to plea the fifth but on the other hand force someone to say something they didn’t do to for the prosecutor to get an easier trial.
kaingates it often means the defendant gets a better life. Trails are incredibly expensive, and sometimes it is just better to have a plea bargain than to be innocent. Whether it's constitutional depends on how you view the situation. Imagine not having a plea bargain. There's a huge backlog of cases already, and the fact plea bargaining resolves 90% of them, means making it unconstitutional would not only hurt the government, but most likely the entirety of the American people affected by the Justice system. Then the 6th amendment then says that the American people have the right to a speedy and public trial. Making plea bargaining illegal and unconstitutional would perhaps, then be unconstitutional too.
No. They would have to prioritize. At this point almost everything is illegal and prosecutors have too much power with no accountability. It's over 97% that are resolved by plea bargain.
The founders believed that a fair trial and jury of peers was criical to a free state. One of the powers the people have that directly inpacts the government is on a jury. Plea bargaining and mandatory sentencing has removed the power of the people and concentrated in the hands of the executive branch.
funny fact, you say you are inocent, you go to jail, you say you are guilty, you are free...
Lance Ellis but the real solution is fix the courts not support the plea bargains. These pleas are like duct tape fixing a space station, if you gotta for now but it’s not permanent.
@@lanceellis4222 so, making sure that you get a trial by eliminating plea bargains goes against the ammendment saying you deserve a trial. Sounds legit
That man is truly humble! He’s only asking for $100k, which seems like a lot as a lump sum, that is until your realize that that comes out to roughly 100k/21=$4,761 per year in prison. He should at least get $630k! (minimum wage salary over 21 years) plus extra compensation from the state for emotional damages, I couldn’t imagine a day in prison for a crime I did not commit let alone 21 years!!!
The man didn't ask for only 100 or 200 k total. He wants more, but said that he would take 1 or 2 hundred thousand and put it towards helping other wrongfully convinced people!
I
thought he was going to say in the millions, cause its what he deserves.
the real murder is free now because of false statements those detectives were not good
Clorox Bleach go clean some clothes
actually there is a good recored of people asking for 1million per year and getting it. This is why the courts give this type of deal. do they don't get sue to oblivion.
At the end, the prosecutors are to blame, they knew Thompson was lying
Can you imagine how many innocent men and women have been imprisoned ! This is terrifying because the real perpetrators are still out there.
Happy he is apologetic towards Owens, but what about the family of the victim? He basically robbed them of justice over $1k.
That's more on the police and prosecutor putting getting a conviction over getting the criminal
The worst bit about this is that there was a victim murdered who evidently was not killed by either of these men, whose family will never get closure because they refuse to reopen the case because of the plea. That is truly sad.
i don’t feel any remorse for Thompson. i understand being desperate but what he did was despicable
The power of a lie.
This is why to this day the Emit Till story is so important.
Its scary to think that you can be acccused for a crime that you had nothing to do with.
Capo98y
Well, he did lie.
Ike Okereke i think hes talking about the other one
It can happen to anyone. We need justice system reform.
+Capo98y Wait, you don't support the #MeToo Movement?!
Ike Okereke Fair enough, but tons of other innocent people are still being convicted constantly.
How are those $1000 working out for you, bud? What a frustrating story.
impressions it's horrible what he did
Harsh Thakkar ironical that eventually, he was free yet guilty.
impressions no irony there he was the one who got them both convicted and let the real killer get away he could've told the truth anytime and told them that the other guy hadn't done anything but he didn't do that .Imo he doesn't deserve to walk free .
Before making that snide statement, hopefully you missed the fact that TWO innocent people got convicted over the theft, rape and murder of a woman, the *ACTUAL rapist was never pursued.* The "detectives" never even bothered to think that James could just be lying, the evidence being his constantly changing story. *THEY WANTED TO BELIEVE THEY HAD THE PERP.* They jumped on the conjecture that Both James are rapists, thieves, and murderers.
Not sure if you'd agree, but Lying is very far from rape and murder on the crime spectrum. Though, you seem to strictly be thinking that they got imprisoned because James T lied to the cops about the knife, which is not the case.
*Or maybe you just wanted to make a quick edgy comment soon as you could.*
King John Un NONE of them deserve this. And my comment doesn’t suggest otherwise. You read wayyy too much into two sentences that I wrote.
If I lost 20 years of my life I would Sue the state, and prosecutor. I still wouldn't be satisfied.
To bad in America the land of the free you can't
Who's gonna pay for those man's 32 years of lifetime? Look at the prison turns two young muscular guy into two frail old man.
Who's more to blame - a lower-class gasoline attendant who tried to make a quick $1000 and settle a score, or PROFESSIONAL investigators and prosecutors who knew his story was implausible and inconsistent and therefore made him a prime suspect? And then somehow convicted two men who were never at the scene of the crime?
And James Owens should be getting something like $20 million, not $100k. He needs a good lawyer on his team right now, if he doesn't already have one working overtime to get him paid (and get the lawyer paid).
I'd say that Thompson is just as much to blame as the detectives. Knowingly ruining someone's life over a falling out, just to get $1000 goes a bit farther than "settling the score", wouldn't you agree? And it was his false testimony and fake murder weapon that ended up being the real thing preventing the case from being solved. The detectives were working with what evidence they were given and the best technology they had at their disposal. The only one acting maliciously here was Thompson.
I don't know much about US investigation techniques, but was the rewarded evidence something usual back then ?
Giving money to civilians in exchange of evidences seems pretty flawed to me...
Accusing your friend of rape and murder and telling the cops when he didn't do anything isn't settling a score, dipshit
VigEuth he’s more to blame if you listen carefully the way they’re putting it. Thompson probably made himself an eyeball witness.
I’m glad you mentioned this. Its important to keep in mind the lack of access many/Most people have to [knowledge of the] law, especially poor people. He clearly didn't understand the potential ramifications. This was clearly more about that than personal morality.
"Greatest country on Earth"
Yeah man.. Or weirdest.. God help those people there
Mr. Turkey i just realized I'm not actually watching the video, but the ad.
In 1970's compared to other countries in the 1970's.. Yeah greatest country on earth
Have you lived abroad? Most European countries have a much messier legal system.
Grimm who me?
Imagine believing the US justice system ever worked.
It works. The problem lies in what it's supposed to be doing
Can't say I feel very sorry for the way it ended for Thompson. The entire episode was of his doing. He took another innocent man to jail with him, for 21 years!
It is unfortunate for Owens, but Thompson should not be excused for his degenerate behaviour.
I think he paid the price for his stupid lie by serving 20 years in prison.
By hating on him, you are not properly paying attention to what the state did for both these people, with Owens suffering the most from this ordeal.
Sakamoto san
Giving false evidence is a crime that deserves punishment. It does not deserve the punishment and stigma of being convicted of rape and murder.
Even if you ignore the length of the prison sentence, imagine how you'd treat someone who was convicted of giving false evidence, and compare that to how you'd react if they were convicted of rape and murder.
Can we have compassion for him since he has the intelligence of a bag of hammmers?
Being a convicted felon is so much less than Thompson deserves for framing another man and ruining his life because you wanted a bit of money.
Ellie Louise As far as I'm concerned, Thompson got the same time in prison that talked got Owen into, and that's really the most he could deserve for what he did.
Also, the real issue is how little the justice system is actually concerned with justice. Remember, the actual murderer remains free.
I don't agree. He was convicted for murder and served 20 years. He wasn't convicted of lying to police or impeding an investigation.
DoubleGoon But his lie directly led to 21 years being stolen from someone. Not to mention making it more likely the real killer will never be caught. As far as I'm concerned that guy is an absolute maggot and he has no remorse for what he did.
If the police had even tried to do their jobs Owens would never have gone to prison. Lock up the detectives
Still deserved at least a few years for perjury 🤷🏻♀️
This is absolutely heartbreaking for that man. Something needs to be done immediately we should start a go fund me for this man because he has nothing
The guy that lied about the knife got some good karma there. However, neither deserved prison. Had the system been a fair one, rather than riddled with prosecutorial misconduct, they'd have tried to find the real murderer, and these two idiots wouldn't have clogged up our bloated prison industrial system for 21 years.
chbrules wait,two idiots?Thompson dragged Owen into this without him knowing.
You think the industrial complex isn’t profiting from this? The system is designed so people stay in jail because it profits the corporations interests of incarceration.
The guy who tried to frame the innocent man ABSOLUTELY deserves prison; a lifetime of it too.
Thompson deserved prison, shouldn't have been let out
I'd like to feel bad for him, but he did falsify evidence for money.
But you can atleast feel bad for the other guy
I definitely empathize for the other guy. His friend accused him of a crime because they had an argument, it's ridiculous to me that he would even think about accusing his friend of a crime. I would hate the situation even more if Owens was the one who ended up taking the plea.
still... 21 years is an insane amount of time for such a stupid lie. and even today, he's a convicted felon for a crime he didn't commit.
regardless of how you might think of him, justice was not served / was "over-served".
Falsifying evidence doesn't deserve 20 years incarceration.
Emplinosify then go ahead and feel bad for him, because he was convicted of murder and not falsifying evidence. empathy isn’t rocket science my dudes
I don't feel bad for that guy. A permanent felony might be a little much, but he lied in court that led to a man (and himself) spending 20+ years in prison.
*you know that if 95% of people accused of a felony are convicted, there's no way that's a fair trial*
The first guy deserved to go to jail for however many years, he lied and tried to falsely imprison someone else for a quick k.
Shocking and if he did what he wanted he would get the money and send owens to die in prison. Would he ever admit that he lied in that case
I feel terrible for Owens, but I don't have much sympathy for Thompson.
ncooty It's definitely hard to have sympathy for Thompson, I agree. Rarely do you find victims of injustice that are themselves entirely innocent. Nevertheless, he was never convicted for the crime he did commit and the crime he was convicted for he did not commit and whoever did commit it was never caught because someone had already been convicted. That is the injustice here.
+Quintinohthree I agree. One of many injustices in this story.
+Sebastian Elytron You wrote: "Most people in Thompson's situation would do the same."
Are you talking about fabricating evidence and framing an innocent person for murder in order to get $1,000? I doubt that; otherwise, the police would've had LOTS of leads for that case.
Instead, are you saying most people would take a plea deal for murder in order to get out of prison faster? I don't know if that's true or not, but I did find it odd that Thompson seemed to have made his murder plea AFTER Owens's case was heard and dismissed... with the SAME lawyer. ??? Thompson just doesn't seem good at decisions, and the prosecutors seem wholly unconcerned with justice, just conviction stats. No surprise.
+Sebastian Elytron That doesn't makes sense to me. First, if we assume Thompson wasn't the only one to see the ads for a $1,000 reward, then why was he apparently the only one who fabricated evidence and framed someone? If most people would do that, shouldn't the police have had tons of such leads?
Second, Owens didn't do the latter, so it seems not everyone would. Not having been in that situation, I can't be certain what I'd do, but I assume Owens isn't the only person who'd opt for trial.
+Sebastian Elytron I don't think that was the choice in front of Thompson.
Lesson learned. Don't have your name be James
I'd take my chances just for the increased likelihood of becoming a late night talk show host
+
worked for lebron james and james harden
...
I'd rather have my name be James than Robert tbh
If Thompsons testimony was unreliable why did they believe him on accusing Owen...
Because it was useful to them
This video had an impact on me more than every video that I've watched so far.
I honestly do not understand why plea bargains are allowed. It should both be mandatory and a right to get a trial.
öl ölson The system is overflowing with small crimes etc. It costs money to maintain the Justice system so if they can shorten a case they save money and time. If small things like weed possession where not a crime then the system could do cases more in depth and faster due to not juggling 50 cases at once. Most of the public part of the Justice system is underfunded, the private sector catering to richer individuals is much more lucrative so there is less people doing small low money cases. The more cases they can do the better for the bureaucracy of it all.
What to do if your entire court and justice system is underfunded, prosecutors and detectives are under pressure of quotas instead of their conscience/pledge to uphold justice, public defenders and jury's are paid a nickel and a dime and the country is bought out by corporate lobbyists that profit from prisoners as cheap pseudo-slave workers. You take shortcuts. A plea bargain, is a shortcut.
It's still your right to get a trial, Mr. Owens insisted on it and he received it once his time in court came. However, if you made every violation of the law recieve its time in court, it would be absurd. If I got a parking ticket, I'd much rather pay 20 bucks than sit in a courtroom and take up everybody's time with the "evidence" for and against me. This is an extreme case and an extreme example, but plea bargains just make the system run smoother because for a lot of these petty crimes people would much rather take the slap on the wrist than the day in court.
öl ölson you are so stupid. Everyone has a right to trial. Plea bargains give people who are dead-guilty a lighter sentence, and they save the state money and time. Rarely they’re used for dilemmas like this.
0IIIIII plea deals are NOT just for people plainly guilty to get lighter sentences. To think that you'd have to literally have never studied anything about the criminal justice system at all. They are there to save time and resources though, but they ultimately try to avoid trial in most cases regardless of the viability of the charges they brought. For smaller crimes it's often easier on the accused to take a charge and pay a fine or something rather than spend tons of time and money fighting even if innocent.
My first experience in the system was as a new driver, I was pulled over by a cop simply because he saw 3 teenagers in the car (I'd later learn through a family member cop that his guy basically would get his rocks off by ticketing teenagers) I didn't even understand what I was being ticketed for until I called a week later and was told the charge was a 1,600 dollar fine and automatic 5 year suspended license. I showed up to court said not guilty when my name was called. I was told to come back the next week - waited an hour and a prosecutor called me into a side room.
He said the court didn't understand the charge and had asked the officer to explain and the officer wasn't able to remember the circumstances, but told me the judge sitted could not let a teen driver walk on such a big ticket so they offered me a deal to plead guilty to a mundane traffic violation which I did and I walked out of court that day paying like a 100 dollar fine. I had done literally nothing against the law but the state got a little money and I didn't have to risk losing my license while searching for a job. That's how plea deals work.
So he wanted to ruin someone's life by lying and he ends up ruining his.
I feel bad for them loosing so much of their life but...that's karma.
Daniel Rodriguez karma would've been the person lying getting convicted both were convicted.
I mean, in the end the liar is the one with a conviction, and the other is innocent.
Daniel Rodriguez I'm sorry no, that's not karma. That's basically our authorities failing to find the actual culprits. This is irresponsibility on their part.
Karma doesn't exist, you superstitious fool.
so... slightly excessive karmic outcome for the liar, leading to another innocent man losing 21 years of his life, the murderer of a woman getting off scott free, and the detectives able to sleep soundly all those decades pretending they've served justice?
nice concept, this karma.
Thompson took 21 YEARS away from Owens. And all he really cares about is himself. He got himself AND Owens into this mess.
This is such a wonderful channel. Taught me so many things. Thank you Vox.
Why did it take 16 months for Owen to get a day in court? Evidence used to convict him (if I followed this correctly) was found to be invalid, shouldn't that be enough to free him automatically?
Court is often flooded with trials.
The evidence still has to go through court for them to judge the legitimacy of the evidence.
Prosecutors generally will fight tooth and nail to prevent someone from getting released
A single piece of evidence later becoming invalidated (no matter how damning the evidence is) doesnt automatically mean the case is thrown out. It means there may be grounds for granting a motion for a retrial, which would be based on the remaining evidence in the case, and if granted, it is up to the prosecutor if the case is to be re-tried, or if they should just dismiss the charges. Considering the backlog in the court system, coupled with an accused's 6th amendment right to a speedy trial, and the convicted not having such a right to speed when considering a motion for a retrial based on newly discovered evidence, sadly it makes sense that it took that long. If they delay an accused defendants trial too long, the charges will have to be dropped, and the prosecutor will need time to evaluate the convicted persons case in light of the invalidated evidence to determine whether or not a re-trial is in order. And once convicted, your 6th amendment rights are obviously diminished. It's messed up, i agree, but unfortunately it does make sense
Kept thinking owens was james franco
Owens was looking so good he should feel robbed he was in prison in his good years
Wow, this was such an interesting video! Please make more like this!!
It is good and important that he is sorry, but he can not complain of his lost years or the fact tha he didn't see his sons. An innocent man lost years of his life and never had a chance to have kids because of his stupidity.
Doomy What Thompson did was wrong, but "his stupidity" is not what sent an innocent man to prison. If you read more about the case, you'll find the officers didn't do their job properly. A failed system sent two men innocent of the crime they were convicted of to prison. I don't know how it is in the states, but I doubt perjury warrants 20 years in prison.
@@2xa1234Exactly. Honestly comments like op is how a bad legal system thrive where it becomes more about feelings rather than upholding justice and trying to improve society.
As a law student from outside the US, I don't get America's obsession with plea deals. Just why
We would need 20x the trials and everything required for them. Look at the chart in thrbvideo
We rely on amateur juries and eye witness testimony-
Also the majority of plea deals are the result of the fact that the person in question is in fact, guilty.
Because we're dumb.
@@mm.nicecream4251 speak for yourself
I had never been arrested in my life. I was panhandling, (which is legal here) because i am homeless, and a police officer arrested me for SPITTING on the dirt. That was my only charge. I spent the night in jail alongside a sex offender, for SPITTING IN THE DIRT. Once again, i had NEVER been in trouble prior to this or after. This was in Phoenix, Arizona..... the police are out of hand...
does anyone feel bad for thompson at all? this is literally entirely his fault, this entire situation could've been avoided without his greed
He brought this all on himself. Trying to inflict harm on the next man almost cost him the rest of his life. SMH.
I guess he had the stupidity to assume that the police probably wouldn't convict two people based on one piece of completely fabricated evidence that really doesn't tell anyone anything about the crime.
Everything for 1000 dollars
Because it is more important to make it seem like you are doing your job than actually doing your job
Please do more videos like this!! 💗
The furthest this should have gone is the court hitting Thompson for contempt of court or wasting police time or whatever.
But screw that let's just jump to spurious conclusions and accuse him of the murder!
No, Thompson tried to get an innocent man convicted. He gets what he deserves
American justice system haha
John the American Justice System is fine actually. It ranks highly on NGO reports like the HDI
0IIIIII
But it could still be improved. A lot of cases are still being resolved with unfair/misleading pleas.
0IIIIII oh yeah it’s just fine and dandy, let’s ignore it since some esoteric acronyms say it’s fine
>Be American
>Get arrested
"Justice"
7:13 "Something I didn't have nothing to do with" That's a confession right there fellas
Well done Vox! Just plain good journalism.
I have no sympathy for the first guy he screwed up the second guys life he deserves everything he got but the second guy I feel really bad for
He lied, not understanding what the consequences could be. The public prosecutor, who wanted an easy finish to the case, pressured him into furthering his story to implicate James Owens (not to mention himself). Is that really on the same level as murder?
@@---kp1hm he knew that he would send a innocent man to prison though
@@---kp1hm He did kinda take someone's life..
@@---kp1hm I would think life in prison is a fate worse than death. At least if you get killed you don't have to spend however many years you have left from your life rotting away in a cell and being treated like an animal. So sending someone on such a fate, knowing that the person you are framing is innocent is indeed, worse than murder.
I cant say i feel that bad for the guy who framed his friend for rape and murder.
A plea deal is basically a legal method of solving a murder without even finding the murderer.
👍
kinda serves him right for creating a lie that led to the arrest of an innocent man...
This is why you don't lie
Zero sympathy for that clown
If you think the main problem on this case is the lie, you have serious problems
Jean Carlos Oliveira Santos Not at all. I lost a lot of empathy for that guy. The dude straight up lied and planted evidence AND implicated his friend for no reason. Play stupid games win stupid prizes. Also he's 100% a criminal for lying to a court, for planting evidence, for incriminating someone else, for leading on the police.
I absolutely agree! He took 21 years from an innocent man!! He can live a convicted felon.
mark shinn he didn't take 21, years of an innocent man the court system did. We forget these guys did 21 years of their life so they were practically stupid kids. Secondly we don't know what the conflict was about or how bad there blood had gotten. We also don't know how threatening the police were to get a conviction, police often times coerce people into lying. The real problem is the law of the land and until its fixed alot of innocent men will go to prison.
Vox you upload one of the best videos over here
Nice work.
My brother went through something like this. He got 6 months instead of 10 years for pleading guilty. It's sad.
"HEY GUYS THANKS FOR WATCHING!" Jumped so hard
The fact that they can have someone pleed guilty of rape, get convicted, and then let them walk out shows how insane this entire system is. Yes, he didn't do it, but then why is pleeding guilty of a felony the fastest way to get out of jail?
Brandon Paul you missed the part which proofed him to be innocent.
By that point they already had proof that both of them weren't involved in the crime
Brandon Paul you missed the part where she was murdered and neither of them did it.
I mean, I feel bad for that guy that he's got an untrue conviction on his record, but he did fake evidence and interfered in an ongoing investigation and tried to get his friend convicted for a crime he knew he didn't commit. In a just system, he'd still have a conviction on his record for that, right?
"friend"
Yes, but it would be a conviction for obstruction of justice, perjury, or falsifying evidence rather than, you know, rape and murder.
It's all started with a paper called money!
Imagine a lie landing you in jail FOR DECADES
Wow, this is simply amazing, Vox. You guys make some great video, but this is by far one of the most exceptional videos you've made.
Hashtag I totally agree, this is content made with passion and interest. I saved this video because the title was so interesting, so glad I came back to it.
I don't understand why this video is framed the way it is. One of these men is and has always been purely innocent of said crime, and one lied and ruined someone's life trying to get 1000$--and Vox seems equally sympathetic to both? I'm sorry but the dude who lied doesn't deserve a good job or a high salary; you just don't get to come back from some mistakes, sadly (not for taking the plea, but for lying and taking petty vengeance).
The dude was in prison for more than 20 years, everybody thinking he was a raper and a murderer. He lost his children. I think the man has paid his price a thousand times over for being dumb and greedy.
It was pretty stupid but you can't hate someone for what they did over 20 years ago.
He was in prison for over 20 years for his stupidity, I think that is more than enough.
Allthough it is partly his fault that the other guy was in prison as well, it's not entirely his.
I'm pretty sure you learn a lot in 20 years of prison.
Jessi Wood a lie isn't worth the same sentence as a murder or rape. I need to know your morality compass if you think they deserve the same punishment.
He wasn't convicted for lying to police. He was convicted for murder on faulty evidence. What is also petty is to say he deserved the treatment and sentencing he got. Furthermore when he was talked into Alford plea and never exonerated for the murder.
Our justice system is supposed to prosecute the crimes a person has committed and not for the crimes that would be most convenient for the court/prosecution.
About thompson not deserving the 20 years for a lie, actually his lie brought another person to be imprisoned the same lenght of time, I think he deserves those years just for that, then he should be convicted for the obstruction of justice and false testimony.
Great video. Please produce more informative content like this.
It says something that he's only suing for 100k, when he could easily justify a far higher number.
Why does this young James Owens look like James Franco
This is really interesting and quite tragic, also why wasn't there a jury in this case?
I believe it said there was no trial, because of the plea deal.
But owens had done nothing wrong surely it would be better to let it go to trial, there wasn't enough evidence to fully convict him of the murder. Like he could easily get an alibi witness to say he wasn't anywhere near the crime
Unfortunately, a jury probably would have convicted them too. Ask anyone who has been on a murder trial...most jurors implicitly trust whatever the police say on the stand.
Your really overestimating the criminal justice system. Trials are pretty flawed and even with this lack of evidence he'd still probably get convicted.
yes I understand that, but an alibi witness counter the original testimony
In Germany we have a rule. „im Zweifel für den Angeklagten.“ Meaning: When in doubt you are generally considered being innocent.
And i think that‘s beautiful.
Their nightmares start from James Thompson greed. And that greed also keep the nightmares goes on for Thompson.
Luckily for Owens, he could manage to escape from that nightmares by keep patient, not greedy and stay to the truth all the time.
lesson to be learn : don't be a greedy person.
This is why you don't lie to the police... He probably didn't even get the 1k
Nikhil Friedman Maybe these guys wouldn't be in this situation if the police bothered to do their jobs.
Yup
Mr. Nicecream They weren't just not doing their jobs, they knew that neither of these guys actually did it but chose to punish them both to please the public. The police abused their power.
What's bullshit is the family and friends of that murder victim must have thought they knew to their daughter's killer and then years later found it false? Heartbreaking for all involved
love this series