When People Are Prosecuted Falsely

Are people ever prosecuted falsely? Well in the Duke case not only did the three accused get off but the over zealous prosecutor is now sitting in a court room. Why? Weak evidence:Benjamin W. Himan, the Durham detective who was lead investigator on the case, said in testimony for the ethics prosecutors on Tuesday that Mr. Nifong had acknowledged to him that the case was weak and relied on the word of a woman hired to strip at a lacrosse team party.

Could this happen in Hennepin County to our employees? The answer is yes. It happened to a couple of our own detention deputies a few years ago when the Sheriff's Office violated their federal Garrity rights. See

State of Minnesota, Appellant,
vs.
Shelly Ann Gault, Respondent,
Peter Stuart Zielke, Respondent.

Speaking of the elephant in the room, another one of our own has been out since November. As of the writing of this posting he has yet to even enter a plea. Over zealous prosecution on the part of the Sheriff's Office? Time will tell. It all seems, like the Duke case, to ride on the word of an unreliable witness and the Sheriff's Office does have a history of going overboard.