My only brush with an unjust system was for a traffic violation in a southern state. Despite being stationary at a stop sign, I received a speeding ticket. I contested the case in Municipal court, showed the judge a picture of the stop sign which also clearly showed a church and the address shown on a placard for the church (same as the ticket). The officer admitted I had stopped at the stop sign. I expected the judge to dismiss it, but instead he allowed the police officer to change the address on the ticket and confiscated my "evidence" which he said was for court records! This brush with the law cost me $150, others, mostly from poor families, are losing their lives.
Bryan Stevenson has been on a crusade with the Equal Justice Initiative to make changes for prisoners one at a time finding that despite following the letter of the law and correct procedures, his appeals are turned down, evidence is suppressed and abused children are incarcerated in adult prisons. One fourteen-year-old boy, George Stinney, was executed within ninety days of his arrest. He was arrested after admitting to seeing the murder victims when they asked him for directions. Although there was no written confession or evidence of a confession, the police declared he had confessed to both murders (the murder weapon was so heavy it would have been impossible for him to life it). His family packed up and left town after receiving death threats. George was left alone to face his death.
Bryan's final comments are: "Walter McMillian's case taught me that the death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for crimes they commit. The real question of capital punishment in this county is, do we deserve to kill? . . . Walter had taught me that mercy is just when it is rooted in hopefulness and freely given. . ."
