Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

If you would like to be involved please go to our website and become a member.


Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Prisoner Freed After 24 Years

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man released from prison after a judge ruled that his 1984 murder trial was constitutionally flawed said Tuesday he hopes his case will convince the public that this country is jailing innocent people.

Darryl Burton was convicted in 1985 of capital murder and armed criminal action and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 50 years. He was released from the Jefferson City Correctional Center on Friday.

During a news conference Tuesday, Burton said he believes there are thousands of other innocent people in U.S. prisons.

"I come to prison thinking that is an isolated incident, I'm the only person this has ever happened to," Burton said. "I thought, justice just don't goof up like this, not in American justice, or what I term American injustice. But it does happen in more cases than we know."

Burton, 46, of St. Louis, was convicted despite the lack of physical evidence or any motive tying him to the fatal gas station shooting in June 1984 in St. Louis. He was convicted solely on the testimony of two men who claimed they saw the shooting.


AP Story

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Who was the prosecutor and was the defense attorney qualified?? Was it a jury trial?? The truth is there someplace. Also those who have the power to send people to prison, need to be held accountable for false convictions. In this case we finally heard the word, CONSTITUTIONALLY FLAWED.djw