A report in the York Daily Recor d [USA] by Cartyl Clarke says that Barry Laughman of Hanover is one of eight former Pennsylvania inmates to win release after DNA evidence proved they had been wrongfully convicted. The 43-year-old man served 16 years of a life sentence for raping and murdering a neighbor in 1987, before DNA tests proved his innocence. He was exonerated Aug. 28, 2004.
Laughman's case would become part of a proposed Innocence Commission study in Pennsylvania.
"It is important to know why someone was wrongly convicted", said state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery County. He sponsored Senate Bill 1069, which has bipartisan support, to establish an Innocence Commission. State Rep. Steve Nickol, R-Hanover, said that wrongful convictions are a significant issue.
"If people are wrongfully convicted, it brings into question the whole criminal justice system," Nickol said. "It would be wrong if we didn't look at the results from the eight exonerations based on DNA evidence."
The commission would study the underlying causes of wrongful convictions and make recommendations to eliminate the possibilities. "It does not benefit the victim to prosecute the wrong person because it leaves the real perpetrator out there running free," Greenleaf said. "It also takes away the confidence we have in the justice system." (Full story)