Refusing to Plea Bargain - The Patsy Kelly Jarrett Story
Kelly's case, my first, would end up following me for the next 25 years. Kelly was convicted based on nothing more than the memories of that one eyewitness, who saw the driver of the car fleetingly and, when first questioned, couldn't even say whether the person had been a man or a woman. It remains the most haunting miscarriage of justice I have ever encountered.
Yet the case haunts me in another way. At least twice, Kelly was given the chance to plead guilty and dramatically reduce her sentence -- to as little as five or 10 years. She refused; she said she couldn't swear to something she didn't do. She should have.
Read the entire story in the Washington Post Magazine here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401155.html?hpid=topnews
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