Today a man gave a talk at the university. He was a prison inmate and had been on death row for 17 years, but was completely innocent! He was a migrant worker working in Pennsylvania. Furthermore, both the defendant and the prosecutor in his trial had evidence that he was innocent (a taped recording of a confession from the person who actually committed the crime), but either through negligence or racism, neither brought up this evidence in his trial. As a result, he was not cleared of the crime for 17 years, when a new judge was appointed to hear his appeal and found the evidence. It was quite a harrowing and disturbing story - he spoke about how he spent so many years with these inmates, and one by one, had to hear and see them die, knowing he might be next, and how he knew that many of them were innocent! He also spoke on how he and his fellow inmates were treated as less than human at times. Very eye-opening and disturbing speech. I hope our talented lawyers and law students can improve the legal system.