A.M. “Marty” Stroud III admitted that he was “arrogant” and “judgmental” in his handling of Glenn Ford’s case. Ford spent nearly three decades in prison after being wrongly convicted of a 1983 murder in Louisiana.
Glenn Ford, 64, talks to the media as he leaves a maximum security prison, Tuesday, March 11, 2014, in Angola, La., after having spent nearly 26 years on death row.
WAFB-TV 9 / AP Photo
Former prosecutor and lead attorney in the Glenn Ford case Marty Stroud speaks out on the Glenn Ford Case.
In a letter to The Shreveport Times , attorney A.M. "Marty" Stroud III took responsibility for his role in the conviction of Ford for the 1983 murder of Shreveport jeweler Isadore Rozeman, and admitted that he was more interested in winning than in justice.
Ford, one of the country's longest-serving death row prisoners, walked free on Tuesday after the state said he had been wrongfully charged, convicted and imprisoned for 30 years, highlighting the frequent flaws embedded in the country's judicial system.
For years, Ford's attorneys argued that he suffered from inefficient counsel during his trial and the racial bias of an all-white jury who sentenced him to death. The state's decision to free Ford was based on new information that implicated another man who had been originally charged in the case.
The state gave Ford a $20 debit card as he left Louisiana's notorious Angola prison, The Atlantic reported.
Stroud's letter was in response to a Shreveport Times editorial which criticized the state's decision not to compensate Ford for the time spent behind the bars because he cannot prove he is "factually innocent."
"Glenn Ford should be completely compensated to every extent possible because of the flaws of a system that effectively destroyed his life," Stroud said. "The audacity of the state's effort to deny Mr. Ford any compensation for the horrors he suffered in the name of Louisiana justice is appalling."
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1DFUqss
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