On Friday, a man accused of rape 24 years ago in Lubbock was exonerated in court. But he didn't live to see that day.
In a nutshell, here's what happened. Timothy Cole, then a 26-year-old Texas Tech University student, was placed in a police lineup in which he was identified as the rapist by victim Michele Mallin. Though he proclaimed his innocence throughout, he was arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison. In 1999, Cole died in prison.
The real rapist, Jerry Wayne Johnson, attempted to admit to the rape after the statute of limitations had run out in 1995, but his attempts were ignored. It wasn't until DNA testing cleared Cole last year, and confirmed Johnson as the true assailant. Johnson is already serving a life sentence for the conviction in other sexual assaults in Lubbock County.
All this led to the emotional and dramatic court hearing in Austin on Friday in which a state judge exonerated Cole. Cole's mother testified about what it meant to clear her son's name, and Mallin expressed her anger at Johnson.
Click here to see News8 Austin's report, and here to read the Austin American-Statesman's account. If you wish, click here to read how the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal covered the same story.
Afterward, feel free to post a comment with your reaction.
27 comments:
I think it's obvious, but the thing that scares me so much about this case isn't just that I could get wrongly accused of rape and end up in prison. It's that it could be 24 years before I am proved innocent even when another man has tried to confess and is ignored. Besides that, I can't even begin to put myself in the shoes of the mother of the accused Texas Tech student. She has to live every day knowing that her son died solely because of this accusation and can't do anything about it. Imperfect is a massive understatement when talking about the injustice done involving this case.
The judicial system is a machine, and machines are only as perfect as the people running them and are sometime subjects to hitches in the gears. This incident is symbolic of a hitch in the machine. While it is unfortunate that this man was wrongly accused, the state of Texas did its best to bring closure to a family left in limbo about the accusations brought against their son 24 years ago. When the machine breaks down you have to do your best to fix it.
I don't ever expect the judicial system to work perfectly, but as long as they persist to change their processes to ones that would better suit the people it serves, I will be satisfied.
I agree complete with the last two guys. Although the justice system isn't perfect, it's absolutely necessary. Of course, it's impossible to go back in time and undo the harm caused to the innocent, but errors do happen. It's such a tough situation, though.
If I was Timothy Cole or his family, I might think differently.
It's difficult to put ourselves in the shoes of the Cole family, but I find the manner in which they've handled the situation to be very admirable. Unlike the victim, Michele, Timothy Cole's mother spoke calmly to the abuser and it was apparent that the heavy burden of Timothy being wrongly accused was now weight lifted off their shoulders. They seemed to be more relieved that Timothy was exonerated than they were angry at the real rapist.
I was surprised to read at how long it took for a DNA test to prove his innocence, and as Kirk mentioned, "even when another man tried to confess and was ignored". One last thing that caught my attention was the fact that Timothy's photo was the only one in color in the lineup. I feel like that was a case of major lack of common sense.
I think this show just how flawed our legal system is. When we say "with reasonable doubt," we mean it. We rely too much on the eyewitness testimony given, which has been proven unreliable again and again. Witnesses have corrupted memories (through no fault of their own) and too many people are put away with evidence that is at best 'helpful' but definitely not concrete.
It is sad that occurrences like this happen due to our legal system. This is not the first time that someone has been wrongly accused for a crime, and I’m positive it will not be the last time. Our legal system has many flaws, and until all of the kinks get worked out, situations like this one will arise until we can without a doubt find concrete ways to find, convict, and put away the real wrongdoers.
Silvia Irizarry T&TH 9:30am
Wow, I am almost lost for words reading this case. I definitely am disappointed that the real rapist tried to come forward and was ignored! What type of **** is that? I remember you (Dr. Martinez) saying that its better to send a guilty person free than placing an innocent person behind bars...I understood what you said but I almost disagreed because then the guilty would hurt/rape/kill another person BUT I definitely don't think someone innocent should pay for someone else's crime. How sad!
Sophie MW-2
This is a bitter sweet ending for the family of Timonthy Cole and the victim. While justice has finally been served for them, it is such a shame that it took that many years for the truth to come out, and for the true rapist to not have been caught. It makes it even worse that that Timothy is not alive to see the day that his name was cleared.
Hopefully alot will come out of this case and the same mistake will not be made. Sadly, it does make me wonder how many wrongfully accused people are sitting in their jail cells right now.
Tragic story. It must have been absolutely terrible for him to spend the last 14 years of his life behind bars knowing he was innocent. I think Stephanie made a good point about how too much emphasis is often put on unreliable evidence (inaccurate testimony, biased police line-ups, etc..)
It's a good thing that his name was finally cleared, but just terribly sad that it happened 24 years too late.
Matthew Champion (T/Th 12:30-1:50)
It seems like the biggest flaw here was the use of several black and white photos and one color photo. Had they shown the victim another photo of Cole, I wonder if she would have picked the same man.
Kaycee Toller
T-TH 9:30
John Seidner T-Th 9:30am
Sadly no judicial system will ever be without errors. Thankfully our system does an admirable job a majority of the time, but anytime a case of this sort is read about a certain level of reality hits home. That reality being, no matter what system is used in life some sort of human error can always take place and nothing can ever be a perfect solution. There is always the hope that new hurdles for future cases of this sort will be in place so that the same error will not occur again, but assuming that no innocent man or woman will never be convicted again is an assumption based on thinking that humans are perfect.
Ashley Sugg TTH
I feel so terrible for this man who died, in prison, while serving another mans sentence. It is scary to think this could happen to anyone, and it does too often.
The fact that the real rapist was ignored while trying to admit to doing it is absolutely outrageous. I am glad Timothy's name was cleared, it is just sad that it was a little too late.
-We rely too much on the eyewitness testimony given-
I have to say that this is a very pressing issue with me. We put too much weight on the words of an individual. It was a terrible incident to begin with, but all it took was pointing the finger for her to get someone arrested. The bigger picture here is that there is a huge possibility for abuse with that type of power. If a man and woman had an argument after sex, and for some reason she then felt differently, all she'd have to do is cry 'rape' and the man becomes another victim of this ridiculous system.
Did you know that in Texas, a woman only needs 1 BEER in order to be considered not capable of making a sufficient judgement. Meaning that after only a single beer, if she changed her mind after sex, you could be charged with rape. RIDICULOUS!!! Something needs to be looked at here is all I am saying.
Sajen Claxton-Hernandez
MW 2PM
It's pretty heartbreaking to know that this kind of stuff happens; both rape, and wrongful accusation.
It's kind of strange that the system is set up to where a suspects fate is decided based on how talented, skilled, informed, or snakey the lawyers are. If a criminal has a great lawyer, he could get off free. If an innocent has a bad lawyer or is facing a great lawyer, then he could end up in prison.
I'd like to think that the majority of court cases are truly just. But still....strange.
I think it's odd how someone can be convicted of rape by photo identification alone...a black and white photo at that! I feel bad for the woman who was raped. It seems like that incident was very traumatic for her even 25 years later. In the video clip it seemed she was more out to let the man know that he was going to spend the rest of his days in prison. She didn't seem to feel much remorse for choosing the wrong person. Just think she ruined an entire family's life because she picked the wrong person. That's what would haunt me at night.
Allen Reed TTH 9:30
This seems like a pretty straightforward situation and there seems to be a pretty solid consensus on what the reaction is.
So here's something to think about (not saying I advocate it):
What responsibility, if any, should be placed on Michele Mallin for the death of Timothy Cole?
Is this a case of negligence or carelessness on the part of Mallin?
In most situations, if your actions directly harm or kill another person there are consequences.
It makes me wonder if there are a lot of other innocent people who are convicted and sent to prison. I think that the Senate bill proposed at the end of the Statesman story is a good idea to keep lineups accurate.
Caitlin Weekley TTH 12:30
Denise Mamo TTH 9:30
Wait, let me get this straight. The real rapist came forward and his attempts were ignored?! Wow, that's unbelievable. My question is, why didn't they do the DNA test immediately after he fessed up? So what if the statute of limitations had run out? A confession of any kinds should be heard and something should be done about it. Instead, an innocent man wasted his life away in jail for no reason what so ever. That's just ridiculous.
I completely agree with Denise. I think its crazy that the real rapist was ignored when he ried to confess his actions. Also, they should have done the DNA testing immediately ater the rape was filed. This is Rediculous, and the poor family of Timothy Cole has to live with not only the fact that their son was sent to prison for something that he did not do, but that he died while missing out on the life that he could've had if he had not been wronged by the court.
Compare this case to the case of OJ. Here you have a man wrongfully accussed and sent to prison and in OJ's a man believed to be guilty declared not guilty and set free. So which one of the victims family do you grieve more with? The mother of the son who was wrongfully accussed or the father of the daughter who didn't get justice. Courts say its better to have a guilty man set free than a free man accussed guilt. But is it? So were saying that a family with a wrongfully accussed criminal grieves more than a family who doesn't receive justice? I think they both grieve equally which makes the legal system that much tougher to agree with.
A.J. Butt (TTH)
When dealing with these issues such as rape, there is an amount of emotion that people feel about these actions. As they should be, actions such as rape are quite atrocious. I think that with many of these cases people allow their emotions cloud judgment and will seek out someone to blame. Let's also not forget the fact that I'm sure the police or the DA would want the public knowing that they could not catch a campus rapist. With a high emotion case I'm sure the politics of wanting swift justice must play a role in the investigation. All I can say right now is that I am glad that I am in a long-term monogamous relationship with no chance of mis-communication about consent.
I think that bill is probably one of the smartest in the state. This sounds like a case of Shawshank Redemption. It's unfortunate that a young man, with a possibly good future, had to suffer for a crime that easily could have been solved correctly. I have to wonder if Cole did look anything like Johnson though. I also have to wonder about Cole's lawyer. If there were other incidents of rape around the area within the same year, why didn't he investigate the matter?
This is such an unfortunate situation. My heart goes out to Cole’s mother, and I’m happy she is able to receive some closure with the clearing of his name. It only stands to prove that our judicial system has its flaws. Who are we to blame? The jury can only go by the evidence or leadings that are presented, and I’m sure that the victim didn’t purposely point out Cole. She may have been so distraught that she couldn’t think clearly. Perhaps Cole had a significant resemblance to the real criminal. Whatever the case, the reality of it is that an innocent man died in prison where he didn’t belong.
Kristen Williams
TH 12:30
Unbelievable. An imperfect judicial system, indeed. (And an imperfect world.)
Better late than never in exonerating him, but it is still so heartbreaking. I can't even imagine being his family.
Hopefully the new bill does some good for others who were wrongfully convicted.
I just read the post about the family's trip to Lubbock and the apology from the prosecutor. What surprised me is the way that the mother reacted to the apology. They quoted her as saying that she still felt his handshake like a teenager would a rockstar. That made it sound like she had a great amount of respect for him. I understand that meeting a man who had so much impact on your son's life as well as your own would invoke strong emotions, but I found that to be a strange comparison.
T-TH 12:30
Amy Lane
The Mallin rape case is a perfect example of how far we have come in identifying criminals. 25 years after the wrongful conviction of Cole, DNA was able to prove with 100% certainty that Cole was innocent. While it does kind of scare me that someone could spend over almost half their life in prison for a crime they didn't commit, I am assured by new technologies like DNA testing that a situation like this won't happen to me.
Jessica Elmore T/TH 9:30
It's shocking and upsetting that tragedies like this are actually occurring in modern times. This seems like something you would hear about happening a long time ago. After reading about this, I feel as though maybe we haven't come as far as we'd all like to think. This should've never happened and it's disheartening to think about how Timothy Cole must have felt all these years in prison for a crime he didn't commit that someone else even admitted to!
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