Monthly Archives: May 2009

A federal judge has sentenced five representatives of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development to as much as 65 years in prison for raising money for impoverished Palestinians.   The facts of the case are relatively simple.  In 1995, the … Continue reading →

Another innocent man convicted in Dallas County has been returned to the free world after spending twenty-two years behind bars. Jerry Lee Evans fit the physical description of the man who raped an SMU student.  The victim rememered that her … Continue reading →

Friends of Justice is currently working on a troubling case in Montgomery County, Mississippi.  I haven’t said anything about the case in this space because we are still in the investigation phase of our work.  But there is no doubt … Continue reading →

Bob Herbert has a knack for reducing complex legal cases to their essential elements.  His twelve columns on Tulia in 2002-2003 didn’t just make the infamous Coleman operation look unfair, they made it look ridiculous, even bizarre.   Now that the New York Times … Continue reading →

“It was only after the suspects had given up lots of info, but not the info Cheney wanted, that the torture started, as it usually does in history. It starts with someone empowered with torture to get from a victim … Continue reading →

Twenty-seven years ago, James Fry got the conviction he was looking for.  Charles Chatman was guilty of aggravated rape.  Fry knew it.  The victim knew it.  Most importantly, the jury knew it.  Chatman maintained his innocence, but isn’t that what you … Continue reading →

David Gushee teaches Christian ethics at Mercer University in Atlanta.  He taught the same subject at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary while I was a doctoral student back in the early 90s.  He is also president of Evangelicals for Human Rights.  … Continue reading →

Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Dallas) has been churning out the quotable quotes.  First, he suggested that the Republicans need to launch a Taliban-style “insurgency” against Barack Obama and the Democrats.  Then, while still attempting to extricate foot from mouth, Pistol Pete accused … Continue reading →

At first, Luke Bolton’s story was too bad to be true.  But in the end every lurid detail checked out: prisoner-guard sexual trysts, free-flowing drugs inside the Montague County jail, prisoners paid in Marlboros for beating up cellmates.  And then … Continue reading →