Kudos to Austin, TX DA Rosemary Lehmberg for agreeing to drop the charges against Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen in Austin's most infamous unsolved murder/rape case -- the Yogurt Shop murder case. True, Ms. Lehmberg did not fully exonerate the men. True, she announced that she was still confident in their guilt. But her decision in the wake of the discovery of unknown DNA on several of the four teenage victims who were raped and murdered and then set ablaze is still praiseworthy. The simple fact is that she could have obtained convictions against the men with their videotaped confessions. In a battle between DNA and confession evidence, I'll lay odds on confession evidence every time. Especially, as here, where the identity of the DNA is unknown. All prosecutors would have had to do was say that the DNA belonged to an unnamed accomplice. And they probably would have won. This is not to take anything away from the brilliant work of the defense attorneys in this case. But jurors have a hard time believing that anyone would ever confess to something they didn't do and an even harder time thinking a person would falsely confess to murder. Jurors convicted four men in Norfolk, Va. despite DNA linking Omar Ballard to Michelle Moore Bosko's murder; they convicted Billy Wayne Cope in Rock Hill, S.C. despite DNA linking serial rapist James Sanders to the murder/rape of Cope's daughter Amanda, and jurors convicted Juan Rivera three times in in Lake County, IL, despite unknown DNA that did not match Rivera in the murder/rape of Holly Staker in Lake County, IL.
Bottom line - Ms. Lehmberg did what other prosecutors have failed to do. She placed justice over gaining a conviction. She can spin it anyway she want to. She did what none of her predecessors would do. Save this videofile and send it to the next prosecutor that twists their theory of the case to accommodate evidence of innocence, who refuses to agree to DNA testing, who cites the virtues of finality. Tell them that sometimes justice requires eating crow. And that crow doesn't taste that bad. They say it tastes just like chicken...
