Reader comments
Innocent man jailed; victim now charged

Provo PD Hater | 12:47 a.m. July 2, 2009

I didn't even read the whole article. Made it through two paragraphs and almost threw up. Provo PD is a joke. Shame on Provo PD. SHAME ON PROVO PD. Way to lock up this innocent third party with no physical evidence and screw up his life. Nice work boys.

I know it happens | 2:49 a.m. July 2, 2009

More often than most people realize, this happens to innocent people.

"All along, the only reason he was pleading guilty was to secure the plea bargain," Howell said. "I definitely think that people end up pleading to crimes they didn't commit simply because the risk of going to trial is so great."

And the risk of going to prison for something you haven't done is great, too. My husband took a plea bargain, very reluctantly, when he was accused of improperly touching our granddaughter, because if he was found guilty, he faced the possibility of 15+ years in prison. (And how do you prove your innocence when there is no evidence except the word of a 10-year-old child who thinks it's a fun game to get people into trouble. She's still doing it to others now.) So he spent 6 months in jail, is on 5 years probation, and 15 years on the Sex Offenders' Registry, and he did nothing to deserve it. It has ruined our lives, our finances, our plans for the future. The answer? I don't know, but courts need to be more careful to get the truth first.

Barney Fife | 3:00 a.m. July 2, 2009

So finger prints on the knife didn't match the roommate? Did the old roommates' alibi pan out? And if the old roommate was kicked out, how did he get a key to enter the apartment if there was no forced entry? And if the girlfriend can't remember what happened and the boyfriend didn't see the old roommate stab him, why was the poor guy locked up in the first place if there were no witnesses or evidence to implicate him?

Please don't tell me this is standard procedure to lock up people based on the detective skills of inebriated individuals and without a single witness or shred of evidence? C'mon guys!

Comments continue below

Way what? | 3:41 a.m. July 2, 2009

Maybe you should have finished the story before casting the first stone ...

Re: Provo PD Hater | 5:47 a.m. July 2, 2009

Next time instead of firing off a stupid response, you should actually read the article. The PD acted as normal individuals would. I'm glad that in the end, it got straightened out. The people who should be getting blamed here, are the victim, his girlfriend. How are the police supposed to read the minds of people involved?

Old testament better in this one | 6:25 a.m. July 2, 2009

I am not one to sing the praises of Old Testament justice, they stoned people for violating the sabbath day, for adultery, for planting two types of crops in a single field, however

They also had a law whereby if a person bore false witness to a crime, implicating someone who was innocent, the penalty was for that person to suffer the same penalty that the person he bore false witness against would have had to suffer.

In other words if you falsely accuse someone of murder or theft, you will suffer the penalty of murder or theft.

Cleetorn | 6:26 a.m. July 2, 2009

Maybe. Just MAYBE - Provo PD arrested the roommate based on initial evidence - the sworn statements of actual witnesses. Too bad they were liars in the first place but that's not the PD's fault. Given the information they had during the arrest, they acted appropriately to diffuse a life-threatening situation and protect the alleged "victim."

It would be my guess that "Hater" probably has contempt for any authority figure who crosses him/her/it in any form of justification.

Re: Provo PD Hater | 6:35 a.m. July 2, 2009

You should have read the whole article. How can the police know who to trust??? Do they know every single person in the city personally???? Can they read minds??? Is that in their job description??
What could they have done???

Anonymous | 6:55 a.m. July 2, 2009

Hey ignorant PD hater. Maybe you should finish reading the article. police rely on witnesses. The witnesses including the man stabbed lied. The "innocent" man had enough pot on him to be charged with possesion with intent to sell. Police acted accordingly.

Anonymous | 6:59 a.m. July 2, 2009

To many innocent people are jailed. I have a friend who, years ago, was accused of child molestation. He got caught up in the good cop bad cop thing. He was young and stupid and did what the cop told him would help him which was to plead guilty and let the judge sort out the truth. Years later the accuser admitted she lied because her mother told her too. My friend still has to register as a sex offender. He has trouble getting jobs, and his wife and children have been through hell. The liar/mother of the child is still free and going about her business. BTW this was in SLC but this crap goes on everywhere. Why isn't there a way for these people to get their records cleaned up so stuff like this doesn't ruin their whole life???

Anonymous | 7:59 a.m. July 2, 2009

For those getting mad at the police, consider the situation. A man has been stabbed, they show up to the home. There are 3 people there, and 2 of them say that the 3rd guy stabbed the victim. The 3rd guy was in the home when the stabbing took place and he had access to the weapon. With all that should the police just walk out of the house and tell them "ok, we'll check in on this later, enjoy living with the person you say stabbed you in the meantime." Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but had this guy actually been the perpetrator and the police hadn't arrested him everyone would be in an uproar about how horrible the police are and how they don't go after criminals.

Anonymous | 8:04 a.m. July 2, 2009

This is a tough job of course. Unfortunately sometimes it's not just miscarriage of justice but miscarriage of power. Not enough information here to judge but I've seen it before with people in power, even DCFS - who have the ability to ruin lives and don't do their jobs properly. Then when found out they were wrong they only get defensive, never apologize and justify their mistakes because it was for the good of the people/child, etc.

On the other hand, seriously guilty, dangerous people are loose because investigations aren't complete, charges aren't taken seriously, victims are blamed or they don't dot their i's and cross their t's. Mistrials are declared, freeing murderers if there is perception that someone charging or convicting them made one error, or some attorney can find anything at all to excuse them. Even when there is no doubt the person is guilty, we let them go free because now they have a "better" lawyer who is not worried about truth and justice; only defending their client by using a technicality. It's a scary legal system we've evolved into that should be based on truth.

Flip a card | 9:10 a.m. July 2, 2009

The police and prosecutors want to move on with their assignments, so they often choose the probable "quilty" party and put all their cards on that suspect. Then they can go home and call it a day even though an innocent person's life is ruined.

The peopel who lied | 9:18 a.m. July 2, 2009

Shoued serve double the time the original guy spent in jail.

@ Provo PD Hater | 9:33 a.m. July 2, 2009

Perhaps you should have read the rest of the article, which explains that the boyfriend-victim lied and blamed the wrong person, the 3rd-party witness took a long time in coming forward, and the ex-roomate/innocent man in jail accepted a plea bargain for the assault in order to not get into too much trouble for the pot he had in his possession. In other words, none of this whole mess was the Provo PD's fault. There were too many dishonest people involved, and the PD acted on the info that people told them.

to the victim | 9:45 a.m. July 2, 2009

Dad always said, "choose your friends wisely, you are guilty by association; hang around people with knives, you will get stabbed; shovel manure, you're bound to get some on you.......get a life and learn from your mistakes and file a civil suit against Jane the ripper and her boyfriend Jack!

Anonymous | 10:58 a.m. July 2, 2009

Because the innocent man spent "MONTHS" in jail, the liar's should spend EQUAL if not double the time in jail to make up for it, have to pay the county for the innocent's "Upkeep" while in jail, and pay their own "Upkeep" while in jail! Then serve their regular sentence. This is serious stuff when you accuse someone who is innocent of the crime and they have to sit in jail, or go through the trauma of the court system for something they didn't do. Whether or not he had drugs on his person doesn't matter, the fact is HE didn't commit the crime accused of. I was once accused and being prosecuted for 2 counts of "Rape Of A Child", something I wouldn't do if a gun was held to my head! I had gone through nearly two years of the plea offers, court appearances, and such when the week before the jury was to be chosen the Prosecution DROPPED ALL CHARGES! If you are innocent don't plea to something, you may regret it later!!! Like this guy is now! If you didn't do it, let the system WORK!

To Anonymous @ 6:59am | 11:11 a.m. July 2, 2009

Thanks for your response. We know this happens to other people. The police where we live never questioned our granddaughter, just took her mother's statement, over the phone from another state, and that statement was based on the fabricated story her daughter had made up with her friend. Her mother didn't know that at the time. Since then, the granddaughter has accused other people and been in a lot of trouble, and now her mother (our daughter) knows the accusations against grandpa were based on false information. And our granddaughter is not quite 14. It makes me sad, because I love her. My husband was fortunate to get his old job back when he got out of jail, but he can't get life insurance, required to go to expensive counseling ($100/week), pays $460 a year in fees to the Probation Office, can't go see other grandchildren in their school plays or their birthday parties at the park, etc. He was found not guilty by an LDS High Council court, which brought us comfort. Cops have a hard job, and so do the courts. There's just no easy answer. People's lives are involved.

Witness Notoriously Unreliable | 12:47 p.m. July 2, 2009

You can correct that by not treating witness testimony as the Gospel Truth! I have studied much of this very issue in both psychology and criminal justice and it has been proven time and time again that witnesses lie, they are unreliable, they forget details or make up details, they are coerced, or they seek to give the "right" account of what happened, etc.

The fact that law enforcement just jumps on them as sources shows how their focus is really on just putting someone in prison, not on putting the RIGHT person in prison.

Victim of Utah County Injustice | 12:58 p.m. July 2, 2009

Having experienced the Utah County Justice system, I can say that this happens more often than you may want to believe. Police and prosecutors, are in love with their power more than justice. Shoddy work by our supposed public servants does more damage to our society than the criminals that they are supposed to protect us from. The prosecutors and police who failed so miserably should also face consequences.

Ugh! | 1:27 p.m. July 2, 2009

Two dirtbags saying the one other dirtbag did it. Lots of credibility there. Back in the day, cops could decypher crapola from the truth. Now days it seems that the cops just take everyone's word and don't dig deep. 20 years ago, we would have gotten to the truth and the kid wouldn't have spent one day in jail for the agg assault but maybe so for the drug charge. We most likely wouldn't have even arrested him, but investigated futher and got the two dirtbags to confess before it all got out of hand.

The same thing with alleged sex crimes that have been described above. Too many investigators fall all over themselves to get the "bad guy", they don't consider the motivation behind the charges nor the veracity of the people involved. They don't make sure the victim's story matches up. There usually isn't any physical evidence at all. Just the most unrealiable kind, eye witness. Now not all sex crime accusations are made up. But many kids have a vivid imigination.

The cops and prosecuters ought to take more care before the wreck a life.

awsomeron | 4:30 p.m. July 2, 2009

Apparenty No One here is keeping Church Standards, or they would not have the problems that they are having.

Girlfriend sounds like Miss Heck on Wheels. I hope both get some real time.

RU kiddingME | 7:05 p.m. July 2, 2009

In today's "justice system" a person is GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT. That is sad but true. I remember when a persons guilt needed to be determined. Now you have to prove you are innocent of charges brought by the "victims" or witnesses. Legal defenders do everything possible for a person to "take a plea". I know, Ive been there. If you take a plea you waive all rights to defend yourself. A plea IS an admission of guilt and the prosecutors and defenders work together to end the case ASAP. They don't make any money otherwise.

System Failings | 9:44 p.m. July 2, 2009

Our courts are a joke (judges win re-election nearly by default and legislate from the bench). The police, for the most part are a joke. The only person who can possibly make it through the police/court system is one who has deep pockets and good connections. The normal person cannot afford to take on the relentless state prosecutor funded by OUR money. Consequently more and more innocent people plea to crimes they didn't commit for fear of a harsh prison sentence. Truth isn't the primary concern for ambitious prosecutors, but rather conviction percentage and political maneuvering. I've never been convicted of a crime and haven't needed a defense attorney but I know of far too many people who've been subjected to the same type of treatment by our public 'servants'. Our 'justice' system is a sham.

Justice - Not! | 10:08 p.m. July 2, 2009

And this is why the death penalty needs to be done away with...

Can't do an appeal now | 12:10 a.m. July 3, 2009

Probably won't be any more comments because it's a new day online, but I wanted to say something else anyway. My husband is the one who spent 6 months in jail (see 2nd post above, and "To Anonymous @ 6:59am) for touching our granddaughter, which he did not do. Upon the advice of an attorney we paid a $10,000 fee to, he ended up accepting a 3rd degree felony plea bargain, rather than risk prison by losing a 1st degree felony charge at trial and possibly spending 15 to life in prison. However, now that our daughter knows the charges were based on fabricated information, and is willing to write a letter to that fact, it won't help, because one of the things you do when you accept a plea bargain is sign away your right to an appeal. He had to sign a document to that effect. He also had to admit in court that he had touched her, which was not true, and therefore perjury. It's a Catch-22. All our retirement savings have gone for legal fees and living expenses when he was in jail, and we are senior citizens. Not fair.

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