No One Would Listen': Cleared of Murder, After 33 Years in Prison

Clara DeMagalhaes                                                                                                Current Event #8

Dollinger, Arielle. “'No One Would Listen': Cleared of Murder, After 33 Years in Prison.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 May 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/nyregion/murder-conviction-vacated-keith-bush.html.

At 17 years old, Keith Bush was suspected of strangling a 14 year old girl and was promptly incarcerated after having to sign a confession. Despite this, he always fought to clear his name, and wrote to a lawyer called Adele Bernhard, asking her to help his case. She took it, and her subsequent investigation turned up evidence inconsistent with the confession statement and other conclusions, such as how the cause of death detailed in the confession didn’t match the girl’s actual cause of death. Additionally, DNA found under the victim’s fingernails didn’t match Bush’s DNA, and a witness who said she saw him leave with the victim the night of the crime recanted her testimony 5 years later. Most importantly, Bernhard obtained records of the case saying that the police had another suspect for the murder - John W. Jones Jr., who made a statement to the police. These statements were never told to Bush’s defense lawyer, which is a violation of evidence rules. Bernhard took the records to the district attorney, who concluded that the prosecutors had engaged in a deliberate cover up. “‘At the end of the day, we came to some very simple conclusions,’ Mr. Sini said. ‘We don’t believe Mr. Bush committed this murder. We believe Mr. Bush was denied a fair trial. And we believe that John Jones is a more probable suspect in this crime.’” 44 years after his arrest, John Bush’s conviction was thrown out and he was absolved of the crime.

A case in which an innocent person is wrongly convicted and imprisoned or worse is an unfortunate event that isn’t uncommon. This event can hopefully encourage more careful procedures and standards in the criminal justice system to ensure that an occurrence of deliberate misconduct doesn’t happen again. Furthermore, the methods used to uncover the true conclusion to this case are a signal of the advances of forensic science, which will likely be more accurate and reliable in the future.

Overall, the article was well-articulated and was a decent length. It does a great job at stirring emotion in the reader, making one feel great sympathy for the formerly suspected criminal. Yet it doesn’t overdo it to the point where it feels artificial. The use of pictures and quotes from various people involved in the case was also helpful because hearing their personal thoughts helps lend credibility to the author’s retelling of the story. However, one thing that I think could have been included was a description of what Bush is now doing after he was absolved, such as the job that he might have or if he might be engaged. It would be a satisfying conclusion to have some closure provided about that.