[Note: Friends of Justice is a personal blog. I speak only for myself.]
Dear Friend of Justice,
On April 17, 2012, Bernard Baran and his attorney, John Swomley, visited a criminal justice class at St. Francis College in Brooklyn.
Here is a link to the video.
An unscrupulous prosecutor rode a wave of homophobic hysteria to get his career-advancing conviction. (Disgracefully, he is still a judge in Massachusetts.) Baran, an innocent man arrested when only 19, survived 22 years of rapes, beatings, and degradation. The Berkshire County still refuses to acknowledge the terrible mistakes that they made.
-Bob Chatelle
Thanks for the post with the link to the video. I watched it and was so happy to see Bee in person – he looks great and seems to be doing real well. I hope the presentation helped the students understand how the justice system can, at times, get things very wrong and truly hurt innocent people. We should all hope that if we were in this terrible position that a man like Mr. Swomley would find us and dedicate his life to helping us. Bee was very lucky to have him at his side.
Thanks again Bob for all you do! Geo
As a mom, grandma, and great grandma it sickens me to knew we have people on this earh so willing to cruciby an innocent person for their own interests. Many years past I would not have believed such could happen. I was brought up to have faith in the system of justice. Now it is Just us. The system will do anything to prove they can never be wrong. Lie, cheat, use editing programs to change the spoken word even in civil cases. God forbid that I or my family ever be in the hands of people such as that in criminal matters. Tell Bee that there are people all over the country, who continue to believe in the system, and for that I apolgize to Bee and any other wrongly convicted.