Virginia’s right-wing heart-throb Attorney General , Ken
Cuccinelli, reportedly denied an innocent man his release from jail after
Cuccinelli ruled that the Hampton judge who issued the order, Circuit Judge
Randolph West, to release the imprisoned man lacked the jurisdiction to do so.[1]
The imprisoned man, Jonathan Montgomery, was convicted on
charges of sexual assault. However, his accuser recently recanted her
allegation. Judge West subsequently issued an order exonerating Montgomery and
voiding the last two years of his sentence.
A spokesman for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Brian
Gottstein, said that while Montgomery’s case is a “tragedy”, Judge West’s
exoneration of Montgomery and the elimination of Montgomery’s final two years on
his sentence is “void” under Virginia law.
According to Gottstein, Montgomery “probably” needs to
petition the Virginia Court of Appeals for a writ of actual innocence, a writ
that Cuccinelli would support.
There is no question that our system of justice stands and
falls by procedures that cannot be abridged excepting the rarest and direst of
circumstances. Montgomery’s case seems like one of those circumstances.
Essentially, Cuccinelli is saying that an innocent man must
stay behind bars for however long it may take for a “writ of innocence” to be
issued. Regardless of whether it takes a week, a month, or a year to issue this
writ of innocence, leaving an innocent
individual in jail so that “proper procedures” can be followed is one of the
surest ways to undermine our country’s system of justice in the minds of the
public.
Justice is supposed to be swift and fair. In Montgomery’s
case, just has been neither.
What is our system of justice worth if the system that is
supposed to protect the innocent and punish the guilty blindly punishes the
innocent as well?
There are exceptions to every rule ever created. In the case
of Montgomery, an exception should be made.
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