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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMan held for 42 years in deadly Arizona hotel fire ordered freed from prison
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/02/17568019-man-held-for-42-years-in-deadly-arizona-hotel-fire-ordered-freed-from-prison?liteAn Arizona man who has maintained for 42 years that he had nothing to do with a horrific hotel fire that killed more than two dozen people pleaded no contest Tuesday in a deal that sets aside his original conviction and frees him from prison.
"Welcome back, Mr. Taylor," Tucson Superior Court Judge Richard Fields said after accepting 59-year-old Louis Cuen Taylor's plea on Tuesday, reported The Arizona Daily Star. The plea deal gives him credit for time already served.
Taylor was just 16 years old when he was sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences for a fire that ripped through the Pioneer Hotel, a Tucson landmark that went up in flames in December 1970 while employees of an aircraft company were there for a Christmas party.
42 YEARS?? He was only 16 years old at the time and they gave him multiple life sentences?? Oh my. The Justice System is messed up!
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)insane...
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)Letting him out is a terrible mistake. He's one of the worst mass murderers in history.
OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)....quote from the article:
Taylor, who is black, claims police pinned the crime on him and an all-white jury gave him an unfair trial. A 2002 examination of his case by CBS' "60 Minutes" found evidence that he had been railroaded and led volunteer legal group The Arizona Justice Project to take on his case.
Response to OldDem2012 (Reply #4)
slackmaster This message was self-deleted by its author.
EOTE
(13,409 posts)Do you really think killers are let go so easily? Do you know how often this awful stuff happens? The pieces of shit who locked this man away for a substantial portion of his life really don't need anymore defenders than they already have.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,085 posts)EOTE
(13,409 posts)You can't be thrown in jail for exercising your rights, can you?
Now, being at the wrong place at the wrong time? That can easily rob you of your freedom. Especially if you're a minority.