How Morley Safer’s dogged reporting saved a black aerospace engineer’s life

[Recursion]

http://www.vox.com/2016/5/19/11715022/morley-safer-dead-lenell-geter

Legendary 60 Minutes reporter Morley Safer, who passed away Thursday at age 84 just days after CBS announced his retirement, set a high bar for journalism.

Safer's career took off as he unveiled the atrocities of the Vietnam War to the American public, much to the chagrin of President Lyndon B. Johnson. But in his favorite reported story, Safer proved that a bit of solid investigative reporting could be as effective in overturning a wrongful conviction as DNA would be used to do so today.

In 1983, Safer reported the story of Lenell Geter, a 25-year-old black aerospace engineer who was sentenced to life in prison for robbing a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Greenville, Texas, in August 1982.

To Safer, however, the details of the case didn't add up. Geter was recruited to the predominantly white area for a position at the major military and electronics contractor E-Systems. While he was reading a book in a local park (the out-of-state tags on his parked car were reported as suspicious by locals), police approached him. Police departments had circulated a photo of Geter as a possible suspect for a recent KFC robbery and other holdups in the area.

Yet another reminder that a good-paying job doesn't matter if you're falsely arrested on the way to it. RIP, Mr. Safer!

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R! He appeared on this Sunday's 60 Minutes tribute

Awesome story!

[Nay]

2. I have never forgotten the Lenell Geter story. The above link

does not report another facet of the story -- one fast-food place that was robbed actually contained a coworker of Jeter's who, horrified that he had been arrested, went to the police station to file a report that Geter, a coworker she saw every day, was NOT the man who robbed the the place. She was NEVER called to testify, never interviewed, etc., even though she made plenty of noise about it. They railroaded Geter, even in the face of perfect evidence that he was not the robber.

[pnwmom]

3. And a successful career doesn't protect a black man from assumption of guilt on DU

either.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=2011000