"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed..."
6th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
"I will never forget the look in Steven Avery’s eyes when he was being brought into the courthouse ..., I know a person cannot be convicted based on that, but I made up my mind that day. Avery was guilty."
Manitowoc County Board Chairman Jim Brey
The re-emergence of the Steven Avery
case has done much to damage the reputation of our community.
Certainly the original rape case was bungled. Nationally we have
seen any number of such travesties. But, we like our politicians and
judges who profess to be “tough on crime”. The electoral
pressure to convict over the need to serve has lead to a bias in our
officials that has served us poorly. The Halbach case (and perhaps
Halbach herself) are in many respects the victims of that.
Despite all that, having followed the
this second case at the time and now going back and reviewing the
published evidence and appeals court decisions I remain convinced
that the verdict in that case was the correct one. Both Avery and
Dassey are where they belong – this time.
Now we see the revelation of the emails
of County Board Chair Jim Brey who wrote that he could tell
that Avery was guilty by looking into
his eyes. Prejudicial bigotry like that is
central to the problem. In the the famous Miranda case that lead to
the requirement of police advising suspects of their 5th
Amendment rights before making statements involved an officer who
said that he knew that people were lying when their bellies shook.
But Brey never misses an opportunity to pander so civil rights be
damned. Not one lesson was learned.
Brey, a fake Democrat who is
continually re-elected without opposition while receiving fewer votes
than any other candidate by half yet holds not one, but two offices
in addition to being County board chair is perhaps the worst
politician in modern Manitowoc history. A man with any sense of
decency would resign after such a revelation but his ego and appetite
for power would never permit that. Meanwhile the damage continues to
mount.
Bernard J. Starzewski
Valders Wi.
