notes on viewers' response to the terence garner story

I have a friend who will speak to my group on Saturday, who is a former police officer for one of our country's largest cities. He turned down the job initially, because he had a tendency to lie. He was actually hired because of this trait, and encouraged to lie in court to prove cases; this by the individual woh hired him. Others have told me personally that they recommend lying in court,and let the judge sort out the truth. Other personal examples are just as convincing. Please keep me informed of this case in particular, and how might I be of service to this man?

Were it possible, I would "adopt" Terrance Garner", and pledge myself responsible for the remainder of my life, or his. Thank God for our Freedoms, and especially Freedom of the press, and may we all continue to improve our outlook, opinions, attitudes, and action; not only in this country, but world wide.

Jim Anderson
fox lake, il

Dear FRONTLINE,

The decision of the Police, Prosecutor and Judge was made before the young man even made it to the courtroom. All blacks boys are gang members, predators and animals. The Judge, Prosecutor and Police just reflect what is going on in the courts across America. But I am missing something arenít I? The victim. She (a white woman) can not forget the face of the man, she saw with her own two eyes.

When is America going to get over this race thing? When are Americans going to see that itís not just the Blacks committing crimes, but also their own race committing more crimes and getting less sentences. If this was a white boy, you probably would not even have a story.

I believe that as long as there is the Good-old-boy network throughout the American judicial system, a black man will always be guilty until proven innocent, but in this case, Terence is still guilty even if he is innocent.

kansas city, missouri

Dear FRONTLINE,

While the North Carolina Govoner could and should pardon Terance Gardner I've never heard of any Govoner pardoning anyone. In my opinion every single case and sentence should be scrutinized by a party not part of the Judcial branch of goverment.

For instance Utah has the Board of Pardons and Parole. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole is required to reveiw every single case for every inmate sentenced to prison. Ultimately the Board of pardons and parole (an entity under the executive branch of goverment) votes with in it's members to decide how long an inmate should remain in prison, if the sentence should be shortened, when in the future they should be considered for parol, and if nessary pardon that individual for there crime entirely.

While an entity like the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole would likely not entirely fix our justice system is adds more checks and balance to the system in hopes of preventing gross injustice like the Tarance Gardaner case.

Another problem that appears to have contributed this abortion of justice is how the DA was allowed to stucture while I don't disagree with reducing charges or making sentencing deals in exchange for a pleanig guiltiy, adding conditions that an individual must testify against another individual or the plea is invalid should probatly be illegal. Moreover specifying details must be given while testifying should definatly be illegal.

My hope and prayers go out to Terance Gardaner and his family that he will be freed soon. His conviction and incarceration is a tragedy. Every member of the North Carolina goverment should be embarased and ashamed of what has been done to Terance

The only thing more disturbing about what has been done in this case is knowing that there are likely others who are victoms like Terance and his family.

Mark Henderson
salt lake city, utah

Dear FRONTLINE,

I found your show on the plight of Terrance Garner a credit to the fourth estate. Years ago I was involved in a civil action against the City of Asheville, NC. I naively believed that in spite of legal setbacks at almost every step in the process 'right' would ultimately prevail.

What a fool I was. When the State has self-interest to protect, 'the pursuit of truth' and 'in the interests of justice' are but inconveniences best avoided. Inherent in the legal system is safeguards that protect these self-interests. In my case it was only a loss of property at issue. I left North Carolina disillusioned in our system of justice but at least I was able to leave.

Mr. Garner does not have that luxury. Therein lies the greatest injustice... innocence, an inconvenience best avoided when it conflicts with these self interests.

David Lynn
kamuela, hawaii

Dear FRONTLINE,

Although I believe that Keith Riddick should still be behind bars for his actions in this crime, he said a few important things that stand out in my mind.

Riddick is an example of a criminal that can work the system to his advantage if he plays the game that the investigators want played. He clearly said it, if he didn't lie he would still be behind bars. It's all about self-preservation for not only the criminals but all involved judges and attorneys alike.

Riddick also made a very powerful statement which is strongly validated in the American justice system by the number of eye witnesses that have made mistaken perpetrator identifications.

Katie MacArthur
clayton, nc

Dear FRONTLINE,

I have viewed several of your pieces and have always felt that they simply are the very best journalism on television. Your piece tonight was incredible.

I, too, am young African American manóand , as such, that could have been me, any of my brothers, my friends, etc., so the piece resonated deeply. These kinds of stories are not told on network televisionóand that is tragedy because they clearly demonstrate why minority communities have an inherent distrust with the legal systemÖand why there can be such a huge disconnect with blacks and whites in issues such as the O.J. Simpson case.

Given the Southís history of race relations, it would have been very easy to say the outcome of the case just underscores the fact that things havenít changed a great deal there. But, your piece showed - very clearly - that people of good conscience - regardless of color ñ recognize this travesty of justice. And, as was mentioned in the show, it makes all of us have less faith in the justice system. My only hope is that your piece will bring enough attention to the case so that the Justice Department will be compelled to investigate

Tracy Hill
los angeles, ca

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for your excellent piece. Immediately after your program I emailed the governor's office of North Carolina. I would urge other viewers to do the same. When the judicial branch fails, as it clearly has, the executive branch may offer some relief.

Timothy Buroker MD
honolulu, hi

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am sending a donation to the:

Innocence Project Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law 55 Fifth Ave. 11th floor New York, NY 10003

with the suggestion that they use it to do something for Terence Garner.

I need to do something after seeing this program.

Genevieve Howard howardgg@owl.csusm.edu

Genevieve Howard
san marcos, ca

Dear FRONTLINE,

Your coverage of Terence Garner and his conviction sent me directly to my computer to get more background information about this crime. Strange to say, but of all the individuals interviewed, the ones I felt I wouldn't trust were the ones doing the prosecuting.

The entire matter is a sham and if the judge was more concerned about seeing justice prevail he would have at least granted Mr. Garner his appeal, especially in light of all the subsequent information. The horror behind such a story is always the same-----An injustice done to one is done to all. Terence could have been MY brother, ----come to think of it, he is. Keep your eyes on the prize buddy.

Ernie Gitti
guerneville, ca

Dear FRONTLINE,

After watching your program I have written to the Governor of NC and all of the influencers listed on your website in an attempt to vent a small bit of my outrage.

I urge your viewers to take the time to do the same and also to write to Terence to assure him that his suffering may serve a positive end by opening our eyes and improving our imperfect judicial system.

Geoff Kruth
menlo park, ca

Dear FRONTLINE,

Once again, Frontline has done an excellent job of bringing an egregious injustice to the attention of the American people. Now your viewers want to know what they can do to ensure that justice is finally carried out in the Terence Garner case. To that end, Frontline should provide a sign-up sheet (or take an online poll) that would allow concerned citizens to voice their support for the immediate release of a wrongly accused young man. This collection of signatures should be regularly forwarded to the key individuals involved in the case of this "ordinary crime."

Norma Roman
indio, california

Dear FRONTLINE,

After watching Frontline tonight I am wondering if I should move myself, my wife and my three children to Ireland where my mother was born.

This example of police brutality chills the soul and begs the question of how many other innocents have been thrown to the wolves for the sake of some bigshot's career and reputation? I am sickened by what I saw tonight and commend Frontline for its insight and intelligence for bringing the case before a horrified public. Let the fellow go free! For God's sake and our own.

William O'Brien
chandler, az

Dear FRONTLINE,

Though it's true (abundantly so) that there's been a "miscarriage of justice" in the Garner case, I think we need to go beyond that aspect and try to see what it tells us about the bigger picture. Only in this manner can these injustices be ultimately redressed.

America is a deeply classist society, a society where certain classes of people "count" and others don't. All of America's benefits and blessings go to this former class and it's burdens and "guilts" go to the later.

This is how the otherwise incomprehensible callousness and disregard of Jenkins and Lock in the example before us can be understood. To them, Garner simply doesn't matter because he does not belong to the class that matters. He's just not (in their view) a real human being.

This concept should not sound so foreign to Americans. After all, we currently live in an age of demonization (rather like the Middle Ages) when we are told we must gird ourselves against all manner of threat from hostile and inscrutible (read "less than human") forces.

So neither should it come as a shock that appeals courts should rule in favor of a judge or prosecutor (no matter how flagrant the miscarriage of justice): they are, after all, protecting "their own" and in the process, their own perogatives and claims to the inherent powers of their class. I certainly don't intend to over-rationalize this case, but the sad fact is that(as so many other correspondants have pointed out)it is so common.

bill bergren
ontario, california

Dear FRONTLINE,

Dear Frontline;

After reading other's comments posted on your website, I discovered I was not alone in wishing there was something I could do to help correct this injustice. Perhaps everyone who is as upset about it as I am would be interested in knowing the following:

The phone number for the Johnston County, NC District Attorney's Office is (919) 934-3071 The phone number for Judge Jenkins Office is (919) 989-5629.

Letter-writing is one thing, but an endless barrage of telephone calls voicing protest could force them to listen. These officials need to be forced from office. An example of them needs to be made to scare all the other corrupt, malevolent prosecutors and judges in the land.

la jolla, ca

Dear FRONTLINE,

Every time I see one of Ofra Bickel's documentaries on the US criminal justice system I am outraged at what she uncovers. Her method is Socratic--allow the participants to hang themselves with their own words or inability to answer simple, perceptive questions. And it is very effective, even on someone who knows the system, like me.

I was about to mentally lynch Judge Jenkins and the appellate court that upheld his refusal to grant a new trial, but I remembered that he did not see the scheming, self-serving and ultimately candid Riddick that we saw.

Riddick took the Fifth during the new trial hearing and "gave it up" only after he got his deal and out of jail. In purely narrow legal terms, therefore, the judge's no-new-trial decision cannot be viewed as indefensible.

That said, I still have no respect for his refusal to grant a new trial, because he closed his eyes to the obvious: a new trial of Garner would be a very chancy affair for the State, even with a repeat of the two strong eyewitness identifications. His certitude to the contrary is preposterous on its face and would be laughable if it were not so tragic.

By way on contrast, I once had the opportunity to present to a trial judge my harsh critique of his actions in conducting a trial--one that I was not the defense lawyer for. These were sins of omission that I think were greater than could be said for anything about Judge Jenkins' conduct of Garner's trial.

In my case, the judge was open-minded about the need to correct his mistakes, even after he was "home free," in that virtually all avenues of appeal had been exhausted and my client was in his tenth year of a twenty-five year, no parole sentence. My client was amazingly lucky, because every aspect of the ciminal justice system, responding to public demand to "put 'em away," is so strongly biased against undoing what has been done that we are almost to the point where, if the trial was fair when conducted, later evidence of innocence is all but irrelevant. I know the only reason I was successful was because I encountered a judge who had the courage and strength to repudiate his own prior work. Such judges are few and far between, and as often as not they are pilloried by politicians as "soft on crime." That message is still being sold to us voters. We reap what we sow.

Dave Brown
washington, dc

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