I was going to use this case for project #7: wrongfully convicted, but it hasn't been proven yet so I just decided to write my blog about it because I found it very interesting. Under the subject of wrongfully convicted, I found a website from Alaska that works on freeing the wrongfully convicted. I found an update on this website about a man named Gregory Marino who was convicted of murder and attempted murder in 1994 with no physical evidence supporting this conviction. The reason Marino's case was on this Alaskan website is because they are raising money to get the fingerprints found at the scene tested to prove Marino's innocence. Although Marino hasn't been proved innocent yet, I feel that he is. I found an article in the Anchorage Daily News from July 7, 1994. This article states that there is no physical evidence proving that Marino committed the crime, but that a 7 year old recalls seeing him commit the murder. I find this completely ridiculous! It really shows some of the problems with our legal system. Marino has been in jail for 16 years all due to a 7 year olds memory of a nighttime murder.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1828&dat=19940707&id=-c8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YL4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=2576,2662787
The website above is one of the articles written in 1994 about Gregory Marino and the "evidence" the proves he was guilty.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1828&dat=19940707&id=-c8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YL4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=2576,2662787
The website above is one of the articles written in 1994 about Gregory Marino and the "evidence" the proves he was guilty.
I also find this case to be absolutely ridiculous. The girl was seven and probably just told the police it was him because that's who she last saw her sister with! I can't believe that with no physical evidence they still have enough to convict him of a murder. I think that if this case were to have taken place in 2010 (or a few years before) matter would have been handled a lot differently, at least I hope so. I don't understand very many legal terms, but it just doesn't seem right that they could put a guy away for murder when they have no evidence but a seven year old's 'thought'. I read the article that you posted and I started to wonder who they all questioned. The first person I would question (granted there was no physical evidence on Gregory) would be the drug dealer. I mean maybe she wasn't paying up, or maybe she was a 'tough client'. But all in all I still find this case obscene!