The
Ring of Truth
Truth is Power, but you can't just "tell the truth" -- you must tell the truth effectively.
Editorial By Hans Sherrer, Guest Writer
Justice: Denied -- The Magazine for the Wrongly Convicted, Volume 1, Issue 7
Defense lawyer Gerry Spence has accomplished something that is as remarkable as
it is obscure. In a career spanning nearly 50 years, he has never lost a
criminal case. [1]
Mr. Spence duly recognizes that hard work, meticulous
preparation and his commanding presence have contributed to his success.
However, he mainly credits a secret weapon that prosecutors haven't found a way
to stop: he tells the truth to jurors as plainly and openly as he can. Why is
telling the truth so effective? He believes it is because people are desperately
hungry to hear the truth. In our modern hectic world, the truth is
frequently drowned out by the endless lies of advertisers, politicians, public
relations spokespeople, and many others.
In spite of the morass of falsehoods in which we live, Gerry Spence has an
almost mystical faith in the ability of "common" people to discern
the truth of a situation when it is effectively presented to them. He
relies on the protective shield provided by the irresistible power of the truth
to resonate within jurors. He calls this phenomenon the ring of truth.
[2]
Mr. Spence puts his money where his mouth is by
staking the lives of the people he defends on his belief in the built-in truth
detector of jurors. The hundreds of times he has won by relying on the ability
of jurors to determine the truth of his clients case shows that his faith in
them isn't misplaced.
However, a disturbing paradox is raised by Gerry Spence's winning case after
case, year after year, in state and federal courts across
The cat was recently let out of the bag that prosecutors are well aware of
their unethical and even criminal conduct. Whatever doubts anyone may have
about this were dispelled by their reaction to an appeals court ruling in U.
S. v. Singleton (1998). [3]
Unlike Caesar's wife, prosecutors have no interest in
preserving even the appearance that they are above suspicion.
To briefly summarize her case, Sonya Singleton was prosecuted in federal court
on drug-related charges. Federal prosecutors promised three separate benefits
to her codefendant if he would testify against her in court. There is a law
that makes it a federal crime for anyone to directly or indirectly,
give, offer or promise anything of value to any person in exchange for
testimony in a judicial proceeding. [4]
The activity described in this statute as illegal is known as bribery. This
statute codifies what has been known for thousands of years: bribing people to
provide testimony has a corrupting influence on what they say. [5] The payer is rewarded, and rewards the payee, for
tailoring what is said.
Ms. Singleton's lawyers made a motion to prohibit her codefendant from
testifying against her. They argued that his prospective testimony was tainted
by his acceptance of the prosecution's inducements that were tantamount to a
bribe. The prosecutors countered this argument by claiming they were exempt
from the bribery statute. The trial judge sided with the government and
declined to grant the defense motion. Her codefendant was allowed to testify
against her and she was convicted. In her appeal, Ms. Singleton raised the
issue that the trial court's denial of her motion was a substantial error that
might have affected the outcome of her trial.
A three-judge panel for the federal 10th Circuit unanimously agreed with her.
They declared that prosecutors are not immune from the federal criminal statute
prohibiting the bribery of witnesses. [6]
Their decision was a recognition that offering a prosecution
witness immunity, a more lenient sentence, or special treatment in exchange for
favorable testimony, is a form of bribery that is an open invitation to perjury
and the conviction of defendants who aren't guilty.
Instead of accepting that at a minimum they should be bound by the
same high standards of conduct expected of everyone else in American society,
the U. S. Department of Justice appealed the decision. By opposing the decision
of the three-judge panel, prosecutors revealed that in their quest to win at
all costs they are knowingly engaging in such indefensible activities as
obstruction of justice, witness tampering, subornation of perjury, bribery, and
openly condoning perjury by prosecution witnesses. [7]
This attitude of being above the ethical rules of society was
perhaps most prominently displayed for all of us to see in the O. J. Simpson
case. Policeman Mark Fuhrman was one of the government's star witnesses. He was
prosecuted and convicted after he committed perjury numerous times on the
witness stand before a worldwide television audience. However, he didn't act in
isolation. Prosecutors Marcia Clark and Chris Darden went unpunished, even
though they were aware of his perjured testimony and they did nothing to stop
it.
After Singleton's case was reviewed by all the judges in the 10th Circuit, the
majority voted to reverse the three-judge panel's decision. Using a judicial
sidestep, they ignored the ethical and legal issue that bribing prosecution
witnesses has an inevitably corrupting influence on their testimony. Instead,
the appellate judges essentially relied on the logic that it is common for
prosecutors to offer bribes in exchange for favorable testimony, and it wasn't
up to them to change a practice of such long standing. [8]
Prosecutors were thus granted an exemption to openly
engage in a criminal activity that is prohibited to everyone else in the
Singleton's lawyers appealed the 10th Circuit's decision to the U. S. Supreme
Court. On
The Supreme Court's decision is a blow to those
interested in prosecutors being held to some semblance of honesty in the
presentation of their cases. However, it is indicative of why Gerry Spence's
reliance on the truth has so much power. When a lone individual's freedom is
endangered by an assault against them by the awesome might of the state, the ring
of truth can be the most effective defense.
Acting as a witness to the truth is also a powerful way to publicize the plight
of those who have suffered egregiously at the hands of the "justice"
system. This is now being done in the pages of Justice Denied and other print
and online publications.
The saying that "the darkness of night cannot conceal the light of a
single candle" helps explain why revealing the truth doesn't necessarily
rely on the number of people who do it. Only one person, or a few, can
effectively do so. This is the enduring lesson of The Emperor's New Clothes.
Although a children's fable, it expresses the important principle that one
person publicly revealing a long-hidden secret can have an impact on the way
large numbers of people see something.
To the Emperor, the little boy who blew the whistle on his lack of clothing was
a traitor.To those who had lived with the lie of
having to pretend that reality was different from what they saw it to be, he
was a hero.
Justice Denied and other publications are acting like the little boy in the
fable. They are systematically exposing to the light of day the dirty hidden
secret that wrongful convictions are not a rare occurrence, but almost the
norm. Private sources, as well as studies by agencies of the federal government
are revealing that upwards of 25% of convictions may be erroneous. This is a
national scandal.
Readers of Justice Denied have an opportunity to hear the ring of truth in the
stories it relates of people harmed by one of the most horrible injustices
imaginable -- being wrongly branded as a criminal. As the Singleton
case emphasizes, this is often accomplished by prosecutors who cultivate
witnesses to commit perjury.
Fax machines, e-mail, cell phones and the Internet eliminate the need to have a
multimillion dollar budget and a large staff of people to share ideas with
millions of people. Modern means of communication are contributing to leveling
the playing field of information distribution.
Look at Matt Drudge. Starting as one man with a computer working out of his
apartment bedroom, he had the courage to expose the Monica Lewinsky story to
the ring of truth. History will record that he played a key role in President
Clinton's impeachment. In the same way, Zack Exley is
one man with a computer who is proving to be a thorn in the side of
presidential hopeful George W. Bush. [10]
Similarly, the spotlight being directed by Justice Denied
on the justice system's preying on innocent people isn't going unnoticed. The
correspondence between Publisher Clara Boggs and the New Orleans District
Attorney's office shows how sensitive prosecutors are to light when they are
used to working unobserved in the darkness of shadows. [11] Likewise, Ms. Boggs has received a report that the U. S.
Department of Justice is aware of Justice Denied's publishing activities.
Given the unobstructed way they have been able to act for decades, it isn't
surprising that a powerful and feared agency in the federal government is
taking an interest in a small group of people putting out a fledgling magazine
dedicated to presenting the truth about the injustices that agency perpetrates
daily against helpless people.
This is the power of the ring of truth. It is the one thing purveyors of
prosecutorial injustice fear. As the true life tales in Justice Denied show
over and over, prosecutors in particular are masters at trying to undermine the
truth with lies, innuendo, smearing, intimidation, neglect of exculpatory
evidence, and assuming a false posture of righteousness.
Even though they can be daunting obstacles, devious and underhanded
prosecutorial tactics can be overcome. The ring of truth is one of the few
things that can effectively break through the wall of lies constructed by
prosecutors so that jurors can make an intelligent decision about the fate of
an accused man or woman. While it is difficult to do in a courtroom
environment, competent defense attorneys rely on skill and wile to expose the
web of illusory guilt woven by the prosecution around a defendant.
Out of the courtroom, the same dedication to seeking ways to present the truth
is an antidote to the plague of false convictions being foisted on
End Notes
[1]
See: "The Making of a Country Lawyer," Gerry Spence,
[2]
How To Argue and Win Every Time, at home,
at work, in court, everywhere, everyday, Gerry Spence, St. Martins Press,
[3]
[4] 18 U.S.C. § 201(c)(2)) reads in part: “Whoever . . . directly or indirectly, gives, offers or promises anything of value to any person, for or because of the testimony under oath or affirmation given or to be given by such person as a witness upon a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, before any court . . . authorized by the laws of the United States to hear evidence or take testimony . . . shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.”
[5] A couple examples of this are: “Do not prevent justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the yes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.” Deuteronomy 16:19. and, “Bribery undermines a basic foundation of human existence: that there is one humanity and that all humans have the right to stand as equals before the law. It pulls the rug out from under the widow, the orphan, and all other defenseless and poor people. Bribery, although transacted in secret, is a flagrant violation of the world entrusted to us.” It should read: (Quote from: Torah This Week, Rabbi Pinchas H. Peli, Washington Jewish Week, August 18, 1988).
It is notable that both of these quotes are in a book
that explores how special interest lobbyists influence (a polite word for
bribe) the way congressmen and senators vote (a form of testimony) on public
issues. See: Stealth PACS: Lobbying
Congress for Control of U. S. Middle East Policy, Richard H. Curtis,
American Educational Trust,
[6]
[7]
The Oregonian (
[8]
[9] See e.g., D. A.: Prosecutors in Their Own Words, Mark Baker, Simon & Schuster, NY, 1999. In this book, a prosecutor compares the justice system to an assembly line that processes people. Although someone is legally presumed to be innocent when placed on the conveyor belt that enters the justice system factory, a successful prosecutor ensures that when they get to the end of the line and process, they have duly been stamped as guilty. (see p. 49).
[10] In cyberspace, citizen Exley on par with G. W. Bush: One man's criticism a national event after Bush irked by site, Joan Lowy (Scripps Howard News Service), Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 19, 1999, p. A8. This article states in part: “If it weren't for the Internet, Zack Exley would be just another voiceless citizen disenchanted with the state of politics.”
[11]
See: