Despite the fact that the police found no physical evidence linking him to the victim, a judge sentenced Cruz to die by lethal injection. Because of a prosecutorial error, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered a second trial for Cruz, and in February of 1990 he was again found guilty and sentenced to death. That verdict was overturned in 1994. The judge ordered a directed verdict of not guilty, and Rolando Cruz, having spent nearly twelve years in jail, was a free man. See a collection of Atlantic articles on crime.
Correctional officials see danger in prison overcrowding.
Others see opportunity. America is putting more people behind bars than ever. Soon we will be releasing more of them than ever. A short story about a shepherd arrested for serial murder. The author researched material for this story while working at a legal resource center in Texas, assisting lawyers with habeas corpus appeals of death-row defendants.