But what DNA is showing us is that even those with the best of evidence will not necessarily get out. Jim Lieberman, a professor at Columbia Law School, appeared on camera for Frontline and said, Innocence is not enough. There's no right to say, I'm innocent. I can't show anything else that went wrong with my trial. That is not a basis for getting out of prison in this country.
Process apparently is paramount to truth.
We always say we want accountability, we want to find our mistakes and make things work better, but when it comes to the criminal justice system, for some reason they're off the hook. Washington became a suspect 11 months after the crime. Investigators in the Culpeper case began focusing on him when he broke into the home of a Fauquier County neighbor because he knew she had a gun. The woman testified at a preliminary hearing that Washington did not try to have sex with her after he broke into her home. At that point, authorities stopped pursuing a rape charge in that case.