U.S. legal system not infallible
Most of us would rather be judged under our legal system than another country's legal system. But even ours is not infallible.
“Manifest Injustice,” a newly released book by Barry Siegel, raises questions about whether Bill Macumber got his day in court after being arrested in a double slaying in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1962.
Macumber was convicted more than a decade later, even though another man had previously confessed to the killings. That confession was not allowed in as evidence in either of Macumber's two trials.
In a spirted legal defense of Macumber, the Arizona Justice Projects raised troubling questions about whether evidence had been doctored to help assure his convictions.
Late in 2012, Macumber was granted clemency and released at age 77, having served nearly four decades in prison for a crime he may or may not have committed.
