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The Legacy of Henry Wade

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AP's Mike Graczyk has a must-read, "After Dallas DA's death, 19 convictions are undone," via Google News.As district attorney of Dallas for an unprecedented 36 years, Henry Wade was the embodiment of Texas justice. A strapping 6-footer with a square jaw and a half-chewed cigar clamped between his teeth, The Chief, as he was known, prosecuted Jack Ruby. He was the Wade in Roe v. Wade. And he compiled a conviction rate so impressive that defense attorneys ruefully called themselves the 7 Percent Club. But now, seven years after Wade's death, The Chief's legacy is taking a beating. Nineteen convictions ? three for murder and the rest involving rape or burglary ? won by Wade and two successors who trained under him have been overturned after DNA evidence exonerated the defendants...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on July 30, 2008 (boomark / email).