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Blaming the victim

I've been around the block often enough in politics that I don't tend to get angry at someone just because they disagree with me, but the petty defensiveness of the Lubbock DA in reaction to the Timothy Cole exoneration left my blood boiling. Here's the quote that set me off from yesterday's Austin Statesman:Though he has not conducted a review of the case, [Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney Matthew] Powell did not blame police and prosecutors when asked where the case went wrong. "Where it went wrong is you had a victim who picked him out of a lineup," he said. Really? You don't think it might have gone wrong when police showed Michele Mallin a photo array with five black and white mug shots as fillers and a color Polaroid of the suspect? Or when they prosecuted Tim Cole, a nonsmoking asthmatic, even though all the victims including Mallin said the rapist was a chain smoker?Can you imagine the arrogance? Powell admits he has not reviewed the case, but categorically denies any police or prosecutor error and blames the victim instead...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on February 07, 2009 (boomark / email).