Friday, December 01, 2017

The Sunny Jacobs & Peter Pringle Scam

The Scams of Sunny Jacobs & Peter Pringle
Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom

"(Pringle)
, along with two other men, was convicted of the murder of two gardaí in 1980. Detective John Morley and Garda Henry Byrne had five young children between them when they were shot dead during a robbery in Co Roscommon. The killers were acting under a republican flag of convenience.

Two of them, Colm O’Shea and Pat McCann, were captured in the vicinity. The third man managed to flee the scene, but gardaí believed him to be Pringle. He was arrested in Galway 12 days later after a manhunt. He had shaved off his beard and dyed his hair. He denied any involvement and later claimed he had been on a drunken bender since the day before the robbery." (3)

"The evidence against him was largely circumstantial, including sightings of him in the Roscommon area in the immediate aftermath of the robbery and evidence that he’d been in the company of the other men in the days prior to the robbery, despite claiming he hadn’t seen them in months. There was forensic evidence involving hair and paint samples and gun residue. This was in the days before the development of DNA evidence. The clinching aspect to his conviction was a partial admission while in custody." (3)

"In 1995, Pringle succeeded in an appeal against his conviction. He had discovered evidence about a blood sample of his that had not been examined in his trial. The appeal judges decided that a dispute over the sample between two gardaí may have given rise to a credibility issue of Garda evidence. As such, the conviction was deemed unsafe and it was up to the State to try Pringle again.

Pringle attempted to portray this development as a miscarriage of justice. In a memoir entitled Surviving Ireland’s Death Row, he claimed evidence was “concocted” by retired detective superintendent Tom Connolly. In fact, the appeal judges made a point of noting they were not suggesting any officers had acted anyway dishonestly." (3)

"(The book, published three years ago, prompted Connolly to write his own memoir which included a more detailed account of the case, backed up by records.) The retrial never went ahead because the senior officer who had sanctioned an extension to Pringle’s time in custody 15 years earlier had since died. That was a lucky break for the recently-released Pringle.

"A week after his release, his solicitor wrote to the State demanding £50,000 as an interim payment for wrongful imprisonment. The demand was given short shrift. Since then, Pringle has not initiated any action that could result in obtaining a certificate of miscarriage and a huge compensation payout. Over the last 20 years he has frequently stated that he is still “trying” to get his case into the High Court, but it’s unclear who on earth might be stopping him." (3)
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below sent   11/19/2017


To: The Cast of The Exonerated & Galway Actors Workshop
cc: Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Galway Town Hall Theatre, Galway Advertiser, An Garda Siochana , The Marshall Project
Re: The play, The Exonerated, at Galway Town Hall Theatre, 11/19/2017
Subject: The Exoneration Frauds
From: Dudley Sharp

Fact checking is a requirement.


As these two, just below, are actors in the production:

Sunny Jacobs was on death row for less than 4 years, not 17. She has not been exonerated. She pled guilty to second degree murder and those confessions and legal status remain, as they should. Case detailed below, at 1 & 2.

Peter Pringle states: "I came within 11 days of execution. I spent 20 years on death row and saw 53 of the people around me I knew executed. But I was never afraid to die," Pringle smiled. 
(From: https://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2016/03/02/from-death-row-to-wedding-vows-how-one-couple-found-love-after-life-staring-at-execution/#puVBF7pix06heIs3.99)

Such is, complete, utter nonsense.

Pringle was sentenced to death in 1980, spent 6 months on death row and the last execution in Ireland was Michael Manning, in 1954, Pringle was probably laughing at the reporter. See, also 3 Fact checking matters.

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Also see the absurd:

Two Wrongful Convictions. One Happy Marriage.“It felt like the universe put us together.”By MAURICE CHAMMAH, The Marshall Project,
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/11/30/two-wrongful-convictions-one-happy-marriage

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600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
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FN
1) Detailed Review of Sunny Jacobs Crime and Guilt, at pages 509-516 within: 
The Myth of Innocence, Josh Marquis, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Volume 95, Issue 2 Winter, Article 4, Winter 2005,
http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7185&context=jclc

2) Play, The Exonerated: Are Any Actually Innocent?http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-play-exonerated-are-any-actually.html

3) Peter Pringle is no death-row poster boy, Michael Clifford, Irish Examiner, September 03, 2016,
http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/columnists/michael-clifford/peter-pringle-is-no-death-row-poster-boy-419107.html

4) 
 The Death Row "Exonerated"/"Innocent" Frauds 
 71-83% Error Rate in Death Row "Innocent" Claims, 
Well Known Since 1998

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Research, w/sources, w/fact checking/vetting & critical thinking, as required in a public policy debate
 
The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
(7 pro-death penalty experts listed)