Pete Shellem, a reporter for the Harrisburg Patriot-News, tracked down essential DNA evidence which had disappeared to Germany. The sample was semen swabbed from a rape/murder victim. Thanks to Shellem's initiative the evidence proved that Barry Laughman, the man who had been convicted of the crime, was not really guilty. Mr. Laughman had already spent 16 years in prison on the false conviction. Even after the DNA proved he wasn't guilty the district attorney didn't want to let Mr. Laughman go. Prosecutors like DNA only where it can suggest guilt. They hate it where it proves innocence. They hate it even more where it proved that the prosecutor was wrong or lied. Prosecutors care nothing about guilt or innocence. With them it's a contest; win at any cost. They are wrong a lot. They lie even more often. As often happens, the innocent man confessed to the offense. Prosecutors use the threat of the death sentence to get innocent men to confess. A innocent person may also confess to a crime because the stakes are too high or because it is the lesser of evils. In the criminal justice racket, confessions don't really mean that a person has committed the crime. A confession simply means that the overwhelming power of the prosecution has found a patsy. Most wrongly convicted men and women have no hope of real justice. In Barry Laughman's case, he had a white knight, Pete Shellem. We wonder how badly the horrors of 16 years in Pennsylvania prisons have warped and injured Mr. Laughman or any man. We wish him the best of everything and we thank the reporter, Pete Shellem.

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