In an article written for the San Jose Mercury News, retired judge LaDoris Cordell writes about her experience with wrongful conviction.
Bobby Herrera was 17 years old when he appeared in Cordell’s courtroom charged with murder. Faced with a possible 25 year sentence, Herrera’s attorney convinced him to accept a plea bargain. Cordell sentenced him to 5 years in prison. After 11 months, Herrera was released when Cordell discovered that his original defense attorney had been suspended at the time he represented Herrera and his new attorney found evidence of his innocence.
Cordell calls the exonerations listed in the National Registry of Exonerations the tip of the iceberg. She says, “In a perverse way, Bobby Herrera was lucky. He was wrongfully convicted in the right county. Had it been Alameda County, he is unlikely to have been cleared.”
Cordell calls for California to adopt the rest of the recommendations set forth by the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice because as she says, “We now have more than 2,000 reasons to fix the system, and counting.”
Read the full article here.
