The capital conviction of Jerry Hartfield, an illiterate man with an IQ of 51, was overturned in 1983. At that time, the appeals court ordered a new trial – but that trial never happened.
The case was at a virtual standstill until 2006, when another prisoner helped him file a handwritten motion asking that Hartfield either be retried or set free.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the petition, but a federal judge agreed with Hartfield, saying the decision overturning his conviction still stands. U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Hughes said, “Hartfield’s position is as straightforward and subtle as a freight train….The court’s mandate was never recalled, its decision never overturned, the conviction never reinstated; yet Hartfield never received the ‘entirely new trial’ ordered by the court.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit called the state’s defense of Hartfield’s incarceration “disturbingly unprofessional.” Essentially Hartfield has been languishing in prison despite having no legal conviction for 30 years.
Hartfield’s case is yet another example of a flawed criminal justice system. And a system that can bungle up a case this badly has no business putting people to death.
You can read more about Hartfield’s case in this article in the Huffington Post.
