"I WANT to apologise to you for what happened to you. I'm sorry," said Ken Thompson, Brooklyn’s district attorney. He was speaking to Paul Gatling, an 81-year old man who 50 years earlier had been convicted of a murder he did not commit. He had an alibi. But the investigation was flawed and Mr Gatling was not given a fair trial. He was put under pressure to take a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, which he did, and he was sentenced to 30 years to life. But he continued to profess his innocence. In 1973, Mr Gatling’s sentence was commuted by the governor of New York, but he was still classed a felon. In May this year, thanks to Mr Thompson's efforts, Mr Gatling was given a clean record. He is one of more than 20 people wrongfully convicted whose names have been cleared by Mr Thompson since 2014, when he became Brooklyn’s first black district attorney.
Mr Thompson’s death on October 9th after a brief battle with cancer has shocked and saddened those who work in criminal justice—and many others besides. Mr Thompson, a Democrat, held the position for less than three years, but his influence stretched beyond Brooklyn’s borders in that time. After he took office...Continue reading
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