Kirk Bloodsworth on MSNBC — Transcript

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1. 0:00February 14th one advocate for
2. 0:02abolishing the death penalty is Kirk
3. 0:04Noble bloodsworth the first person whose
4. 0:06capital conviction was ever overturned
5. 0:08because of DNA convicted of murder he
6. 0:11spent nearly nine years in prison
7. 0:13including two on death row before being
8. 0:15exonerated in 1993 good morning and
9. 0:18thanks for being with us good morning
10. 0:20Chris pleasure to be here your story is
11. 0:22uh I mean unbelievable you were accused
12. 0:24of murdering a 9-year-old girl in 1984
13. 0:27tell us briefly how did you get
14. 0:29convicted
15. 0:30well it was all based on witness
16. 0:32identification a person that was
17. 0:34described as being 6'5 curly blonde hair
18. 0:38bushy mustache tan skin and skinny Chris
19. 0:42in 1984 my hair was as red as an apple I
20. 0:46had sideburns down to here I had a
21. 0:48missing tooth in the front and I don't
22. 0:50tan I burn and I weigh over some like
23. 0:53200 and some pounds at that time in the
24. 0:55end after we the DNA tests were done and
25. 0:59uh becoming the first DNA exor we found
26. 1:02out the real killer 10 years after my
27. 1:04release was not 6'5 but 5'6 in 160 lb uh
28. 1:09eyewitness accounts are are notoriously
29. 1:11suspect you're currently the advocacy
30. 1:14director for witness to innocence which
31. 1:16is a coalition of exonerated death row
32. 1:18inmates who are pushing to end capital
33. 1:20punishment including in Maryland let me
34. 1:22just tell people what's going on there
35. 1:24since 1976 Maryland has executed five
36. 1:27people the last in 2005 but there are
37. 1:29five five men on Death Row right now um
38. 1:32how tough is this fight how successful
39. 1:34might you be in overturning the death
40. 1:36penalty I think we're very successful I
41. 1:38think people were finding out that the
42. 1:41the death penalty it does not work and
43. 1:43whether it's Maryland or any of these
44. 1:45other places that have uh abandoned the
45. 1:48practice I think Maryland stands you
46. 1:51know to really and one good thing about
47. 1:53Maryland is we have a appropriation
48. 1:55within the bill that the savings from uh
49. 1:58C uh the death penalty would go to the
50. 2:02victim's crime fund uh it's one of the
51. 2:05the only packages that ever been put
52. 2:06together like this it would really help
53. 2:08people we've also found as I was on the
54. 2:11commission and Governor Martin no Ali
55. 2:14appointed me as uh one of the the
56. 2:16Commissioners on this study Commission
57. 2:18on capital punishment we voted 13 to9 to
58. 2:21abolish it and found that racial
59. 2:23disparities and uh the fact of executing
60. 2:26an innocent person could be a very valid
61. 2:29issue
62. 2:30and the only way to be sure is not have
63. 2:32the death penalty at all I learned about
64. 2:35you through this fascinating article in
65. 2:36the New York Times and among other
66. 2:38things they wrote this even after his
67. 2:40release Mr bloodsworth could never quite
68. 2:43escape the false charges that had
69. 2:44threatened him with execution he tried
70. 2:47to return He said to a normal life but
71. 2:49he was haunted by what he had learned
72. 2:51about the justice system what did you
73. 2:54learn and how is it applicable to moving
74. 2:57forward well the justice system you
75. 3:00mentioned it earlier
76. 3:0278% of all wrongful conviction
77. 3:05convictions are uh because of uh witness
78. 3:08identification problems there's uh 27%
79. 3:12of wrongful convictions are because of
80. 3:15uh false confessions you this and many
81. 3:18other things the uh the way the death
82. 3:20penalty is applied in America it's
83. 3:22racially despairing uh blacks are more
84. 3:26get the death penalty than most people
85. 3:28in the United States white on black
86. 3:30crime they uh they don't get the death
87. 3:33penalty we cannot uh support uh as a
88. 3:36group the witness to innocent support a
89. 3:38death penalty that is racially biased we
90. 3:41cannot support a death penalty that has
91. 3:43all these problems with it and uh you
92. 3:46know I found out a long time ago if it
93. 3:49could happen to me it could happen to
94. 3:51anybody in the country Kirk Noble
95. 3:53bloodsworth uh thank you very much
96. 3:55you're welcome we'll be right
97. 3:58back switch to whiffer 360 duster
98. 4:01extender and you'll dump your old Duster