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OT: NU being sued for $40M

lou v

lou v

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Aug 27, 2004
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The headline on the front page of the Chicago Tribune today is "$40 million lawsuit rocks Northwestern."

The suit condemns former Medill professor David Protess and alleges NU allowed a "culture of lawlessness" around the Medill Innocence project.

Protess left NU a few years ago amid some questionable conduct related to this. FWIW, he was probably the best Medill professor I had at NU.

This post was edited on 2/18 8:46 AM by Lou V

Tribune story
 
Originally posted by Seattle_Cat:
Does that justify sending the wrong man to prison for many years?
Click to expand...
Neither is completely justifiable, but seems preferable to killing the wrong man.

(And now this is done for me aside from the Rant Board)
 
For those who cannot read the Trib online (like me) here is the Daily story

Link
 
Originally posted by Seattle_Cat:
Does that justify sending the wrong man to prison for many years?
Click to expand...
At least that man can be set free when that's found out. There's no undo button for the death penalty.
 
Perhaps we should do away with prison sentences altogether. Plenty of innocent people in prison, I hear. Leave it to a jury of one's peers to determine guilt or innocence? Bah...they could get it wrong.
 
Case sounds more than a little shaky based on the allegation that the plaintiff's attorney "conspired to frame [plaintiff] for the murders."
 
Maybe we should do away with the entire system of criminal justice! Hell, why even have a government at all? Anarchy forever!

Or, you know, you could engage with the death penalty argument and not blow it up into hyperbolic, slippery-slope nonsense.
 
O.K., the "position" that the death penalty should be abolished if even one innocent person is executed is patently moronic, IMO.

Be for the death penalty, or be against the death penalty, or be on the fence. There are valid points to be made for any of the 3 positions. But the "loss of one innocent life outweighs any value of the death penalty" is somewhat silly.

Even though we have a great justice system, it is not foolproof. Many innocent people languish in prison serving life sentences. And, many legislative decisions are made with the understanding that some additional innocent lives will be lost (raising the speed limit, for example).

There. Take it to the Rant Board.
 
If you guys are going to have a rant, you need to go over to the rant board and practice your rant skills. Seriously. Or just move the thread over there and throw it to the dogs.

P.S. What kind of a loose cannon is Protess? What in the world was a journalism class doing, trying to get a confession out of a suspected murderer anyway? Isn't that the purview of the legal profession? Can't they just stick to training decent journalists at Medill, lord knows we need one or two.

This post was edited on 2/19 12:23 PM by stpaulcat
 
StPaul, there's a long tradition in this country of investigative journalists trying to right wrongs and promote social justice. Protess appears to be trying to inspire future journalists to follow this tradition.
 
Originally posted by stpaulcat:
…..

P.S. What kind of a loose cannon is Protess? What in the world was a journalism class doing, trying to get a confession out of a suspected murderer anyway? Isn't that the purview of the legal profession? Can't they just stick to training decent journalists at Medill, lord knows we need one or two.

This post was edited on 2/19 12:23 PM by stpaulcat
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Fair questions, but NU, and Medill in particular, did reap 40 million + in publicity (based on the going rate for Superbowl ads) from the "Innocence Project."

Has anyone checked to see if the now likely murderer they helped the legal system set free has killed anyone else?

This post was edited on 2/19 1:48 PM by Alaskawildkat
 
lol, "Has anyone checked." No, he's now free to murder anyone he wants without investigation.

(Anthony Porter has not killed anyone since his release from prison.)
 
Thanks, that's helpful information. To dig deep and get to the truth IS the the role of a good journalist. However, it appears a line was crossed here, either that or they just bumbled it.

Now, if we could only get journalists to actually give us news.
 
Originally posted by Styre:
lol, "Has anyone checked." No, he's now free to murder anyone he wants without investigation.

(Anthony Porter has not killed anyone since his release from prison.)
Click to expand...
If he does kill again is then OK to off him?
 
No, not in my opinion, but then I am opposed to the death penalty.
 
"BFD."

Sure they maybe will never collect, but that's not the point. What a hairbrain thing for a bunch of college students and their "professor" to get involved in in the first place, esp. as part of a class or project sanctioned by NU. The old adage "those who can, do, and those who can't, teach" comes to mind.
 
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