Stop me if you've heard this before

A woman is killed.  A likely suspect is found.  Cops zero in like a laser beam on this one lone suspect, seeing only that suspect and no one else.

Eventually a case is assembled and presented to prosecutors.  Prosecutors, those pathologically ambitious bastards, have no problem proceeding with the case.  To prosecutors, winning is everything, so key exculpatory evidence is withheld.  The suspect is convicted and condemned to a lengthy prison sentence that will consume most of the remainder of his life.

Later, the exculpatory evidence is unearthed, and, as it turns out, that evidence, along with new advances in DNA analysis, prove categorically that the convicted man is innocent.  Absolutely innocent.

Say hello to Tim Masters. What I just described was his reality.

The state confirmed the Dutch DNA results, and with that, the prosecutor takes bold action, instructing his deputy to move for Tim's immediate release. With that, the hearing abruptly ends. The states' witnesses never even testify. And, after more than nine years, Tim is suddenly a free man.
[...]
Three days after his release, the state drops all charges against Tim, but prosecutors still won't officially clear him of Peggy's murder. "They still have him on a leash, I mean even though - just because your case is dismissed nobody’s ever come out and said, 'Tim Masters did not commit this crime,'" Liu says.
[...]
The Colorado attorney general now has the Hettrick case, but won't comment on it.
[...]
If the original prosecutors are upset, they're not talking. Both were publicly reprimanded and fined for failing to disclose information to the defense.
[...]
By then, they had been promoted to judges. But Tim doesn't blame them for what happened. "It's pretty obvious who did this to me. It was one detective, Jim Broderick."

Aside from the obvious, there are some troubling things that jump out at me and should jump out at everyone.

• The prosecutors, notwithstanding the weight of the evidence, will not drop the bone.  The guy is free, his conviction vacated, but those foul bastards still won't say the words, "He's innocent".


• The original prosecutors were reprimanded.  Reprimanded.  Are you effing kidding me?  An innocent man languishes in prison for nearly a decade and they get an MF'ing slap on the wrist?!?!?!  THEY should be in prison, minimum sentence the 9 years served by Mr. Masters.  Short of that, each of them should be summarily kneecapped.


• Prosecutors, continued.  They were promoted to judges.  Again, are you effing kidding me?  These rapacious, soulless devourers now administer the justice they denied Tim Masters.  God help us all!


• Mr. Masters blames one detective for his plight.  But is Detective Jim Broderick really different from other detectives?  What he did happens every single day.  Every single MF'ing day.  He locked in on a single suspect and couldn't be bothered to exercise his "Body by Dunkin' Donuts" physique or his torpid mind to look anywhere else.

Detective Broderick, in his own defense.

Broderick, the man who pursued Tim over the decades, is under investigation. Looking back, he makes no apology for his actions. "I believe that I followed the evidence, OK? And the evidence pointed to Tim Masters."

"They find the ex-boyfriend's DNA inside her underpants, on the cuffs of her blouse," Spencer points out. "Does that not give you any pause?"

"Well, you can find DNA evidence and it may have an innocent explanation," Broderick says.

Are you effing kidding me?  Are you effing kidding me? DNA evidence from an ex-boyfriend has an innocent explanation.  In the name of all that is holy please tell me how ANYONE with an IQ above room temperature could believe this?

Our legal system is broken.  Beyond broken.  Guilty people with connections walk.  Innocent people lacking connections languish in prison, victims of lazy cops and soulless prosecutors.

This is American Justice.  Pray you never fall into its gaping maw.