Take it from one who knows: death penalty system is broken

By RAY KRONE

Commentator

I'm not a Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist. Or a politician. Or the head of any organization. I'm simply an average American. An average American who sat on death row.

I grew up in York, Pa., with a loving family and many friends. I played Little League baseball, went hiking with the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, attended Sunday school and sang in the church choir. I graduated in the top 10 percent of my high school class and did well on my college entrance exams. I decided to enlist in the Air Force, where I proudly attained the rank of sergeant. I served my country for seven years and was honorably discharged. My last assignment in the Air Force was in Arizona. I decided to stay there and joined the U.S. Postal Service.

 I had a normal, good life. Nothing spectacular. Then, in an instant, my life was turned upside down. I was arrested for the stabbing murder of a local female bartender. At the time, and quite frankly, throughout the whole legal process, I truly felt I would be OK. After all, I was innocent. I reassured my family and friends I would be fine without a private attorney. How could the system fail an innocent man? I was deeply mistaken.

 It was a bar I frequented, and I did know the bartender. Thanks to some bad forensic science, bite marks on the body were mistakenly said to have been made by my teeth.

 I spent 10 years behind bars, including two years on death row, for a horrible crime I did not commit. It's difficult to describe what it is like to serve time on death row knowing you are innocent. All you know is that what seems like an awful nightmare is now reality, a reality beyond comprehension.

 I still find it hard to believe that only a few weeks ago I was sitting in my Arizona jail cell and today I am a free man. I owe my freedom to the extraordinary efforts of my family, friends and volunteer lawyers who fought tirelessly for me to obtain the DNA evidence from my case. The DNA proved my innocence � and a match has now been been made with the DNA of another man.

 What happened to me, unfortunately, has happened to many others. True, I have recently received notoriety � if it can be called that � for being the 100th American exonerated, but the fact is that being 100 or 99 or 98 doesn't really matter. What matters is that our death-penalty system is broken. What happened to me can happen to anyone. And it doesn't have to be that way.

 I've learned a lot in the last few weeks of freedom. And one thing I've learned is that there are steps our nation can take to improve our death-penalty system. One important step would be for Congress to pass the Innocence Protection Act. This act would ensure that people who face the death penalty have greater access to the DNA from their cases. And it would also help states provide competent legal counsel in capital punishment cases.

 Curiously enough, I still believe in our system of justice. But like any system, it can be improved. Even those who support the death penalty do not support putting innocent people to their death � and leaving the guilty to roam free.

 Ten years ago, I was an average Joe who liked delivering the mail. Today, I'm still an American with average dreams, but I've had a lot more time to think about things.

 I can't afford to look back at what my life would have been like if I had obtained access to the DNA from my case years ago or if I had listened to my mother and hired a private attorney. For me, there is no sense in dwelling on what might have been. The time has come to look at what can be. And helping to make sure that what happened to me is less likely to happen to someone else is a much better use of my precious time.

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Krone wrote this article for the Philadelphia Inquirer with the help of his attorney, Alan M. Simpson. Distributed by Knight Ridder News Service