The Case of Ivan Teleguz

UPDATE: Faced with the Governor of Virginia's apparent indifference to the execution of apparently an innocent person, the federal 4th Appeals Court has issued an order of stay of execution. Hapless Americans have little idea how broken the criminal justice system is in America. "Freedom and Democracy" America not only has the largest percentage of its population incarcerated than any other country, America also has the largest absolute number. America has more of its citizens in prison than does China, allegedly an authoritarian one party state with four times the American population!!!

Americans are helpless against false prosecutions because so many Americans are gullible and cannot believe that prosecutors and police would be corrupt. They do not give thought to the character of prosecutors. Have you ever asked yourself what type of persons become prosecutors? Most Americans think a prosecutor is a person dedicated to serving justice and punishing criminals for their crimes. There are such people, but there are also ambitious prosecutors who pursue high conviction rates and high profile cases as a path to higher office. For these prosecutors, justice is a subsidiary concern. The worst kind of prosecutors are those who simply enjoy ruining people, whether innocent or guilty.

Prosecutors formerly were restrained by enculturation and a moral environment. Today the only restraint is their own character.

Miscarriages of justice have always occurred, but as Lawrence Stratton and I show in our book, The Tyranny of Good Intentions, miscarriages of justice are becoming the norm, not the exception. The Boston Marathon Bombing case is an example of a corrupt prosecution. See here.

Once a miscarriage of justice occurs, it is almost impossible to reverse it. Public authorities do not readily admit to mistakes or corrupt motives. For example, Ivan Teleguz is set to be executed in a few days despite the fact that two of the three witnesses against him have publicly stated that they lied for prosecutors at Teleguz's trial as their part of deals prosecutors made with them. In other words, the false evidence against Ivan Telguz was created by the prosecutors for the purpose of executing him.

There is a petition sponsored by change.org to Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe that is trying to stop the execution of a wrongly convicted person who appears to be innocent. Here is the petition:

Petitioning Terry McAuliffe

Please Stop the Imminent Execution of Ivan Teleguz, an Innocent Man

The Commonwealth of Virginia plans to execute an innocent man, Ivan Teleguz. We need to make sure Governor McAuliffe knows that there is too much evidence of Ivan's innocence to allow this execution to go ahead. Please join the call for the Governor to intervene.

The government's case against Ivan was based on false evidence. Three men said that Ivan hired Stephanie's killer. But two of those men have since admitted that they lied in court -- and swore under oath that Ivan was not involved. The third, Michael Hetrick, confessed to killing Stephanie. He was offered a deal that spared his own life in return for saying that Ivan hired him to commit the murder.

The prosecutor coerced the witnesses. The witnesses have sworn under oath that they gave false testimony at trial because of threats from the prosecutor and promises she made to improve their sentences.

The prosecution tried to influence the jury by saying Ivan was involved in a made-up murder. At trial, the prosecutor argued that Ivan should be sentenced to death because he was involved in another murder in Pennsylvania, and was highly dangerous. It was later revealed that the testimony about the murder and the prosecutor's argument were completely made up -- the murder never even happened.

There is evidence that calls into question every part of the Commonwealth's case against Ivan. There is too much doubt for Governor McAuliffe to allow this execution to go ahead. Please help make sure he knows that The Commonwealth is about to execute an innocent man.

Please help save an innocent man. Join the call for Governor McAuliffe to intervene.

Visit Ivan's Prayer For Justice to learn more about Ivan's case. Also, visit Facebook and Twitter for case updates.