“Settled Science” Sent an Innocent Man to Prison for 30 Yrs

Oh, and the prosecutors violated the law. Nashville Man Found Innocent After 30 Years Behind Bars

Prosecutors withheld "exculpatory evidence" during his trial in 1993. And while those people should rot in prison, that isn't the point of this post.

He was retried and found guilty again in 2001, when he was granted a new trial over the 1993 crimes of The System™.

Since Garrett’s conviction, fire experts have examined the case and argued against the initial scientific testimony presented in 1993—namely, a “pour pattern” that suggested that an accelerant was poured to start the fire—provided by the prosecution’s experts at the time of the conviction.

"Fire Science" in 1993 was a joke. "Fire Science" in general is a joke, though it is light-years beyond what it was 30 years ago. (I could go on at length about everything in the Criminal Justice that is a crying shame. They would all be jokes, but for the fact that people are in prison because of superstitions.)

“While the CRU’s review of the case did not find affirmative evidence conclusively establishing Garrett’s innocence, the CRU finds it wholly impossible to maintain confidence in Garrett’s conviction,” CRU director Sunny Eaton writes in a 2021 report submitted to the Criminal Court for Davidson County. “Holistic review of the record, the District Attorney’s file, and new scientific evidence dismantles every single piece of evidence previously believed to inculcate Garrett.”

In other words, reasonable doubt exists.

But in 1993, the system used "science" that wasn't science, and The System™ lied in court and withheld evidence, because it is NOT about Justice. It is about winning.