Justice Delayed

Last week a Connecticut court ordered the release of Richard Lapointe, who served 26 years for a crime he probably didn’t commit. Lapointe gave what appears to be a false confession after an interrogation that lasted over nine hours. His release was based on a finding of prosecutorial misconduct, and the state could choose to re-try him. Hopefully, prosecutors will realize that the case against Lapointe was always weak. If so, we will see an outcome that is depressingly common (though it could be worse) — a false confession eventually exposed but only after a grave injustice has already occurred.