Change is needed to justice system

In truth, I shouldn't allow things to bother me. But being human (though some would disagree with that assessment), I read articles that make me wonder how we arrived at this point in our system of justice. I sincerely hope you share my concerns and perhaps my passions.

Henry Daniel of Kansas City was acquitted last week of killing his girlfriend and dismembering her body. He had actually been convicted of the crime back in 2003. And to round out the details, the girlfriend's torso was found in a river back in 1997. She had been dismembered. We'll leave it at that.

Back in 1998, Daniels was charged with the murder but DNA - at the time - could not prove the torso belonged to the girlfriend. When testing became more sophisticated a few years later, Daniels was charged with murder. He was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He served two years and then a new trial was ordered because of a technical flaw in the way the testimony was presented.

Much of the evidence from the 1997 murder was mistakenly destroyed by police. A witness placed Daniels and the girlfriend near the river where the torso was found. But the evidence needed to convince the jury had long disappeared.

So the jury decided last week that there was "reasonable doubt" and Daniels was freed. Perhaps the jury, given the circumstances, had little choice.

But here is the problem with this case and perhaps with the laws themselves. Daniels - as expected - declined to testify at the trial. Had he testified, the jurors would have learned that Daniels went to prison in the '60s and '70s for attempting to kill his first wife. They would have also learned that Daniels was convicted of beating his second wife with a hammer. But the jury never heard that information. And with most of the evidence destroyed from the 1997 case, Daniels is now a free man. He will undoubtedly sue the state for false imprisonment now that he is free.

I don't blame police for losing the evidence and I don't blame the jury for deciding solely on the evidence they heard. I do blame a system that allows past sins to be hidden when they have a strong impact on the current crime in question.

Here's the irony. It's our system. We devised it. And we could change it.