Terri Bradt Historical Archives

“…and even innocent people with mental health issues are not. This was a travesty of justice all the way around, not only was Joe factually innocent, but he was also incapable, really, of defending himself in a court of law, and hopefully we’ve done better over the years in both those places. But in looking at this it was really apparent that what had happened to Joe was an awful, awful travesty of justice. We say that no system of justice is self-executing no matter how good it looks on paper, it’s the people within the justice system that ultimately will be those who breathe life into it and breathe that real sense of justice. Joe had a fantastic lawyer, and that lawyer, Gail Ireland, although he wasn’t able to do justice for Joe, had some descendents who have followed this case, and really they, I hope, are honored as well. They’ve just been magnificent in pursuing this, bringing it certainly to the attention of the Governor’s office at the time that I was considering pardons and commutations. So, again, I appreciate the honor in a very significant way. I also tell you that I had a legal team that deserves a great deal of credit here and certainly all of the other people who were involved in insuring that justice came for Joe. It came late for him, but a justice system that recognizes its own failings is a justice system that has a very good chance of success in the future. Thank you and God bless you.”