3rd Letter

The text below is a carbon copy of the fax sent by you from the The Justice Project
Action Center. This email is sent to you as a verification and for your
records. You do not need to re-send this letter.
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November 01, 2004

Dear Rep. Mac Collins:

As a constituent, I applaud your vote in favor of HR 5107, the Justice for
All Act of 2004, which passed the House by a vote of 393-14. This bill,
which is the most significant crime bill of the 108th Congress, will help
make sure that the criminal justice system accurately identifies and
convicts the real perpetrators of heinous crimes and that innocent people
are not wrongly sentenced to death.

As you know, HR 5107 is a compromise bill which combines the Advancing
Justice Through DNA Technology Act (HR 3214/S 1700) with many provisions
from a victims’ rights bill that already passed the full Senate. HR 5107 is
a critical step in the right direction, and it balances the needs of all
participants in the criminal justice system — including those accused or
convicted of violent crimes and the victims of such crimes and their
families — by reducing the risk that the innocent are convicted while the
guilty remain at large.

HR 5107 will help prevent injustices demonstrated by the story of Kirk
Bloodsworth and the Hamilton family. In 1984, Kirk Bloodsworth was falsely
convicted of the rape and murder of nine-year-old Dawn Hamilton and served
nine years in prison – two of them on death row – for a crime he did not
commit. After fighting for years to prove his innocence, Kirk was
exonerated in 1994 by DNA testing. Even though Kirk was exonerated and
released from prison, a cloud of doubt followed him and the murder and rape
of a child remained unsolved, leaving the Hamilton family and the public
wondering if the perpetrator of this horrible crime could still be walking
the streets.

Ten years after Kirk Bloodsworth was exonerated, the same DNA evidence that
cleared his name provided a positive match that identified another man as
the perpetrator of the crime. On May 20, 2004, Kimberly Shay Ruffner
pleaded guilty to the murder of Dawn Hamilton, finally bringing some sense
of closure to the Hamiltons, and to Kirk Bloodsworth and his family.
Both Kirk Bloodsworth and Dawn Hamilton's family members were victims of
our broken criminal justice system. The Justice for All Act of 2004 is a
good first step toward addressing the problems that put Kirk Bloodsworth on
death row while a child rapist and murderer remained at large.
Thank you again for your support of HR 5107, which is an important step
forward for victims of crime, who want to be confident that the system
accurately identifies real perpetrators, and for innocent people, who might
otherwise be sentenced to death. P.S. My brother is an innocent in prison.
The state of Ga. has DNA that exonerates him, it was not allowed as
evidence in his court case! Please Help us!

Sincerely,

Daniel Perry
8717 Hwy. 16
Senoia, GA 30276-3132