Convictions

Police investigations and criminal trials are, in an ideal world, intended to discover the truth, identify the guilty, and exonerate the innocent. Unfortunately, the world we live in is far from ideal, and investigations and trials are conducted by human beings who are vulnerable to error, prejudice and, at times, outright corruption. Sometimes, despite the sincere best efforts of everyone involved, mistakes are made and a wrongful conviction occurs. Other times, as in the case of Barry Gibbs of New York, something more sinister is at work. Mr. Gibbs served 17 years of a second-degree murder sentence before it was discovered that the investigating detective had framed him to cover up a Mafia-related killing.