DuPage residents face false arrest?

I have to commend the DuPage Daily Herald's editorial staff for the Aug. 6 editorial, "Troubling questions in Hobbs case." This case is a continuum of what has become all too common in our criminal justice system: prosecuting innocent suspects.

It is particularly flagrant because Jerry Hobbs was held in the Lake County jail for five years awaiting trial. Yes, it is troubling how Hobbs could have confessed to his daughter and friends murders only to be recently vindicated by DNA evidence.

I wonder what George Washington would say. It isn't that Washington didn't have an opinion to where party politics would lead his new republic, as he warned of the dangers of man's desire to dominate absolutely. What has happened to our system of checks and balances that was so wisely devised to prevent absolute rule? Why don't more judges do their jobs and keep such atrocities from occurring?

In DuPage County, Washington would see how one party would tactically dominate. As a result you have the wrongful conviction of Marcus Lyons for rape by State's Attorneys Joe Birkett and Kathryn Creswell in 1988. Lyons was convicted by carefully crafted circumstantial evidence that was filed and honed to fit, with Birkett tearfully in his closing, saying, "Don't let him get away with it." Lyons was cleared in 2008 by DNA evidence.

And what about the Michael Cardamone case, the gymnast coach initially convicted in DuPage of inappropriate touching of his students and whose conviction was tossed out on appeal?

Because of politically motivated and unaccountable prosecutors who aspire to higher office and a dysfunctional party system, DuPage residents and passers-by are in jeopardy of being falsely arrested and prosecuted.

Paula McGowen

Glen Ellyn