Four men that were framed by the FBI and sentenced to life in jail finally had their sentences commuted and received a settlement from the government for $101.7 million. Unfortunately, they had already spend 30 years in jail, having been convicted in 1965. Two of the men survived to see their freedom granted. The other two had died in prison.
According to court documents, the FBI actively supported perjury (knowingly lying in court under oath) and even assisted in framing the four men. They then purposefully withheld information that would have proved their innocence. The FBI officially chalked them up as "acceptable collateral damage".
While this makes me furious to the point of incapacitation, it brings up an interesting point.
At the time, the FBI was in the process of trying to take down the mob bosses of country. While four innocent men were convicted of murder and lost 3 Decades of their lives, they justified it as the cost of helping the greater good.
In an age where we are constantly asked to sacrifice our civil liberties in the name of a safer country, some given by the very constitution our society is built upon, at what point is enough, enough? Where is the line drawn, where we give up so much that the very thing we have fought so hard to protect, a free society and the ability to enjoy individual freedom, no longer exists?
Now that is a $101 million question
According to court documents, the FBI actively supported perjury (knowingly lying in court under oath) and even assisted in framing the four men. They then purposefully withheld information that would have proved their innocence. The FBI officially chalked them up as "acceptable collateral damage".
While this makes me furious to the point of incapacitation, it brings up an interesting point.
At the time, the FBI was in the process of trying to take down the mob bosses of country. While four innocent men were convicted of murder and lost 3 Decades of their lives, they justified it as the cost of helping the greater good.
In an age where we are constantly asked to sacrifice our civil liberties in the name of a safer country, some given by the very constitution our society is built upon, at what point is enough, enough? Where is the line drawn, where we give up so much that the very thing we have fought so hard to protect, a free society and the ability to enjoy individual freedom, no longer exists?
Now that is a $101 million question