Right outside my house there's a memorial to the heroic cop who died in a 1991 Roslindale bombing. The man was just doing his job, and he paid the ultimate price, probably saving other people's lives in the process. So whoever was actually responsible for this heinous crime undoubtedly deserves to spend their lives behind bars.
However, if the Boston Herald is willing to entertain the idea that there may have been a miscarriage of justice, and even the Boston Police Department has doubts about the guilt of a man who allegedly killed one of their own, one has to wonder whether or not the case deserves a retrial.
According to the Herald stories, after reading a 300-page manuscript written by a crusading retired attorney, Morrison Bonpasse, who identified numerous flaws with the case against convicted bomber Alfred Trenkler, five jurors from the original trial wrote letters to Justice Rya Zobel requesting a retrial, to no avail. The information in the manuscript also caught the attention of "BPD higher-ups" who brought the matter to the attention of the US Attorney's office.
One of the most serious allegations made by Bonpasse seems to have been that the prosecution possessed exculpatory documents and information that were not given to the defense attorneys, which as far as I know is considered major prosecutorial misconduct and could be grounds for throwing out a conviction.
I haven't read Bonpasse's manuscript, entitled "Perfectly Innocent", but I tend to agree with Peter Gelzinis' assessment of the US Attorney's obligations to issue a detailed explanation:
The feds say they have reviewed the questions Bonpasse raised in his book and compared them against the trial transcript. They remain satisfied justice was done.
Five jurors who sat in judgment of Trenkler don't think so. Have they all been brainwashed by Bonpasse and his book?
Hopefully, the feds will soon issue a thorough and complete refuting of every doubt raised by Trenkler's dogged advocate. It's not simply what justice demands.
