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Show WHAT IS EVIDENCE? Every one in a while something occurs to upset our ideas concerning the kind of evidence that is worthy of credence. Such an occurrence is seen in the case of Conda Dabney, once convicted in Kentucky and given life imprisonment for the murder of a young woman. At the trial another woman swore that she was an eye-witness to the crime, and a considerable array of circumstantial cir-cumstantial evidence was presented to corroborate her testimony. At the time of Dabney's conviction, practically practical-ly everyone felt that the verdict was just. Yet, a few weeks later, the woman who was supposed to have been murdered mur-dered showed up alive and well. Dabney Dab-ney was released, but think of what he and his family suffered through the diabolical atempt to swear his life away. Suppose he had been executed for the alleged crime? Many cases are on record in which it was proved later that innocent per- j sons have actually been put to death j through purjurcd testimony. In some cases in which the condemned men have confessed murder the supposed victims have turned up ali.ve. All this illustrates how unreliable .the most convincing evidence may be, and while it is doubtless true that for every innocent person punished a dozen guilty ones escape, it shows that a great responsibility rests upon a jury, particularly when a human life is at slake. |