Vagina Suspension
First, the three students who were suspended for saying vagina will not have to serve their suspensions. The school superintendent decided to rescind their punishments:
Lichtenfeld last week froze the suspensions pending a review, and then informed the students late Monday night that he decided to rescind the punishments.
The response from those at the school board meeting last night was evenly split. Some continued to argue that the school administration never should have asked the girls to refrain from saying the word in the first place, while others argued that the decision to rescind the punishments undermines the principal’s authority.
You can read the entire story in the Westchester Journal News.
Wrongful Conviction of Jeffrey Deskovic
The other update is related to the wrongful conviction of Jeffrey Deskovic. The man whose DNA was actually found at the scene has been identified. He subsequently pled guilty to second degree murder in the death of Angela Correa.
Steven Cunningham told The Journal News in October that he would not force a trial if charged in the death of Angela Correa. Yesterday, he kept his word, pleading guilty to second-degree murder after a judge promised him 20 years to life in prison.
Correa’s mother, Angela Vasquez, watched silently in Westchester County Court in White Plains as Cunningham admitted fracturing the girl’s skull and strangling her during a rape. Afterward, she declined to comment, saying it was still too painful to talk about her daughter’s death and the recent twists in the case.
“He made it clear to me from the outset that he wanted to plead guilty,” said Cunningham’s lawyer, Barry Warhit. “He knows he will spend the rest of his life in prison, but he wanted to plead guilty.”
I suppose it is a good outcome considering how bad this situation was. Not only did they convict the wrong person, but the man who actually murdered Angela Correa went on to murder his girl friend’s sister (Patricia Morrison) a few years later. He went to jail for the second murder, but had he been caught the first time perhaps both Deskovic and Morrison would have been spared.
As for Deskovic he seems to be adjusting fairly well given the circumstances.
He is now a student at Mercy College, working to complete a bachelor’s degree in psychology, which he began in prison. He has spoken about his ordeal at several forums around the state and is working with New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty to highlight the dangers of wrongful convictions.
Deskovic is pursuing a lawsuit against Westchester County and Peekskill for his ordeal. He has expressed anger at Cunningham’s role in that – particularly after the killer claimed he never knew someone went to prison for his crime. But yesterday, when told Cunningham had pleaded guilty, Deskovic said his only thoughts were about Correa’s mother, sister and stepfather.
Hopefully, the Deskovic, Correa, and Morrison families will all be able to go forward in spite of this terrible series of events. I think this makes it clear how one mistake in our criminal justice system can have a domino effect; hopefully groups like the Innocence Project will lead to fewer cases such as this.
Pingback: muttering in a corner
Wow, I hadn’t heard about the Deskovic case. That’s absolutely heartbreaking. Especially since – I read your linked article – it looks like there were so many openings for the shoddy investigation to have been caught.
Yay on the vagina girls, though (as opposed to the non-vagina girls?). I’d been wondering while we were all debating the situation whether the suspensions had been postponed, since the whole one day would’ve been over. Thanks for the updates, Rachel :)
defenstrated, I’m glad someone was interested. I put up the Deskovic case a long time ago, and didn’t get many comments.