Unfair (39 page)

Our thoughts, beliefs, and actions:
David Eagleman, “What Our Brains Can Teach Us,” Op-Ed,
New York Times
, February 22, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/​2013/02/23/​opinion/what-our-brains-can-teach-us.html?_r=0
.

If some of these electrochemical reactions:
“Brain Tumor: Symptoms and Signs,”
Cancer.net
, last modified June 2013,
http://www.cancer.net/​cancer-types​/brain-tumor/symptoms-and-signs
.

Be born with the wrong set:
Alexia Cooper and Erica L. Smith, U.S. Department of Justice,
Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980–2008: Annual Rates for 2009 and 2010
(Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2011), 3,
http://www.bjs.gov/​content/pub​/pdf/htus8008.pdf
; Henry T. Greely, “Law and the Revolution in Neuroscience: An Early Look at the Field,”
Akron Law Review
42 (2009): 691–93.

How troubled are we:
According to a recent analysis, 4.1 percent of death penalty convictions in the United States from 1973 to 2004 are estimated to be wrongful—and that is a conservative figure. Samuel R. Gross et al., “Rate of False Conviction of Criminal Defendants Who Are Sentenced to Death,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(2014): 5, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1306417111.

The development of DNA testing:
The first DNA exoneration occurred in 1989. Innocence Project, “DNA Exonerations Nationwide,” accessed March 18, 2014,
http://www.innocenceproject.org/​Content/​DNA_Exonerations_Nationwide.php
.

The dim light:
Innocence Project, “DNA Exoneree Case Profiles,” accessed March 18, 2014,
http://www.innocenceproject.org/​know/
; Innocence Project, 200
Exonerated: Too Many Wrongfully Convicted
(New York: Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University), 14,
http://www​.innocenceproject.org/​200/ip_200.pdf
.

“The ghost of the innocent”:
United States v. Garsson, 291 F. 646, 649 (S.D.N.Y. 1923).

There are corridors of injustice:
We could continue the tour, entering an entire wing with cases of people who actually committed their crimes, but who never received the honest, unbiased process or the fair treatment they were promised. And beyond that we could pass through a nursery with all of the botched juvenile cases that ended up sealed and near misses where someone was incorrectly identified and pursued as a prime suspect up through trial only
for the truth to be revealed by a bit of final luck. Innocence Project, “DNA Exonerations Nationwide”; Saul M. Kassin et al., “Police-Induced Confessions: Risk Factors and Recommendations,”
Law and Human Behavior
, 34 (2010): 3. And if we stopped we would hear the beams of the attic creak with the pressure of a mountain of plea bargains where no judge or jury ever weighed the evidence that would certainly have raised a reasonable doubt. Gross et al., “Rate of False Conviction,” 1.

 

Jerry Pritchett had stepped out:
Charles J. Willoughby, Government of the District of Columbia, Office of the Inspector General,
Summary of Special Report: Emergency Response to the Assault on David E. Rosenbaum
(June 2006), 22.

There, between the bare ginkgo trees:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 18.

The sidewalk that lined:
Selena Walker, OEA Matter No. 1601-0133-06, 4 (June 26, 2007),
http://oea.dc.gov/​sites/default/files​/dc/sites/oea/publication​/attachments/OEADecision_Walker_v_DCFEMS_06_26​_07.pdf
. Details about the house and neighborhood were collected using Google Maps.

As Jerry approached:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 18.

When Jerry asked him a question:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 18.

He wasn't carrying a wallet:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 18.

She noticed that:
Del Quentin Wilber and Debbi Wilgoren, “Medical Condition Suspected at First in Journalist's Fall,”
Washington Post
, January 10, 2006,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/​wp-dyn/content/​article/2006/01/09​/AR2006010901245.html
; Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 18.

He was trying to move himself:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 18.

Jerry placed one of his slippered feet:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 18.

Less than ten minutes:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 21.

Almost as soon as they started:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 21.

Claude thought that:
Wilber and Wilgoren, “Medical Condition Suspected.”

This wasn't a stroke:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 27.

The engine driver found:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 25.

They decided not to perform:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 4.

When one of the responding:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 35.

As a result, the cops:
The police admitted that, as a result, they “did not get a close look at the man.” Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 35.

According to protocol, they should:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
,
5
.

The ambulance carrying emergency medical technicians:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 46.

“What we got?”:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 22, 39.

She wasn't pleased:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 39.

The firefighters had noticed:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 4.

And neither of the EMTs asked:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 6.

Consequently, they loaded him:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 25.

Given her advanced training:
D.C. Fire and Medical Services Department v. D.C. Office of Employee Appeals, 986 A.2d 419, 421 (D.C. 2010).

As the assistant EMT:
Colbert I. King, “The Death of David Rosenbaum,”
Washington Post
, February 25, 2006,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/​wp-dyn/content/article​/2006/02/24/AR2006022401676.html
;
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 43, 45; “What Is the Glasgow Coma Scale?,”
Brainline.org
, accessed February 13, 2014,
http://www.brainline.org/​content/2010/10/what-is-​the-glasgow-coma-scale.html
. The Glasgow Coma Scale was developed to assess the consciousness of brain-trauma victims by assigning numerical values to the degree of eye opening (1–4), verbal response (1–5), and motor response (1–6). By adding up the three scores, clinicians arrive at a number that is used to classify the seriousness of the brain injury. In general, a total score of 3 to 8 is considered severe, 9 to 12 is considered moderate, and 13 to 15 is considered mild.

The assistant, though, classified him:
D.C. Fire and Medical
, 986 A.2d at 421.

The man's inability:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 8.

The assistant skipped:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 6; King, “The Death of David Rosenbaum.”

Although Fire and Emergency Medical:
D.C. Fire and Medical
, 986 A.2d at 423 n. 1.

It was twice as far:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 8;
D.C. Fire and Medical
, 986 A.2d at 422.

The patient could sleep:
D.C. Fire and Medical
, 986 A.2d at 422.

When they arrived at Howard:
Paul Duggan, “Report Scolds D.C. Agencies in Response to Assault,”
Washington Post
, June 17, 2006,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/​wp-dyn/content​/article/2006/06​/16/AR2006061601096.html
.

He was pushed into the hallway:
Duggan, “Report Scolds D.C. Agencies.”

The hospital staff didn't know:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 8.

As the triage nurse later explained:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 53.

No one at the hospital performed:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 7.

She didn't check his pupils:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 53.

Shining a light in his eyes:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 53.

“I saw he was not in distress”:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 53.

When she passed the man off:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 54.

And when the team leader:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 15, 55.

He was not having respiratory problems:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 56.

With no reason to rush:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 57.

At around 11:30 p.m., another nurse:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 56.

As they were moving the gurney:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 56–57.

That was sometimes a bad sign:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 56.

They repeated the rub:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 56.

The nurses couldn't believe it:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 57.

The doctor saw the posturing:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 59–60.

What had seemed, a moment earlier:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 60.

They intubated the man:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 60.

His pupils were unequal:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 60.

The man was taken in:
Complaint for Damages at 7, Rosenbaum v. District of Columbia, 2006 CA 008405 M (D. C. Super. Ct. dismissed Nov. 30, 2007).

It would be for naught:
Complaint for Damages at 7,
Rosenbaum
.

David Rosenbaum, the award-winning:
Todd S. Purdum, “David Rosenbaum, Reporter for Times Who Covered Politics, Dies at 63,”
New York Times
, January 9, 2006,
http://www.nytimes.com/​2006/01/09/​national/09rosenbaum.html
; Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 65; Jordan v. United States, 18 A.3d 703, 706 (D.C. 2011).

The sixty-three-year-old:
Brief for Appellant, Jordan v. United States, 18 A.3d 703 (2011) (No. 07-CF-340), 2010 WL 7359337, at *2; Purdum, “David Rosenbaum”; Wilber and Wilgoren, “Medical Condition Suspected.”

He had a wife:
Purdum, “David Rosenbaum.”

He lived right around the block:
“3824 Harrison Street NW in Washington-Friendship Heights Sold for $1,000,000,”
Blockshopper.com
, December 18, 2006,
http://dc.blockshopper.com/​sales/cities/​washington-friendship_heights/property/18510064​/3824_harrison_street_nw/1351355
. Details about the house and neighborhood were collected using Google Maps.

The major breaks:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 37.

The lead officer:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 35.

When he visited the home:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 35.

However, it wasn't until:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 35–36.

This was a possible robbery:
Willoughby,
Summary of Special Report
, 35–36.

After seeing coverage:
Michael Janofsky, “Suspect Said to Confess Killing Times Reporter,
New York Times
, January 13, 2006,
http://www.nytimes.com/​2006/01/13/national/13david.html​?ref=daviderosenbaum&_r=0
;
Jordan
, 18 A.3d at 706; Janofsky, “Suspect Said to Confess.”

Hamlin later claimed that:
Brief for Appellee,
Jordan
, 2010 WL 7359345, at *9, 24–25.

According to Hamlin:
Brief for Appellee,
Jordan
, 2010 WL 7359345, at *5.