The other Irish raider, Gale Force Ten, once again failed to build on his success in the Jersey Stakes, only 11th of 14. Lethal Force did seem to drift wearily when headed, and jockey Adam Kirby told his trainer that the horse felt a little flat – but Clive Cox rightly acknowledged that he requires no exoneration for losing out to such an accomplished rival.
"There was no real evidence, no real findings, no real answers, and definitely no exoneration," said a statement by DNC spokesman Mo Elleithee.
The evidence submitted to a jury led to such a result, the conviction was based on sound evidence, and subsequent appellate court decisions do not change the state's view of the evidence," Hartford Prosecutor David Zagaya said in court, adding that "this is no way an exoneration by the state".
The mendicants were unable to secure a condemnation, though there was also no formal exoneration.
For as Ned registers in due course, murder suspects can be cleared – someone else did it; but with no other witness to a story that participating parties tell differently, a stink can stick to anyone accused of sexual crimes, legal exoneration or no.
"One of the things that is amazing about DNA exonerations is that no opinion is ever written about them," Mr. Scheck said yesterday.
The New York-based Innocence Project, which provides free legal representation to people who it hopes can be exculpated on the basis of DNA evidence, counts no fewer than 268 such exonerations since 1989.
If Mr. Milken gets his pardon, he will no doubt view it as an exoneration.
In New York State, which no longer imposes a statute of limitations on rape, there have been "over 30 exonerations where a person was convicted of a sex crime primarily because of misidentification," according to Gunasekera.
