Righting wrongs.

I am a criminal defense attorney in Miami. I was a prosecutor here many years ago.

I read the story in the February 1 News about Wilton Dedge being released after many years in prison as a result of DNA evidence. I am really glad to see that the prosecutor said he was sorry it happened.

When I was a prosecutor, I handled a minor case against a juvenile. I had doubts about her guilt. I dug deeper and found out she was innocent, beyond any doubt. I nolle prossed and I apologized to her and her family on the record. I was told later that "we don't apologize.... "

I cannot think of many times when government attorneys ever said they are sorry, but I can think of thousands of times when they should have.

I commend the prosecutor, Chris White, for his comments.

Michael A. Catalano

Miami

Reading the February 1 article "Dedge prosecutor details decision-making process" containing the conciliatory words of the assistant state attorney in which he tells how sorry he is for the "injustice done to an innocent man....," but claims not to know how to avoid making the same mistakes again, was upsetting.

Perhaps, in the future, he might discount the generally perjured testimony of uncorroborated jail house snitches who speak with the thought of obtaining a better deal for himself. Perhaps the assistant state attorney might not hire a bogus dog to sniff out two-years-old "evidence" and call it science. Thirdly...