Criminal Justice: McChan's Luck

There he was in the Maryland penitentiary serving 40 years for assault, his tenth sentence in 18 years. For Convict George McChan, 34, it seemed like the end of the line. Suddenly, all the legal breaks went McChan's way. Out went his indictment, because Maryland's top court voided a requirement that grand jurors—including the grand jurors that indicted him—affirm belief in God. The same fate has befallen several hundred other indictments; in many cases the result has been a new indictment and a retrial. But a retrial of McChan was out, because the Supreme Court's new confession rules...

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