Did Barry Allen save his mother and forever alter the timeline that turned him into The Flash? No, which is a good thing. However, his dad is still left in prison for being wrongfully convicted of killing Norma Allen in The Flash season finale.
How could a good lawyer help The Flash get his father out prison? It’s time to put on a Blue Power Ring, because there is hope of proving Henry Allen’s innocence in court.
States vary on the exact procedure for setting aside a conviction, but one option is to introduce new evidence showing the conviction was wrong. Some states require a new trial after the conviction is set aside.
Ohio law allows a defendant to seek a new trial and set aside a conviction when “When new evidence is discovered material to the defendant, which he could not with reasonable diligence have discovered and produced at the trial.” ORC Ann. 2945.79(F). The defendant must produce “affidavits of the witnesses by whom such evidence is expected to be given,” and the state may produce affidavits to impeach any defense witnesses. Id.
New York permits a Court to vacate a judgment and set aside a sentence if “[n]ew evidence has been discovered since the entry of a judgment based upon a verdict of guilty after trial, which could not have been produced by the defendant at the trial even with due diligence on his part and which is of such character as to create a probability that had such evidence been received at the trial the verdict would have been more favorable to the defendant;” NY CLS CPL § 440.10(g). There must be supporting affidavits if the motion to vacate the judgment is based upon the existence of facts. NY CLS CPL § 440.30(a).
How could The Flash get his father out of prison with a similar statute to vacate a conviction based upon new evidence, without causing a paradox to destroy all of reality?
The answer: A Go Pro camera. Or Polaroid Cube. Basically any personal action camera could do the trick.
The issue is having evidence that the Reverse Flash killed Norma Allen. One option for The Flash is to travel back in time before the murder, place an action camera in either the fish tank, or a book shelf, or some other part of the living room that is not visible or easily overlooked. The recording of the high speed blurs slowed down would demonstrate reasonable doubt that Henry Allen killed Norma Allen.
The big challenge is offering the video evidence in court. A Court would be rightfully confused if there was video footage from 2000 on a camera that did not exist in 2000. A District Attorney would rightfully challenge the authenticity of the video. Moreover, it is unlikely The Flash would appear to testify in Court.
One solution to this issue is the fact the police and District Attorney have openly cooperated together with The Flash. Detective Joe West could prepare an affidavit stating the recorded video was given to him by The Flash and that the footage accurately depicts the crime scene from the night Norma Allen was killed. A Judge in Central City, especially if the District Attorney was not contesting the footage, could find the new evidence either would justify a new trial if not outright setting aside Henry Allen’s conviction.
A lawyer from the Blue Lantern Corps could also give Henry Allen hope of proving actual innocence. In New York, new evidence could prove actual innocence if:
(1) The new evidence will probably change the result if a new trial is granted;
(2) It must have been discovered since the trial;
(3) It must be such as could not have been discovered before trial by the exercise of due diligence;
(4) It must be material to the issue;
(5) It must not be cumulative; and
(6) It must not be merely impeaching or contradictory to the former evidence.
See People v Marino, 99 AD3d 726, 730; People v Tankleff, 49 AD3d at 179.
Video evidence of a yellow blur killing Norma Allen would 1) change the result of Henry Allen’s conviction if there is a new trial; 2) the video evidence would be discovered after the trial, since the technology to record it was invented over a decade later and required time travel to use; 3) there was no way the Defense Attorney’s due diligence could have found evidence only available from time travel; 4) the video would be material to the issue of who killed Norma Allen; 5) the evidence is not cumulative; and 6) it is not offered impeach or contradictory to the former evidence, but verifying what Henry and Barry Allen claimed they saw the night Norma Allen was killed by the Reverse Flash.
