Republicans are so scared and desperate about the Pence-Kaine debate that they ve resorted to distorting Tim Kaine s record as a defense attorney   in which, yes, he had to defend murderers. But anyone who took a civics course (or has half a brain cell) knows that everyone, even accused murderers, are entitled to representation in a court of law.It s 2016, why is that still being debated?Seeing as though there s nothing shocking about that drummed up  scandal,  a real scandal lies on the horizon, and it has to do not with Tim Kaine, but Mike Pence.After serving 10 years of a 40 year sentence, Keith Cooper   who was accused of shooting Michael Kershner and his mother, Nona Canell   was found to be innocent after the victims admitted they were wrong, DNA evidence proved he was not at the scene, and a jail informant admitted to lying.After filing a pardon request, in which the board unanimously voted that Pence should indeed pardon Mr. Cooper, Pence balked. Why? [O]ut of respect for the judicial process,  Pence claimed, saying that Cooper s paperwork wasn t  in order  after a two year delay by the state. Pence s office admitted they haven t given th case much thought, but somehow thought it appropriate to slam Cooper s lawyer, saying they need to  do a better job. Cooper s attorney, Elliot Solsar, then claimed Pence bucked the case because he s running for president, and is instead trying to pass it off to his successor (if he wins in November):We are really disappointed in Governor Pence s failure to provide justice to an innocent man. It s clear that he has punted the petition to the next Governor because it s election season.Is that what Trump, Pence s running mate, means when he says they are the  law and order candidates? I wonder if the circumstances would be different if Cooper were white, instead of a black man. Black people, after all, are wrongfully convicted at higher rates than white people:The National Registry currently cites a total of 1,417 exonerations   the majority of which are attributed to Black defendants.By the Registry s own statistics broken down by race and crime, total exonerations for  all crimes  numbered 164 for Hispanic persons, 556 for Caucasian persons, and 662 for Black persons. The largest gap is associated with sexual assault (a difference of 78 exonerations), with the second largest belonging to homicide (a difference of 59 exonerations).Not only are black people more likely to be victims of wrongful conviction, they also wait longer to exonerating than others.In 2014, Pamela Perez, professor of biostatistics at Loma Linda University, told the Huffington Post:Blacks who are exonerated after a bogus conviction have served 12.68 years on average before the good news. It takes just 9.4 years for whites and 7.87 for Latinos.Racist governors like Mike Pence, while being stubborn and cruel, continue this system that has shown to be immoral, unfair, and unethical towards black Americans in modern society.Tim Kaine would be wise to bring this major issue up at the first debate.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images