Friday Roundup: Seeking New Trials

Posted: November 21, 2008 3:01 pm

Lots of case news and events around the U.S. to cover this week:

Innocence Project client Anthony Wright has been in Pennsylvania prison for 15 years for a murder he has always said he didn’t commit. He is seeking DNA testing on evidence in the case, but the Philadelphia District Attorney is fighting his requests for testing and courts have denied his appeals. This week, the Philadelphia Inquirer said “the best and only way to resolve the dispute is to proceed with the DNA test.”

DNA tests in the Norfolk Four case have already implicated the real perpetrator of the crime, but three men who say they had nothing to do with the murder are still behind bars. More than two dozen FBI agents called for a pardon last week, and the New York Times joined them this week.

A federal appeals court will hear arguments in the case of Troy Davis on December 9, and former FBI Director William Sessions wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week that Davis deserves another day in court.

Police interrogation of juveniles was in the news this week, with the high-profile case of an eight-year-old boy charged with shooting his father and a neighbor. Prosecutors released the videotaped interrogation of the boy, and experts around the world are saying that the police procedure in questioning an eight-year-old without a parent or lawyer was inappropriate.

A federal appeals court yesterday tossed out the conviction of a man found guilty in 1994 of killing nine people at a Buddhist temple in Arizona. Jonathan Doody was 17 when arrested, and his conviction rested on his alleged confession after 12 hours of interrogation.

"In short," the ruling says, "Doody paints an overall picture of downplayed warnings, a softly induced waiver of rights and conduct conveying the message that Doody would not be left alone until he confessed, all targeted at an unsavvy, increasingly sleep-deprived teenager."

And innocence organizations around the world held events and rallies in the last week:

The Center on Wrongful Convictions in Chicago celebrated its tenth anniversary. The group is one of the pioneers of the innocence movement and has exonerated dozens of wrongfully convicted Americans across the country. The Chicago Tribune calls the group the “the heroes of the wrongfully convicted.”  Watch a video looking back at the Center’s incredible first 10 years here.

William & Mary held its first annual Innocence Symposium and students from the University of Bristol Innocence Project in the United Kingdom took to the streets to educate the public about the problem of wrongful convictions.

Finally, we extend a warm welcome to the Montana Innocence Project, which opened its doors this year.

 

Eleven Years Free

Posted: November 20, 2008 5:32 pm

Eleven years ago today, Ben Salazar was pardoned by then-Governor George W. Bush, ending a five-year nightmare.

Salazar became a suspect in a 1991 Austin rape because he had a tattoo similar to one the victim saw on the perpetrator. She identified him in a photo book, and serological testing on semen collected from the victim’s body did not exclude Salazar as a suspect.

Salazar later said: "Before they took me to jail, they took me to their little office and tried to get me to confess to it. They wanted me to cop out to 20 years. I said, Not guilty, let's take this thing to trial."

He was convicted at trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Immediately after the conviction, Salazar's family held garage sales and benefit barbeques to raise money for DNA tests. Although Salazar's attorney was able to secure a court order to preserve evidence for DNA testing in 1994, the Department of Public Safety was unable to locate it. Eventually, in the fall of 1996, blood and semen samples were found in a freezer.

It took three rounds of DNA testing to obtain a profile that could identify the perpetrator, as DNA testing was not as advanced in the 1990s as it is today. The third round of tests determined that the semen from the rape kit did not match either the victim’s husband or Salazar, and he was finally exonerated after serving five years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit.

Salazar is featured, along with 36 other people in Texas cleared by DNA testing after serving a combined 525 years, in a Texas Monthly profile of wrongful convictions in the state. Visit Texas Monthly’s website for videos and more.

Other exoneration anniversaries this week:

Donald Wayne Good, Texas (Served 13.5 Years, Exonerated 2004)

Ronnie Bullock, Illinois (Served 10.5 Years, Exonerated 1994)

Tags: Ben Salazar

 

225 Exonerated

Posted: November 20, 2008 4:05 pm

Joseph White was added today to the Innocence Project’s database of DNA exonerations in the U.S. He is the 225th person exonerated, and the first in Nebraska. There have been DNA exonerations in 33 states, and the exonerees have served a total of nearly 2,800 years.

White and five co-defendants were convicted of a 1985 murder in Beatrice, Nebraska, and all six were cleared recently by DNA testing on evidence from the crime scene, which points to a man who was a suspect at the time of the crime. Law enforcement officials say they have “no doubt” the actual perpetrator committed the crime alone. White has been fully exonerated and the other five defendants are seeking pardons to clear their records. They will be included as DNA exonerees when their records are cleared.

Involved in the wrongful conviction of these six defendants was the faulty forensic testimony of Joyce Gilchrist, an Oklahoma City Police Department lab analyst whose false statements have been involved in at least four other wrongful conviction cases. In this case, Gilchrist tested the blood of a likely suspect who had fled to Nebraska. She told Nebraska police that the suspect was excluded by the tests, but she was wrong. This suspect is the man now implicated by DNA tests.

Read more about this case below, and stay tuned for updates.

Beatrice Daily Sun: Taylor released from prison

Omaha World-Herald: An opportunity led to 19 years spent in prison

Associated Press: Exonerated inmates often don’t have state help

Tags: Nebraska, Joseph White

 

A Mohammad Ali Fight and a Wrongful Conviction

Posted: November 20, 2008 3:40 pm

Students and attorneys at the Medill Innocence Project and the Center on Wrongful Convictions, both affiliated with Northwestern University, have uncovered evidence that could uncover a 1981 wrongful murder conviction.

Anthony McKinney was convicted of shooting a security guard on Sept. 15, 1978, the night Mohammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks for the heavyweight championship. McKinney was 18 at the time, and says he signed a false confession after police beat him with pipes.

Two witnesses, ages 15 and 18, allegedly told police they had seen McKinney kill the victim, shortly after the 10th round of the Ali fight. But the victim was dead, and the police had been called, before the fight reached the 9th round. Both witnesses have also said that police coerced them to testify against McKinney. Attorneys at McKinney’s trial knew about evidence pointing to other perpetrators, but the jury never heard it.

The journalism students were working on McKinney's case under the direction of David Protess, director of the Medill School of Journalism Innocence Project.

"Anthony's plight is about the most tragic I've ever seen," Protess said. "He not only has been locked up for almost two-thirds of his life for a crime he did not commit, but the actual perpetrators were known right from the start."

Read the full story here. (Chicago Sun-Times, 11/20/08)

Read more about the case at the Medill Innocence Project website.

 

Tags: Illinois, False Confessions, False Confessions

 

Study Finds Few Texas Police Departments Have Written Eyewitness Procedures

Posted: November 19, 2008 3:45 pm

A new study released today by the Justice Project found that only 12% of Texas law enforcement agencies responding to a survey said they had written policies for lineup procedures. Nearly 75% of the 1,034 agencies in the state answered the survey.

From the report:

This overall lack of sound, scientifically-based policy indicates that the State of Texas must pass legislation that requires departments to adopt written policies that implement best practices for the conduct of eyewitness identification procedures.

Download the full report here.

The Innocence Project recommends that law enforcement agencies develop written identification procedures based on practices shown in scientific study to reduce the number misidentifications. View our recommendations here.

Blogs covering the report today:

Grits for Breakfast

Dallas Morning News - Unfair Park

Tags: Eyewitness Identification

 

After 27 Years, Florida Man Walks Out of Prison

Posted: November 19, 2008 2:20 pm

 

After serving 27 years in Florida prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit, William Dillon was freed last night in Florida on bond after a judge ordered a new trial in his case. He will wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and may face another trial in the case.

The Innocence Project of Florida has worked on the case with Dillon’s lawyers, who say DNA testing on a T-shirt from the crime scene proves Dillon’s innocence. We’ll post updates here on the Innocence Blog as the case develops.

“Well I’ll tell you what, we didn't think we'd be living to see him come home,” said Amy Dillon, William’s mother. Dillon said he's not at all bitter about spending a large portion of his life in prison.

"I'm not going to sit here and dwell on anything that's missed or passed or anything.  I'm just going to move ahead right now from this day forward," Dillon said.Watch video of Dillon’s release and press conference. (Channel 13, Central Florida)

Dillon's conviction was based partly on the testimony of dog handler John Preston, a retired Pennsylvania State Trooper whose methods have since been discredited. Preston was also involved in the wrongful conviction of Wilton Dedge, an Innocence Project client who served 22 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA testing in 2004.

 

 

Tags: Wilton Dedge, William Dillon

 

No Compensation for Six Prisoners Cleared in Nebraska

Posted: November 18, 2008 3:50 pm

Three people freed recently in Nebraska after serving 20 years in prison for a murder they didn’t commit will take on the challenge of building a new life without financial support or services from the state.

Thomas Winslow, Joseph White and JoAnn Taylor were cleared in recent weeks in Nebraska after DNA testing pointed to another man in the 1985 murder for which they were convicted. Three other co-defendants were released from prison in 1994 after serving their complete sentences.(The Innocence Project is currently reviewing the cases of all six defendants to determine whether they can be included in our database of DNA exonerations nationwide.)

Nebraska is one of 25 states without an exoneree compensation law, so there are no state services available to the exonerated.

Innocence Project spokesman Eric Ferrero said compensation for wrongful convictions is needed because re-entering society after serving prison time is difficult, even with an exoneration.

"Some people don't have family support or any network of supports when they get out," he said. "They often get out with no money, no job experience — other than prison jobs — and they often lack the skills to get reintegrated into society and rebuild their lives."

Read the full story here. (Associated Press, 11/18/08)

Tags: Nebraska, Exoneree Compensation

 

City of Boston Seeks to Remove Judge from Civil Suit

Posted: November 18, 2008 3:25 pm

Ulysses Rodriguez Charles, who was exonerated in 2001 after serving 17 years in Massachusetts prison for a rape he didn’t commit, is facing deportation by U.S. immigration authorities at the same time his wrongful conviction civil suit against the city of Boston is pending.

And now lawyers for the city want U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner to recuse herself from the case, saying that she showed “deep-seated favoritism and antagonism” in comments she made alleging that the city may have worked with immigration officials to deport Charles before his April civil trial.But Charles said last week that Gertner's comments were "extremely intuitive" and that the city is simply "judge shopping."

"I think they want it to be biased, and they see that she's fair," Charles, 58, said from his mother's house in the South End. "They thought they would get a judge who's pro-government because I'm suing the government. But she's extremely familiar with the underhanded tactics of the Boston Police Department."Read the full story here. (Boston Globe, 11/17/08)

 

Tags: Massachusetts, Ulysses Rodriguez Charles

 

DNA Testing Leads to New Trial in Florida

Posted: November 17, 2008 1:55 pm

William Dillon, who has served 27 years in Florida prison for a murder he has always said he didn’t commit, will get a new trial. Dillon, along with his attorneys and the Innocence Project of Florida, obtained DNA testing on a bloody T-shirt from the crime scene that was used to convict him. The DNA profiles developed from evidence on the T-shirt matched the victim and other unidentified individuals, but excluded Dillon. A judge threw out Dillon’s conviction on Friday and a bond hearing is set for Tuesday.

"We are just exhilarated. It's a new chapter now," said Dillon's brother, Joe, of Palm Bay. "The whole family is really excited."

Read the full story here. (Orlando Sentinel, 11/15/08)

Read more on the Innocence Project of Florida website.

Tags: William Dillon

 

The Exonerator

Posted: November 17, 2008 1:45 pm

A profile of Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins in the Wall Street Journal this weekend examined his role in exonerating innocent prisoners from Dallas County. More wrongful convictions have been overturned since 2001 in Dallas County than anywhere else in the U.S. during that time, and Watkins has taken an active role in reviewing questionable convictions through his new Conviction Integrity Unit.

Of course, Watkins’ approach has its critics as well, who call him "a criminal-loving DA, a hug-a-thug DA." But Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck told the Journal that Watkins’ openness to pursue claims of innocence often helps find the real perpetrator in these cases and create leads in other cold cases.

"Many times, you bring these cases to district attorneys and they say, 'You can't go see my file. I won't do anything.' There's a knee-jerk reluctance to revisit anything," says Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project. He thinks this will eventually change, and that Dallas County's aggressive approach will serve as a model for others. "Watkins takes the view that if he can correct a wrongful conviction, that's a good thing."

Read the full story here. (Watt Street Journal, 11/15/08)

Tags: Texas