The Misdeeds of Prosecutors

Posted: October 29, 2009 4:32 pm

In a post this week on Reason Magazine's website, Radley Balko writes about the cases of people from Massachusetts to Florida to Mississippi convicted of crimes they didn't commit based in part on misconduct by prosecutors. Most of the prosecutors he profiles are still in their offices today; some are now judges.

Prosecutorial misconduct is a major cause of wrongful convictions. More than 25% of the first 240 DNA exonerees cited prosecutorial misconduct in appeals or civil lawsuits. In 38% of those cases, prosecutors were alleged to have withheld evidence that could have proven innocence.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week in the case of Pottawattamie County v. McGhee, in which two Iowa men filed a civil rights lawsuit against prosecutors who allegedly coerced false testimony to convict them of crimes they didn't commit. Prosecutors in the case have claimed that they are protected by absolute immunity, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit disagreed, finding that prosecutors had violated the men's right to due process.

The case of Ralph Armstrong is an example of how withholding evidence and other misconduct can block justice. Armstrong, an Innocence Project client, served more than 28 years behind bars in Wisconsin for a murder evidence shows he didn't commit. He had been in prison for 14 years when a woman called the prosecutor to tell him Armstrong's brother had confessed to the murder. This phone call was not shared with defense attorneys.

In 2006, when Armstrong had been in prison for 25 years, prosecutors violated a court order and conducted secret DNA tests on evidence in the case. The results were inconclusive and the evidence was consumed, meaning no further testing could ever be conducted. In dismissing the case against Armstrong, a state judge wrote that the prosecutor's actions "stemmed from a series of conscious decisions that had very adverse consequences."

"This is a particularly chilling case of prosecutorial misconduct," Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said after Armstrong was cleared. "Even after the state Supreme Court threw out Ralph Armstrong's conviction based on evidence of his innocence, the prosecutor continued to withhold yet more evidence of his innocence."

More on prosecutorial misconduct as a cause of wrongful conviction.

Tags: Ralph Armstrong

 

Set Free in New York After 26 Years

Posted: October 28, 2009 6:10 pm

Dewey Bozella was freed today in Poughkeepsie, New York, after spending 26 years in prison for a murder evidence now shows he didn’t commit. Bozella was convicted in 1977 of the murder of a 92-year-old woman. He was denied parole four times because he refused to admit guilt to a crime he has always maintained he didn’t commit.

“I could never admit to something I didn’t do,” said Bozella as he got his first taste of freedom in almost three decades on the steps of the Dutchess County Courthouse. “I’m very happy. It’s going to take a little while before it really rubs in but I’m glad that it’s at this stage now where I’m on the other side of the wall and the judge said ‘Let him go’.”

Read the full story here. (Mid Hudson News, 10/28/09)

Bozella is represented by pro-bono attorneys at the firm WilmerHale. The Innocence Project represented Bozella until it was clear that evidence did not exist for DNA testing, at which point the organization reached out to WilmerHale to take on the case. Over the last two years, WilmerHale attorneys have uncovered substantial evidence that Bozella is innocent and that another man actually committed the crime.

 

Charges Dismissed in Texas Case

Posted: October 28, 2009 6:05 pm

A Texas judge today dismissed murder charges against two men who served more than six years in prison for 1991 murders in Austin, Texas, they have long maintained they didn’t commit. Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were freed on bond in June after DNA testing from the crime scene pointed to someone else. Today, prosecutors asked a judge to drop the charges against them.

The men allegedly made admissions of guilt during police interrogations, but later said they were coerced and threatened. One image from the interrogation room shows an officer holding a gun to Scott’s head.

Springsteen was originally sentenced to death for the crime and spent five years on Texas’ death row before his conviction was overturned in 2006. Scott was sentenced to life in 2003 and served six years behind bars before he was freed in June.

Scott, gripping his wife’s hand, was reserved outside court.

“This has been a long time in coming,” he said. “I’m happy to be here.”

Read the full story here. (Austin American-Statesman, 10/28/09)

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg said in a statement that dropping charges was her only path of action. “Given that we now have unknown DNA evidence in the case, I believe it would be imprudent and, in fact, unfair to proceed to trial at this time,” she said.

Tags: False Confessions

 

Report: Forensic Board Replacements Weren’t Routine

Posted: October 27, 2009 6:08 pm

A new report from Texas Tribune and Texas Weekly finds that Gov. Rick Perry’s move last month to replace several members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission wasn’t a standard practice, as Perry has claimed.

Perry said he removed the forensic commissioners because their terms had expired, suggesting it was a coincidence that the replacements came 48 hours before the panel’s scheduled meeting to consider the arson evidence in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham.

But the Texas Tribune / Texas Weekly report, compiled from documents obtained through the state’s open-records act, shows that many appointed commissioners in the state are not replaced when their terms expire. At the time Perry removed the forensic commissioners, more than 100 other appointees around the state were serving past their terms. They averaged 100 days past their expiration date, and some were more than a year past expiration, records show.

"These numbers are disturbing because, contrary to what Gov. Perry said, it was not a regular practice to remove these commissioners so quickly and on the verge of a very important hearing," Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck told reporters. "It's more evidence that Gov. Perry's actions were not to get to the scientific truth of the matter but were self serving and calculated for political advantage."

Another story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram today examines the specifics of the arson investigation and evidence in the case, from flashover to puddle patterns to crazed glass, and finds that outdated practices were used to investigate the fire that killed Willingham’s daughters. Investigators used several “indicators” to seem the fire arson, and scientists no longer use those techniques because they are inaccurate and unreliable.    
 

Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham

 

Reunited After Exoneration, Part 2

Posted: October 27, 2009 2:42 pm

Visit CNN.com today to read and watch the second segment of Dean Cage and Jewel Mitchell’s inspiring story of overcoming injustice. Cage, an Innocence Project client, served more than 12 years in Illinois prisons for a rape DNA proves he didn’t commit. He and his fiancée, Mitchell, had become engaged just a few months before he was arrested.

Today’s story begins on the day in 2001 – more than five years into his 40-year sentence – that Cage told Mitchell in a prison visiting room to give up on him, to move on with her life. She refused. She knew he was innocent and she trusted that she would see him free.

In 2008, DNA testing finally proved Cage’s innocence and he was set free. The two now live together in Chicago and plan to get married soon.

"She makes me feel good," Cage told CNN. "She makes me feel happy. I don't think things would be the same without her. I don't know if I could've kept the faith all those years."Read the two-part story here.
 

Tags: Dean Cage

 

Investigative Reporter Dies

Posted: October 26, 2009 6:13 pm

Pete Shellem, a longtime investigative reporter for the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Patriot-News died unexpectedly over the weekend. Shellem covered countless wrongful conviction cases during his career and helped bring to light evidence of innocence that set at least four people free.

"He is a one-man Innocence Project,’’  Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Ernie Preate Jr., who was once investigated for fraud by Shellem, told American Journalism Review for a 2007 story. “The idea that a single, solitary newspaper reporter can accomplish all this is a remarkable story."

Shellem will be missed by people all over the country who work to overturn and prevent wrongful convictions, and by those whose lives are impacted by injustice. He is survived by a wife and two sons.

Read more. (Patriot-News, 10/26/09)

 

A Test of Convictions

Posted: October 26, 2009 2:05 pm

CNN.com reports today on the inspiring case of Innocence Project client Dean Cage and his fiancée, Jewel Mitchell. The two became engaged in 1994, just a few months before Cage was arrested for a sexual assault he didn’t commit. Mitchell spoke with CNN about the pain of losing her fiancé to prison and the difficult years of waiting for him:

"It was almost like he was dead," Jewel says. "That's how bad it hurt."

Last year, DNA testing proved Cage’s innocence and he was set free, after serving more than 12 years for a crime he didn’t commit. He and Mitchell were reunited, and CNN will post part two of its story tomorrow. We’ll post a link here when it’s live.

CBS News also posted a story today on Cage's case. 

Read more about Cage’s case here.

Tags: Dean Cage

 

Two Men Freed in Dallas, Another Seeks Justice in New York

Posted: October 23, 2009 6:10 pm

The innocent continue to walk out of prisons across the country, and Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins thinks today's exoneration of two men might be the "biggest yet" for his office.

Claude Simmons Jr. and Christopher Scott were freed today in Dallas after spending 12 years in prison for a murder that evidence now shows they didn't commit.

Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins, whose county has seen more DNA exonerations than any other in the country, said today's non-DNA exonerations may inspire other prosecutors' offices and police departments around the country to reopen questionable old convictions for investigation. "I expect this case will get a lot of attention, and I expect you'll see other police departments get involved in cases like this. We're going to lead the way in how to dispense justice," he told the Dallas Observer.

Meanwhile, a New York man has been granted a new trial in a 1977 murder that evidence shows he didn't commit. Dewey Bozella has been in prison for more than 25 years, and said he was overjoyed at the news of his new trial. "It was like a miracle had happened," he said. Bozella is represented by pro-bono attorneys at the firm WilmerHale. The Innocence Project represented Bozella until it was clear that evidence did not exist for DNA testing, at which point the organization reached out to WilmerHale to take on the case. Over the last two years, WilmerHale attorneys have uncovered substantial evidence that Bozella is innocent and that another man actually committed the crime.

Kenneth Ireland has been free for two months, since DNA testing proved him innocent of a 1986 Connecticut murder he didn't commit. Ireland, who was 18 when he was arrested and 39 when he was freed, spoke with Fox this week about adjusting to life outside of prison.

A man was exonerated and compensated after spending 27 years in a Chinese prison for a rape he says he didn't commit. He was retried and acquitted this year in Henan Province, and a court has now awarded him 1.02 million yuan (about $146,000) in compensation.

The Cameron Todd Willingham case continued to draw coverage and discussion this week. We posted yesterday on the letter from 400+ Texans to forensic commission chairman John Bradley. JR posted today at Daily Kos on the letter and other developments in the case. Randi Kaye covered the story this week for CNN's Anderson Cooper 360. Her latest report from Texas is set for tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

An L.A. Times editorial today said Gov. Rick Perry's decision to reconfigure the Forensic Science Commission "looks highly suspicious." Innocence Project Online Communications Manager Matt Kelley wrote about the case — and the outlook for the Forensic Science Commission — today on the American Constitution Society blog.

We reported earlier this week on the case of prosecutors subpoenaing student information from the Medill Innocence Project. The case continues to make news, with a report yesterday in Time magazine.And, finally, the most offbeat DNA story the week: An Australian man was charged with a robbery after blood recovered from a leech found at the crime scene matched his profile.

 

James Ochoa: Three Years Free, a New Start in Texas

Posted: October 23, 2009 2:01 pm

Three years ago this week, James Ochoa was exonerated after serving 10 months in prison for a crime he didn't commit.  He was freed when the profile of another man in a DNA database matched evidence from the crime for which Ochoa was convicted.

Ochoa now lives in Texas with his wife and children and works in sales for a clothing company.

Ochoa became a suspect in a 2005 Buena Park, California, carjacking after a highly questionable eyewitness identification procedure and involvement of a police scent-tracking dog.

After two young men were carjacked, they described the perpetrator to a police officer, who immediately thought of Ochoa, whom he had seen earlier that night nearby. The officer showed the victims a picture of Ochoa from his laptop computer. One victim saw only a picture of Ochoa; the other saw photographs of Ochoa's two friends (who did not resemble the description just taken) first and then Ochoa. Both victims said Ochoa "looked like" the perpetrator.

The car was found in the neighborhood later that night — a B.B. gun used in the crime and a hat worn by the perpetrator were inside. A bloodhound dog named "Trace" was brought to the scene. Trace allegedly followed the scent from a swab from the perpetrator's baseball cap to Ochoa's front door. The use of dog sniffing evidence has come under fire in several states in recent months.

Ochoa was charged with the crime, despite DNA test results that showed one profile on the hat and gun, excluding Ochoa. Against the advice of his attorney, Ochoa accepted a guilty plea in exchange for a two-year sentence, after a judge threatened him with a 25-year sentence if convicted by a jury.

Ten months later, another man was arrested in Los Angeles on unrelated carjacking charges. His DNA profile matched the profile from the hat and gun in Ochoa's case and he confessed to committing the crime. Ochoa was freed after ten months in prison.

Read more about his case - as well as with background on eyewitness misidentification and unvalidated science.

Other exoneree anniversaries this week:


Edward Honaker, Virginia (Served 9.5 years/Exonerated 10/21/94)

Fredric Saecker, Wisconsin (Served 6 years/Exonerated 10/24/96)

Victor Ortiz, New York  (Served 11.5 years - exonerated 10/24/96)

Tags: James Ochoa

 

More Than 400 Texans Urge Forensics Panel to Continue its Work

Posted: October 22, 2009 2:06 pm

More than 400 Texans from 125 cities and towns across the state today urged a state panel to continue its work of reviewing the forensic evidence used in the Cameron Todd Willingham arson case.

A letter sent today to John Bradley, the newly-appointed chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Committee, urged him to ensure that the panel continues its work of evaluating forensic evidence in state cases. Joining hundreds of concerned citizens were 15 people exonerated through DNA testing after serving years in Texas prisons for crimes they didn’t commit.

Bradley will testify November 10 before a special hearing of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee. He is expected to answer legislators’ questions about the status of the Forensic Science Commission’s work and plans for continuing ongoing investigations.

“Undue delay — much less a complete change of course — seems destined to sweep this investigation, Texans' faith in forensic evidence and our criminal justice system, maybe even jurors' willingness to convict, away with it,” today’s letter reads, in part.

Read the full letter here. (PDF)

Get background on the Willingham case, and an update on recent developments , on our Willingham resource page.

Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham