A man has been freed after he spent 14 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, and prosecutors now believe they know who is the real killer.
Steven Ruffin, 45, has been telling authorities who really killed 16-year-old James Deligny on a Brooklyn street in February 1996 for decades, but until now, he has been ignored.
“I lost 14 years of my life for a crime that I didn’t commit,” Ruffin said after he was exonerated on Thursday, <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/01/18/slay-conviction-to-be-overturned-false-confession-tied-to-nypd-det-scarcella/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the New York Daily News</a>. “I’ve been very fortunate since my release. I had to make peace with my situation in order to survive. I’m looking forward to closing this chapter of my life.”
“If you know you’re innocent, don’t give up on your case — keep on fighting, because justice will prevail,” Ruffin said outside the courthouse, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wrongful-conviction-exoneration-brooklyn-steven-ruffin-3af9b74e5f79d1d99994fe44e22f9067" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Associated Press</a>. “That’s all I’ve wanted for 30 years: somebody to listen and really hear what I’m saying and look into the things I was telling them.”
Ruffin was paroled in 2010, but his 1996 manslaughter conviction still stood on his record. He has since moved to Georgia and started working in sanitation, but said he wanted the conviction dismissed so he could clear his name and “move on.”
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said his office is looking into whether they can charge the man who actually shot Deligny during a confrontation about stolen earrings.
“You have to be able to convict someone beyond a reasonable doubt, and we have to make sure that that evidence is sufficient to do so,” Gonzalez said, according to the AP. “You have a lot of factors working against us procedurally, but also factually — unfortunately, this is 30 years ago.”
Ruffin was a teenager when his attorneys – and now prosecutors – say retired NYPD Det. Louis Scarcella pressured the teen into confessing to a crime he didn’t commit. Ruffin was tied to the case because Deligny was mistaken for a man who had stolen earrings from Ruffin’s sister Diane, the Daily News reported.
Ruffin provided two statements denying that he shot Deligny before Scarcella brought in Ruffin’s estranged cop father, who convinced the teen to confess.
In <a href="https://view.publitas.com/kcda/report-on-the-conviction-of-steven-l-ruffin/page/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a 56-page report</a> from Brooklyn’s Conviction Review Unit, Ruffin’s confession wrongly identified the type of gun used in the shooting and included other factual errors. His conviction was based on one shaky eyewitness and Ruffin’s confession, which he recanted. Ruffin was identified by a cracked front tooth, but the man Ruffin says actually committed the crime, his sister’s then-boyfriend, also had a cracked front tooth.
The alleged assailant is identified only as “Glover,” and had a child with Diane. Glover allegedly confessed to multiple people that he committed the crime, and Diane reportedly “didn’t want to implicate [her] baby’s father.”
“After a full investigation by my Conviction Review Unit, we can no longer stand by this old conviction and will move to give Mr. Ruffin his good name back,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “A confluence of factors, including errors by defense counsel and tunnel vision by law enforcement, produced a tragic result in this case – Mr. Ruffin was convicted for the actions of a different person whom he claimed to be the killer all along.”
Ruffin’s case is the 18th guilty verdict with connections to Scarcella that has been overturned. Scarcella has denied any wrongdoing.

Prisoner Behind Bars

He Spent 14 Years Telling Authorities Who Was The Real Killer. Now Prosecutors Believe Him.

Brooklyn

Crime

Murder

New York

U.S.

Wrongful Conviction

A Minnesota man freed from prison last year is now suing a former medical examiner and others, alleging they fabricated evidence and withheld information that could have exonerated him.
Thomas Rhodes, 64, was freed from prison one year ago after spending nearly 25 years in prison for allegedly murdering his wife, the Star Tribune <a href="https://www.startribune.com/mn-man-wrongfully-imprisoned-25-years-in-wifes-drowning-death-sues-ex-medical-examiner-others/600336028/?refresh=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Last Friday, he filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota, seeking unspecified damages.
&#8220;I have gained my freedom,&#8221; Rhodes said in a statement, according to the outlet. &#8220;I now look forward to justice.&#8221;
Rhodes’ lawsuit accuses former Ramsey County Medical Examiner Michael McGee of providing false testimony about how Rhodes’ wife, Jane, died, as well as fabricating false conclusions regarding her autopsy. Rhodes also accuses now-deceased Kandiyohi County Attorney Boyd Beccue and an investigator who worked on the case of fabricating and withholding evidence.
Rhodes and his wife had gone out for a late evening boat ride in July 1996. Neither person was wearing a life jacket, and at some point, Jane fell into the water after losing her balance. Rhodes reportedly searched for his wife frantically, but could not find her in the dark. The next day, two fishermen found Jane’s body on the shore.
The Kandiyohi County coroner didn’t have enough experience with drowning victims, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-man-freed-from-prison-lawsuit-5a91674af6670f1136cd6550533c0f8a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, so McGee performed the examination of Jane’s body. McGee initially listed Jane’s manner of death as “pending investigation,” a status that remained for five months, until McGee and Beccue met in what Rhodes’ attorneys said was an improper private meeting that prosecutors used to “attempt to influence the determination as to the cause and manner of death.”
Beccue allegedly provided &#8220;circumstantial facts that were completely unrelated to the medical or scientific evidence,&#8221; according to Rhodes’ attorneys. These included marital problems between Rhodes and Jane and the “perceived” interpretation that Rhodes couldn’t be sure where Jane fell overboard on the night she died.
McGee then changed Jane’s manner of death to “homicide,” and he and prosecutors began arguing that Rhodes struck his wife in the neck and pushed her overboard before running her over with the boat. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
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In 2021, 25 years into his sentence, Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison launched the state’s Conviction Review Unit. The first case it took on was Rhodes’, and soon discovered that Beccue’s office never turned over a transcript of an interview with McGee, who had said in it that he wasn’t sure how many times Jane was hit after she fell overboard.
In addition, 10 independent forensic pathologists disagreed with the homicide conclusion, finding no evidence that Jane was hit in the neck, or that she was hit by the boat, or any evidence she was pushed over at all.
While Rhodes’ sentence was vacated, he was essentially forced to enter an “Alford plea” to be released from jail. In addition to murder charges, he was charged with second-degree manslaughter because, prosecutors argued, the boat he drove was small and unstable, and neither he nor his wife were wearing life jackets even though he knew Jane wasn’t a good swimmer. By entering the Alford plea, Rhodes admitted there was enough evidence to convict him of the lesser charges, while still maintaining his innocence. Had he not entered the plea, he would likely still be in prison.
McGee has been under fire for his conduct in other cases, including one that resulted in a death penalty being reduced to life in prison, and another where McGee’s false testimony led to a father being wrongly convicted for the murder of his infant child.

Prisoner Holding Bars

He Spent 25 Years In Prison For A Murder He Didn’t Commit. Now He’s Suing.

He Spent 25 Years In Prison For A Murder He Didn't Commit. Now He's Suing.

Lawsuit

Minnesota

A Minneapolis man who maintained his innocence for 19 years has been freed from prison following a judge’s ruling that his original trial was unfair.
Marvin Haynes, 35, was released from prison on Monday after serving 19 years in prison for the murder of 55-year-old Randy Sherer back in 2004, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/marvin-haynes-conviction-vacated-minnesota-39d861f14443ab02ff721be931606eb5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. His release came after a judge ruled that eyewitness evidence used in Haynes’ trial was unreliable, an issue on which the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office agreed with defense attorneys.
“I just want to thank everybody that supported me through this whole journey,” Haynes told reporters outside the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater after he was released. “And now y’all can recognize that I’m actually innocent.”
Haynes was 16 when he was accused of killing Sherer, a clerk in a flower shop. After he was convicted in 2005, Hayes exclaimed in court that he “didn’t kill that man!” He looked at the jury as he yelled, adding, “They’re all going to burn in hell for that.”
His attorneys have argued that detectives pressured witnesses to point the finger at Haynes by threatening them, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/us/minneapolis-murder-conviction-marvin-haynes.html?partner=slack&amp;smid=sl-share" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Detectives also reportedly ignored evidence that pointed away from Haynes as the killer and an improperly conducted photo lineup.
The sole witness in the crime was initially shown a photo lineup that did not include Haynes. When she picked a photo and said she was 75-80% sure that was the killer, police learned the chosen man had been in a different state at the time of the killing, so the witness was shown a second lineup. This one included an old photo of Haynes with short hair, which he had since grown long. The witness didn’t identify Haynes this time around but did identify him as the killer during a third lineup and in her trial testimony, the AP reported.
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The Innocence Project assisted in Haynes’ release, with attorneys from the organization showing in court that Haynes did not match the description of the killer, who was much older than Haynes at the time, as well as larger and taller.
After being released, Haynes said at a news conference with his attorneys, family, and even Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who works for the same prosecutor’s office that convicted Haynes in 2005. Haynes said at this conference that he hopes to get a job, and the first thing he would do is visit his mother, who had a stroke several years ago.
“I shed tears,” he said, according to the AP. “I haven’t cried so much in 19 years. I’m so excited. Overwhelmed with emotion.”
Moriarty also spoke at the press conference.
“We inflicted harm on Mr. Haynes and his family, and also on Randy Sherer, the victim, his family, and the community,” she said. “We cannot undo the trauma experienced by those impacted by this prosecution. But today we have taken a step towards righting this wrong.”

Man In Prison

He Spent 19 Years In Prison For A Murder He Didn’t Commit. He Was Just Given His Freedom.

He Spent 19 Years In Prison For A Murder He Didn't Commit. He Was Just Given His Freedom.

Minneapolis

The American woman falsely accused and wrongly convicted of killing her roommate while studying in Italy is finally getting the chance to completely clear her name.
Amanda Knox, who, along with her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was exonerated by Italy’s highest court in the murder of Meredith Kercher, but the records still showed she was convicted of slander, Barron’s <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/italy-court-quashes-amanda-knox-slander-case-orders-retrial-5b54adf7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The slander conviction came after an interrogation – during which Knox says police yelled at, slapped, and threatened her – in which Knox spoke about a Congolese bar owner named Patrick Lumumba.
Kercher’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meredith-kerchers-killer-released-still-blaming-others-for-his-crime-despite-forensic-evidence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">real killer</a> was Rudy Geude, who was released from prison in 2021.
On Friday, Italy’s highest court overturned Knox’s slander conviction and demanded a new trial. In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Knox was not provided with adequate legal representation or a professional interpreter during the interrogation and that this treatment “compromised the fairness of the proceedings as a whole.”
Lumumba spent a week in jail after Knox’s unfair interrogation.
On X, Knox said that she did not “point[] the finger” at Lumumba but that the “police implicated someone else through” her.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I was bullied into signing statements they wrote based on their speculations. False confessions and false admissions, like mine, are not authored by the people under the coercive police pressure. They are authored by the police themselves. <a href="https://t.co/nePriUDjIO">https://t.co/nePriUDjIO</a>
— Amanda Knox (@amandaknox) <a href="https://twitter.com/amandaknox/status/1712890484165956031?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2023</a></blockquote>
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“I was bullied into signing statements they wrote based on their speculations. False confessions and false admissions, like mine, are not authored by the people under the coercive police pressure. They are authored by the police themselves,” Knox wrote.
Back in 2021, Knox <a href="https://twitter.com/amandaknox/status/1355331239134208011" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> this interrogation was the actual “worst moment” of her life. She explained that she was 20 years old, 3,000 miles away from home, and her friend had just been killed. A killer was on the loose when she was brought in for the interrogation and questioned by “seasoned adults” for 53 hours over five days without an attorney. She said she spoke Italian about as well as a 10-year-old and that police kept lying to her.
“They told me I was a witness, that I was helping them. A lie,” Knox wrote in 2021. “They told me that Raffaele had contradicted my alibi. A lie. They said they had evidence that placed me at the crime scene that night. A lie.”
She said the final interrogation wasn’t recorded like the others, and that they kept her awake all night, told her she had amnesia, and that she had repressed what happened the night of Kercher’s murder because she was traumatized by what she saw. She said police shouted at her and slapped her.
Her mom, who had just arrived in Italy to help her daughter, started calling Knox, but she was not allowed to answer, she said, as police just kept telling her that “everything will be fine” if she just told them that she was in the apartment and knew what happened to Kercher.
As to how Lumumba became entangled in the saga, Knox said that police found a text on her phone to Lumumba, who was her boss at the time. She had tried to write “See you later. Good night,” but police interpreted it as a literal meeting appointment.
&#8220;You must have met him at the house. Remember! Remember the truth!&#8221; she said police told her.
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On X, Knox wrote that the new trial “is a good thing” and said that Lumumba was her friend at the time this happened.
“We are both victims of the violation of my human rights during my interrogation, without which I was helpless against the coercive pressure of the police,” she wrote.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I&#8217;m on trial in Italy again&#8230;and this is a good thing.
As everyone knows, on March 27th, 2015, the Court of Cassation definitively acquitted me and Raffaele Sollecito of the murder of Meredith Kercher, per non aver commesso il fatto—for not having committed the act.
/thread
— Amanda Knox (@amandaknox) <a href="https://twitter.com/amandaknox/status/1712816515136032901?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Amanda Knox

Amanda Knox On Trial Again In Italy – This Time To Finally Clear Her Name Of Slander

Amanda Knox On Trial Again In Italy - This Time To Finally Clear Her Name Of Slander

Italy

World

Even prison inmates received COVID relief funds, but while most inmates spent theirs at the commissary, Ricky Dority spent his to hire a private investigator to prove he did not commit murder.
Dority, 65, <a href="https://www.4029tv.com/article/oklahoma-man-found-guilty-of-first-degree-murder-in-1997-homicide-case/4956661" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was convicted</a> in 2015 of the 1997 murder of 28-year-old Mitchell Nixon. The cold case had been reopened in 2014, and a man named Rex Robbins confessed to the crime while implicating Dority. Andrea Miller, the legal director of the Oklahoma Innocence Project, told the Associated Press that Robbins’ confession was coerced.
At the time of Robbins’ confession, Dority was in federal prison for a firearms conviction but believed he couldn’t be convicted of the murder he didn’t commit. He also found paperwork showing he had been arrested on the day Nixon was killed.
“I thought I was clear because I knew I didn’t have anything to do with that murder,” Dority told the AP. “But they tried me for it and found me guilty of it.”
Dority was convicted based on Robbins’ confession and a police informant claiming Dority had changed out of bloody clothes at his house on the night of Nixon’s murder. Dority was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
During the pandemic, when relief checks were sent to Americans, Dority used his money to hire Bobby Staton, a private investigator who mostly looked into insurance fraud. Staton agreed to look into the case and quickly discovered issues with Dority’s conviction. Staton reached out to the Oklahoma Innocence Project, and the case was assigned to law student Abby Brawner.
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Brawner and Staton visited Robbins at prison, and he recanted his claim that Dority had been involved in Nixon’s murder. The two investigators also learned that the police informant who claimed Dority changed bloody clothes at his house didn’t live at the address where he said the change occurred, and that this fact wasn’t discovered by Dority’s original attorney. This led to a judge ruling that Dority had ineffective counsel during his trial and gave prosecutors 90 days to decide whether or not to retry him.
Prosecutors were able to extend the 90 days and will once again request more time to test DNA.
In the meantime, Dority is out of prison and living on a five-acre property in the Arkansas River Valley. He told the AP he’s not worried about DNA testing since he knows he’s innocent.
Assistant District Attorney James Dunn, who is overseeing the reinvestigation into Dority’s case, told the AP he agreed with the judge who ruled in Dority’s favor.
“The last thing I want to see is an innocent person in prison for a crime they didn’t commit,” Dunn told the outlet. “Because that means the person who actually did commit the crime, or those persons, are still out there.”

An Oklahoma Man Serving A Life Sentence Used COVID Relief Funds To Prove His Innocence

Oklahoma

<div class="user-pass-wrap">
<div class="wp-pwd">
A Massachusetts man convicted in 1993 for a murder that occurred in 1985 has been granted a new trial after DNA evidence provided doubt about his guilt.
Thomas Rosa was convicted of killing 18-year-old Gwendolyn Taylor following three separate trials – one mistrial and one overturned conviction before a third and final conviction in 1993, <a href="https://www.newenglandinnocence.org/innocence-blog/2020/10/19/thomas-rosa-freed-from-prison-after-34-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the New England Innocence Project</a> (NEIP). Rosa spent 34 years in prison before being released on October 15, 2020, following a judge’s order that he be freed while the Massachusetts Superior Court considers his motion for a new trial.
On September 6, Suffolk Superior Court Justice Michael Ricciuti issued a ruling that vacated Rosa’s original conviction but left the possibility for a new trial.
&#8220;Under a confluence of evidence analysis, the new DNA evidence and modern eyewitness science warrant a new trial,&#8221; the decision says, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/thomas-rosa-murder-conviction-vacated-1993-new-trial-evidence-questioned-massachusetts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to CBS News</a>.
District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/09/08/metro/judge-orders-new-trial-chelsea-man-who-maintained-his-innocence-more-than-3-decades/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the Boston Globe that prosecutors are “reviewing the ruling and will announce our decision at a future date.”
&#8220;Rosa&#8217;s conviction, the result of the three trials and based on evidence that &#8216;far from overwhelming&#8217; &#8230; was based on two eyewitness identifications supported by blood typing, all of which has been called into question,&#8221; the decision said. &#8220;Because such evidence would be a real factor within jury deliberations, there was a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice sufficient to grant a new trial.&#8221;
Attorneys with the NEIP and Boston College Innocence Project previously argued for a new trial, to which Justice Frank Gaziano replied in his ruling that “the DNA evidence, if correct, in conjunction with the Defendant’s other claims, could well establish that ‘confluence of factors’ that would indicate that a new trial is required.”
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in 2020 helped Rosa get out of prison by filing a petition saying Rosa’s motion for postconviction relief had merit and that he presented no danger to the public. The motion also stated that Rosa, now in his 60s, had underlying health conditions that put him at risk if he were to contract COVID during the pandemic.
On Monday, Rosa’s attorneys held a press conference asking the DA’s office to drop the charges rather than put their client through another trial.
&#8220;We are hopeful that the District Attorney will now end this nightmare by dismissing all charges against Mr. Rosa,&#8221; attorney Radha Natajaran said in a statement released prior to the news conference. &#8220;There should be no fourth trial for this innocent man.&#8221;
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A new trial would be difficult for prosecutors to win, given that evidence from the original crime scene has been allegedly lost, including the weapon used to kill Taylor.
New DNA testing also showed no traces of Taylor’s DNA on a jacket taken from Rosa’s home during the investigation. That jacket was used as evidence during his original trials, with two eyewitnesses claiming they saw the killer wearing it.
Original tests on the jacket found evidence of Taylor’s blood type, but new testing excluded Rosa from the pool of potential DNA matches. Millions of people share similar blood types, so it is not an accurate test to determine someone’s guilt.
&#8220;The only remaining evidence was the testimony of two eyewitnesses who viewed the perpetrator at night for less than ten seconds under circumstances that we now know, based on numerous exonerations and research, create a high risk of misidentification,&#8221; the New England Innocence Project said in its press release before the news conference. That press release also alleged that an eyewitness against Rosa &#8220;described a scenario where the victim and assailant knew each other, but Mr. Rosa and the victim never knew each other.&#8221;
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Thomas Rosa

Massachusetts Man Convicted Of 1985 Murder Gets New Trial Following New DNA Evidence

Massachusetts

A man who spent seven years in prison for a rape he always insisted he didn’t commit has finally been exonerated by DNA testing.
Leonard Mack, 72, was convicted of rape and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon back in March 1976. He spent seven-and-a-half years in prison for the convictions, but has always maintained his innocence. Now, 47 years after his conviction, DNA testing has proved that he was wrongfully convicted – and pointed to the actual perpetrator.
The Innocence Project <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/news/hit-in-dna-database-proves-leonard-macks-innocence-after-47-years-of-wrongful-conviction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worked</a> with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit to review evidence from Mack’s conviction and used a DNA profile developed from the evidence, uploaded into state and local DNA databases, to find the real perpetrator. Mack’s wrongful conviction is the longest to be overturned based on DNA evidence.
DNA was not the only evidence to help exonerate Mack. Eyewitness misidentification also played a role, as well as misleading forensic testimony.
“I want to first thank God for this day,” Mack said after he was exonerated. “Next, I want to thank the Innocence Project. Today has been a long time coming. I lost seven-and-a-half years of my life in prison for a crime I did not commit and I have lived with this injustice hanging over my head for almost 50 years. It changed the course of my life — everything from where I lived to my relationship with my family. I never lost hope that one day &#8230; I would be proven innocent. Now the truth has come to light and I can finally breathe. I am finally free.”
On May 22, 1975, two 12th-grade girls were walking home from school in Greenburgh, New York, when a black man in his early 20s approached them with a gun. He ordered them not to scream and threatened to kill them before he blindfolded, gagged, and restrained the girls. He raped one and threatened them before he fled. The other girl broke free of her bindings and ran to a nearby school, where a teacher called the police. The girl who was raped managed to free herself and run home, where her sister also called the police.
A rape kit was collected and the Greenburgh Police Department told officers to be on the lookout for the suspect, who was described as having short hair, no beard, and a medium build. He was wearing a black hat with a white brim, a gold earring in his left ear, black pants, and a tan jacket.
About two-and-a-half hours later, a police officer pulled over Mack, who happened to be wearing a black fedora and had a gold earring in his left ear. Though Mack’s clothing didn’t match, the officer told him he matched the suspect’s description. Mack denied any involvement and said he had been with his girlfriend when the attack occurred, which she corroborated. Police searched Mack’s vehicle and found a .22 caliber handgun, similar to one listed as being used in the rape against the teen girl.
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Mack was arrested, and one of the victims was brought to the scene where he was handcuffed in order to identify him. She wasn’t sure, and asked the officers to move him into a position matching the suspect. When the officers did, she identified him as the assailant. She was then taken to the police station and shown seven photos of black men, including Mack. His photo, however, was different from the others, showing his face and clothing, along with a May 1975 calendar in the background. The victim chose his picture.
Later that evening, the girl was taken to the police station again and again asked to identify Mack, who was presented alone behind a one-way mirror instead of with a group of other black men.
The other victim, who was legally blind and unable to even tell the sex of a person who was standing more than 10 feet away, was given the same suggestive photo lineup and chose Mack’s photo. She did, however, say she couldn’t be sure that it was him. She was also shown Mack himself behind the one-way mirror, with the other victim present telling her “that’s him.” The victim asked to hear Mack’s voice, and identified him as the assailant.
At trial, three people provided an alibi for Mack during the afternoon of the crime. A defense expert testified that sperm found on the victim’s rape kit excluded Mack, since serological testing showed the assailant was blood type A and Mack was not. A state expert incorrectly testified that the victim herself may have been the source of this biological evidence.
Even though Mack had been forensically ruled out in 1976 – before DNA evidence even existed – it took nearly five decades for him to be exonerated using DNA testing.

Man Behind Bars

A Man Spent 7 Years In Prison For A Rape He Didn’t Commit. He Was Just Exonerated.

Leonard Mack Spent 7 Years In Prison For A Rape He Didn’t Commit. He Was Just Exonerated.

Rape

A judge in Tennessee has dismissed charges against a Chattanooga woman who was convicted in 2019 of murdering a man 10 years earlier – when she was just 13 years old.
Hamilton County Judge Amanda Dunn on Tuesday dismissed first-degree murder and aggravated robbery convictions for Angel Bumpass, now 28 and a mother of two who was preparing to enter nursing school when she was arrested in 2018. She <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/convicted-of-a-murder-she-allegedly-committed-when-she-was-13-angel-bumpass-now-gets-a-new-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was convicted</a> in 2019 of murdering Franklin Bonner, who was found tied to a table and chair in his home, apparently murdered during a robbery attempt.
&#8220;A conviction does not always mean justice,” Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp said after the charges were dismissed, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/chattanooga-murder-case-dismissed-angel-bumpass-cd92ef7f6beb5febc5a4fbaa814d820a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Associated Press</a>. “The way that Mr. Bonner was duct taped and killed in the ransacking of the home. In the state&#8217;s opinion, it is virtually impossible that a 13-year-old girl could have done this alone.&#8221;
At the time of Bonner’s murder, Angel would have been 13 years old, 5 feet tall, and just 80 pounds in weight. She told police she didn’t know anything about Bonner’s death and that she never met him or had been in his home.
Along with Angel, a man named Mallory Vaughn was arrested for Bonner’s murder, after his cousin – who was in federal prison for a bank robbery – claimed Vaughn had admitted to burglarizing Bonner’s home and binding the victim. The cousin later changed his story and said he had learned of the case through Detective Karl Fields, the original lead detective on the case who was later accused of sexually harassing a rape victim, tampering with evidence, and gross misconduct. The charges were dropped because of a lack of evidence.
Both Mallory Vaughn and Angel Bumpass said they didn’t know each other, yet they were tried together. The prosecution alleged that Angel’s fingerprints could only have been found on the duct tape if she was there when Bonner was killed; the defense argued that nine other fingerprints were also found on the duct tape and that Angel had been in school the day of the crime.
Angel was found guilty of a crime she allegedly committed when she was 13 years old and sentenced to life in prison, while Vaughn – who would have been 26 at the time of the murder –  was found not guilty.
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With one suspect found not guilty and another’s conviction overturned, DA Wamp said law enforcement would continue searching for the murderer.
“We know that there is at least one person responsible for this criminal offense who has not yet been located or identified as a suspect,” Wamp said. “It is my opinion that we must refocus our efforts on identifying the individual who did this.”

Judge Holding Gavel

Judge Dismisses Murder Conviction For Woman Who Allegedly Killed A Man When She Was 13

Tennessee

Three men convicted of murdering a 70-year-old woman in 1997 are hoping DNA results will get them new trials after maintaining their innocence for more than 20 years.
Derrick Chappell, 41; Morton Johnson, 43; and Samuel Grasty, 46, were all found guilty of second-degree murder in separate trials, the Delaware County Daily Times <a href="https://www.delcotimes.com/2023/07/23/3-convicted-in-1997-delaware-county-murder-seeking-new-trials/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Chappell and Grasty each received life sentences, while Johnson received 99 years in prison, which is essentially a life sentence.
At the time that 70-year-old Henrietta Nickens was murdered inside her one-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia, Chappell was 15, Grasty was 20, and Johnson was 18. A fourth teenager, 15-year-old Richard McElwee, turned the three in and took a plea deal for third-degree murder and conspiracy to robbery. He received a sentence of 6-12 years in prison.
But new DNA testing casts doubt that Chappell, Johnson, or Grasty were involved in the murder, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/07/23/dna-innocence-claim-pennsylvania-nickens/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Attorneys for the three men have said that recent DNA testing found none of the convicted men’s DNA on the victim. In fact, the DNA results suggested that an unknown man was solely responsible for the crime.
Nickens was brutally beaten to death during a violent struggle, yet no DNA from Chappell, Grasty, Johnson, or McElwee was found in the victim’s apartment. Their DNA was also not found on a green jacket left at the scene, believed to be the only physical evidence to link them to the crime, the Post reported.
Attorneys for the men told the Post that the DNA evidence points to an alternate suspect, whose DNA was found in multiple places around the crime scene as well as on Nickens&#8217; bed, mixed with her own DNA. That DNA was also found on the green jacket and on a chewed straw in the jacket pocket. This genetic profile had been obtained in the late 1990s from a semen sample recovered from Nickens, which attorneys for the defendants argued must have come from a sexual assault since Nickens had no boyfriend and was not in good health.
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So far, no one has been identified as the source of this DNA.
“We now have the DNA evidence that really shows this was done by one unknown person,” Pennsylvania Innocence Project attorney Nilam Sanghvi told the Post. “The defendants have been excluded from everything. The notion that [the] four … could somehow commit this crime without leaving a trace of their DNA seems absurd.”
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer has opposed a motion to vacate the convictions, arguing in a brief that the DNA tests wouldn’t have changed the outcomes of the defendant’s trials.
“Absent compelling evidence of innocence, the trial court’s verdict should not be disturbed,&#8221; Stollsteimer wrote. &#8220;The postconviction DNA evidence is neither compelling nor is it evidence of innocence.”

African American in Prison

DNA Suggests Three Men Were Wrongfully Convicted Of A 1997 Murder

Philadelphia

The Maryland Supreme Court this week said it would review the case of Adnan Syed, who had charges dropped against him in October after spending more than 20 years in prison for the murder of his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee.
After being released from prison and having his conviction vacated in September, Syed abruptly had his conviction reinstated after Young Lee, the victim’s brother, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/victims-family-wants-murder-conviction-reinstated-against-adnan-syed-after-he-was-released-from-prison">argued</a> that he and his family weren’t properly notified of the September 19, 2022, hearing that resulted in Syed’s release and only received an email about the hearing three days before it took place. Young Lee <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hae-min-lees-family-demands-appellate-court-reinstate-murder-convictio-rcna68792">told</a> NBC News that he was not able to travel to Maryland on such short notice as he lived and worked in California. In February, the Lee family asked an appellate court to reinstate the murder conviction against Syed.
That appellate court, in a 2-1 decision, ruled that a lower court had violated the victim’s family’s right to attend a critical hearing about vacating Syed’s conviction, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/28/adnan-syed-conviction-reinstated/">reported</a>. The appellate court ordered the hearing be held again, which “results in the reinstatement of the original convictions and sentence,” the court wrote.
The Maryland Supreme Court will now review the appellate panel’s decision, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/06/28/adnan-syed-md-supreme-court/">reported</a>.
“We respect and we honor the fact that Hae’s family suffers so much, and we just wished that they could get the answers that they can have,” Syed told the outlet. “We just hope that the court also recognizes that our family suffers, too.”
An attorney for Syed, Erica Suter, also stated that Lee’s family didn’t have the right to play any kind of active role in the hearing that led to Syed’s release.
“What the victim has is a right of information and a right to not be caught off-guard as to what is happening,” Suter told judges. “This is not an environment in which their impact should be influencing the court’s decision.”
Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn decided to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/adnan-syed-subject-of-hit-serial-podcast-released-from-prison-conviction-overturned">overturn Syed’s murder conviction</a> in September after the popular “Serial” podcast raised doubts about his guilt. Prosecutors had revealed there were other suspects, as well as concerns about the evidence used against him. A year-long investigation involving prosecutors and Suter, Syed’s attorney, discovered that authorities knew of at least one alternate suspect prior to Syed’s trial but withheld the information from his defense. This, the prosecutors and Suter argued, was known as a Brady violation.
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Hae Min Lee was 18 years old when she was found strangled to death and buried in Leakin Park near Baltimore, Maryland, the Sun reported. Syed, Lee’s ex-boyfriend who was 17 at the time of her killing, allegedly argued with her in a car before strangling her to death. Prosecutors alleged Syed committed the murder because he couldn’t handle Lee breaking up with him.
Syed, however, has always maintained his innocence, and his attorney argued that he may not have spent 23 years in prison if prosecutors hadn’t withheld evidence.
“If that evidence had been disclosed, perhaps Adnan would not have missed his high school graduation, or his pre-med plans, or 23 years of birthdays, holidays, family gatherings, community events, and everyday moments of joy,” Suter said.
The appellate court panel ruled that its decision wouldn’t go into effect for 60 days to allow both parties “time to assess how to proceed in response to this Court’s decision.”

Adnan Syed

Maryland Supreme Court Will Hear ‘Serial’ Podcast Subject’s Case After Murder Conviction Reinstated

Maryland Supreme Court Will Hear 'Serial' Podcast Subject's Case After Murder Conviction Reinstated

Maryland

A California man convicted of attempted murder in 1990 has been declared innocent and released from prison.
Daniel Saldana, 55, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for allegedly shooting into a car containing six teenagers who were just leaving a high school football game on October 27, 1989. Two of the students were injured but survived, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said in <a href="https://da.lacounty.gov/media/news/district-attorney-gasc-n-announces-exoneration-man-custody-over-33-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a press release</a>. Two people were said to have been the shooters, mistaking the teens for gang members.
Even though it was believed two people were the shooters, Saldana and two others were charged with six counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle, the district attorney’s office said. Saldana, who was 22 at the time of the shooting and working full time as a construction worker, was convicted and sentenced to 45 years to life in state prison.
In 2017, one of the other men convicted of the crime said at his parole hearing that Saldana wasn’t involved in any way and wasn’t present for the shooting, according to the DA’s office. A former deputy district attorney who was present at the hearing reportedly did not share the information with Saldana or his attorney.
That information was finally shared with the DA’s office in February 2023, and the district attorney’s office launched an official investigation. The office’s Conviction Integrity Unit prioritized their investigation, and after a “thorough investigation,” along with an investigation by the DA’s office with the Baldwin Park Police Department, it was determined that Saldana had not committed the crime.
“As prosecutors, our duty is not simply to secure convictions but to seek justice. When someone is wrongfully convicted, it is a failure of our justice system and it is our responsibility to right that wrong. We owe it to the individual who was wrongfully convicted and to the public that justice is served,” Los Angeles District Attorney Gascón said in a statement.
At a press conference on Thursday, Saldana and Gascón discussed the exoneration, with Saldana saying he was grateful to those who set him free.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a struggle, every day waking up knowing you&#8217;re innocent and here I am locked up in a cell, crying for help,&#8221; Saldana said, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/daniel-saldana-california-man-cleared-shooting-freed-33-years-prison/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to CBS News</a>.
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Gascón also apologized to Saldana and his family.
&#8220;I know that this won&#8217;t bring you back the decades you endured in prison,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But I hope our apology brings some small comfort to you as you begin your new life.&#8221;
Gascón did not elaborate on what evidence concluded Saldana was innocent, and his office didn’t respond to a Daily Wire request for more information prior to press time.

Daniel Saldana

He Spent 33 Years In Prison For A Crime He Didn’t Commit. He Was Just Declared Innocent And Freed.

He Spent 33 Years In Prison For A Crime He Didn't Commit. He Was Just Declared Innocent And Freed.

California

George Gascon

A Baltimore man convicted of murder in 1992 was finally exonerated after evidence showed the two witnesses who testified against him were unreliable.
In 1991, two people claimed to have witnessed Anthony Hall chasing a man down an alley – a man who ended up shot and killed. The first witness, Nancy Hill, said she had been out walking with her five children on the night of the murder and that the victim of the crime, who has not been named, ran past her and knocked down one of her kids, <a href="https://exonerate.org/anthony-hall-finally-exonerated/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project</a>.
Nancy said that two men carrying weapons then ran past her, one of whom she identified as Anthony Hall even though the man’s face was obscured by a hoodie. She said she knew Hall from the neighborhood, which is how she was able to identify him.
The second eyewitness, Gerald Patterson, told police he had been driving by the scene of the crime when he heard gunshots and saw three men running across the street. One of the men, Patterson said, was carrying a weapon. He said Hall was that man.
Hall was convicted based solely on these two eyewitnesses, MAIP reported, but even the victim’s brother thought Hall was innocent.
MAIP obtained the police file decades after Hall had been convicted and learned that there were multiple eyewitnesses, including one who was adamant that Hall was not one of the perpetrators and two others who gave descriptions that did not match Hall. Additional undisclosed witnesses informed police of an alternative suspect whose description matched the one given by other witnesses and who had a motive to commit the crime.
It was also discovered that Patterson, one of the named eyewitnesses, initially told police that he arrived at the scene 10 to 15 minutes after the shooting had occurred. A passenger in his car had confirmed this timeline, but this information was never disclosed to Hall’s defense attorney.
After years of working on the case, MAIP was finally able to talk to witnesses, two of whom were in Patterson’s car the night he claimed to have seen Hall running across the street. They confirmed they had arrived sometime after the shooting and never saw any perpetrators. In 2022, Patterson admitted that he never saw the shooting and only gave Hall’s name because he had been arrested on drug charges and police were allegedly threatening him.
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In March, Patterson and the other witnesses who denied Hall was involved testified at a hearing for Hall’s petition for a writ of actual innocence. Hall had been on parole since 2017 but was still fighting to completely clear his name.
Prosecutors tried to argue that Hall hadn’t met the standard for actual innocence because Nancy Hill’s testimony hadn’t been challenged, but the judge rejected the argument and granted Hall’s petition.

He Spent 25 Years In Prison For A Murder He Didn’t Commit. He Was Just Fully Exonerated.

He Spent 25 Years In Prison For A Murder He Didn't Commit. He Was Just Fully Exonerated.

Baltimore

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