Another case for banning the death penalty

A few days ago, Anthony Graves called his mother and asked what she was cooking for dinner. She asked why he wanted to know. He said, "Because I'm coming home."

Maybe it sounds like an unremarkable exchange. But Anthony Graves had spent 18 years behind bars, 12 of them on death row, for the 1992 murder of an entire family, including four young children, in the Texas town of Somerville. It wasn't until that day, Oct. 27, that the district attorney's office finally accepted what he'd been saying for almost two decades: He is innocent.

So the news that Graves would be home for dinner was the very antithesis of unremarkable. His mother, he told a news conference the next day, couldn't believe it. "I couldn't believe I was saying it," he added.

Graves' release came after his story appeared in Texas Monthly magazine. The article by Pamela Colloff detailed how he was convicted even though no physical evidence tied him to the crime, even though he had no motive to kill six strangers, even though three witnesses testified he was home at the time of the slaughter.

The case against Graves rested entirely on jailhouse denizens who claimed they'd heard him confess and on Robert Carter, who admitted committing the crime, but initially blamed Graves. Carter, executed in 2000, recanted that claim repeatedly, most notably to District Attorney Charles Sebesta the day before Sebesta put him on the stand to testify against Graves. Defense attorneys say Sebesta never shared that exculpatory tidbit with them, even though he was required to do so.

Colloff's story drew outraged media attention, including from yours truly. But the attention that mattered was that of the current DA, Bill Parham, who undertook his own investigation. He was unequivocal in explaining his decision to drop the charges. "There's not a single thing that says Anthony Graves was involved in this case," he said. "There is nothing."

One hopes people who love the death penalty are taking note. So often, their arguments in favor of that barbarous frontier relic seem to take place in some alternate universe where cops never fabricate evidence and judges never make mistakes, where lawyers are never inept and witnesses never commit perjury. So often, they behave as if in this one critical endeavor, unlike in every other endeavor they undertake, human beings somehow get it right every time.

I would not have convicted Anthony Graves of a traffic violation on the sort of evidence Sebesta offered. Yet somehow, a jury in Texas convicted him of murder and sent him off to die.

When you pin them on it, people who love the death penalty often retreat into sophistic nonsense. Don't end the death penalty, someone once told me, just enact safeguards to ensure the innocent are never sentenced to die.

Yeah, right. Show me the safeguard that guarantees perfection.

Those who propose to tinker with the death penalty until it is foolproof remind me of the addict attempting to negotiate with his addiction, desperately proffering minor concessions that will allow him to continue indulging in this thing that is killing him.

But there comes a day when you simply have to kick the habit.

As a nation, we are stubbornly addicted to the death penalty, strung out on exacting retribution and calling it justice. Even though we know innocent men and women have surely died as a result.

Or, like Anthony Graves, been robbed of irreplaceable years. He was 26 when he was arrested. He is 45 now. When he made that call home to his mother, he borrowed his lawyer's cell phone.

The lawyer had to show him how to use it.

LEONARD PITTS JR. is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla. 33132. Write to him at lpitts@miamiherald.com .

Maryland Man Pressed for DNA Test and Made History

I have met Kirk Bloodsworth many times he is an amazing man with an amazing story.

This week marks the seventeenth anniversary of Maryland fisherman Kirk Bloodsworth’s exoneration. In 1985, Bloodsworth was charged and convicted of the rape and murder of a nine year old girl. A 1992 DNA test proved his innocence after he had incorrectly served eight years in prison, two of which he spent on death row.

In July of 1984, a nine-year old girl was found dead having been brutally raped, strangled, and beaten. The police received an anonymous call; the caller claimed that Bloodsworth was seen with the victim on the day of the crime. A police sketch was constructed based on the descriptions of five eyewitnesses, all of who later testified during the trial that they had each seen Bloodsworth with the victim. He matched the witnesses’ descriptions. Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted and sentenced to death.

In Bloodsworth’s appeals, the bulk of the prosecution’s case was challenged. The appellate court overturned his conviction and he was awarded a retrial. Unfortunately, hewas convicted again, this time receiving two life sentences.

In 1992 DNA testing was no longer the nascent technology it had been at the time of Bloodsworth’s original trial, but it was still uncommon. Bloodsworth pressed for a test of the semen sample on the victim’s underwear that had been recovered at the scene of the crime, contacting Attorney Robert E. Morin about the idea. Morin paid the $10,000 out of his own pocket to have the test conducted. A year later, the results came back. The semen on the victim’s underwear was not Bloodsworth’s. He was innocent.

Bloodsworth was freed in June of 1993, going down in history as the first person sentenced to death and then exonerated through DNA testing. Since his exoneration, 16 more former death row prisoners have been exonerated through DNA testing. It was Bloodsworth, and his attorney Robert E. Morin, who led the way to freedom.

After his exoneration, Bloodsworth joined with author Tim Junkin to write a memoir: “Bloodsworth: The True
Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA. Buy it on Amazon.com here.

Last week Ken Wyniemko celebrated 7 years of Freedom

Ken was release in large part because of the work of the Thomas M. Cooley Innocence Project where I work.

Wisconsin Exoneree is Compensated with Only $25K After Spending Over a Decade Behind Bars, Demonstrating the Need for State Compensation Reforms

Michigan currently has a bill in the legislature that would provide compensation for innocence people who serve time in prison. This bill should be passed even though the state has NO money. It is a matter of simple justice. The system failed these people in the worst way. Most of those exonerated who do not get compensation have a very hard time picking up the pieces and getter on with their life.

Chaunte Ott served more than 12 years in Wisconsin prisons for a murder he didn’t commit before DNA testing obtained by the Wisconsin Innocence Project proved his innocence and led to his release in early 2009. The post-conviction DNA testing on evidence found on Payne showed that someone else committed the crime.

This week, the state Claims Board has awarded Ott with $25,000 to compensate him for being wrongfully convicted of murdering 16-year-old Jessica Payne – a sum far less than what he is entitled to and an amount wholly inadequate to compensate for his years of suffering.

And Ott is not the only one. Statistics show that 81% of the first 240 DNA exonerees who have been compensated under state laws similar to Wisconsin’s received far less than the federal standard created through the Innocence Protection Act of 2004, which is $50,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment and $100,000 per year on death row.

Wisconsin law states that a wrongfully convicted person "who did not by his or her act or failure to act contribute to bring about the conviction and imprisonment for which he or she seeks compensation" can receive a maximum of $25,000, including attorneys fees, as long as the claimant did not contribute to or bring about conviction. The Claims Board may petition legislature for additional funds.

Months after Ott was exonerated, investigators matched the same sample along with DNA from eight other murders to Walter Ellis. Ellis was charged with seven of those murders, but has yet to be charged for murdering Payne. Two of the murders were committed after Ott was arrested.

Court to hear Texas death row inmate DNA case

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether a Texas death row inmate can use a civil rights law to require that the state test DNA evidence he says could prove his innocence in a triple murder.

U.S.

The justices agreed to hear Henry Skinner's appeal. On March 24, they granted him a stay about an hour before his scheduled execution to give them more time to decide whether to take up his case.

In an order issued Monday, the Supreme Court said it decided to rule on the issue presented by his case. Arguments are expected to be heard in the upcoming term that begins in October.

Skinner's lawyers maintain that his rights under the civil rights law were violated by authorities' refusal to grant DNA testing after his conviction.

In the United States, post-conviction DNA testing has exonerated more than 250 people, including 17 prisoners who served time on death row, according to a group called the Innocence Project.

Skinner was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of his girlfriend and her two adult sons on New Year's Eve in 1993 in the small town of Pampa, Texas. He has always maintained his innocence.

Skinner's attorneys are seeking DNA testing of key evidence from the crime scene, including a bloody towel, two knives and a man's windbreaker, and swabs from a rape kit.

Skinner's lawyer at trial did not seek the DNA testing. His attorneys who have been handling his appeals have sought the DNA tests for 10 years, but the state has refused to grant the request.

U.S. courts rejected Skinner's request for the DNA tests on the grounds it cannot be pursued under the federal civil rights law, but must be brought under what is known as a federal habeas challenge.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that convicted criminals do not have a constitutional right to demand that the state conduct DNA testing of evidence. But that case did not involve a death row inmate seeking to prove his innocence.

Prosecutors at trial presented the results of some DNA tests that showed Skinner's presence at the crime scene, which also was his place of residence.

Wrongly Convicted L.A. Man Is Released From Prison

LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles man who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a 1994 murder and attempted robbery in South Los Angeles is a free man today.

Los Angeles based California Innocence Project, which helped get him released, says Reggie Deshawn Cole had been in prison for 14 years.

On March 27, 1994, Felipe Angeles was murdered during a robbery in South Los Angeles. Largely based on the false statement of an alleged eyewitness, Los Angeles police arrested Cole, who was found guilty and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

He maintained his innocence throughout his trial and incarceration, according to the California Innocence Project, based at California Western School of Law in San Diego.

Hit man told police 'wrong guy' caught in 4 deaths

DETROIT (AP) - A Detroit teenager trying to erase his guilty plea in four killings may get a lift from the testimony of a police officer who talked to a self-described hit man about the case.

Sgt. Gerald Williams testified Thursday in Wayne County court. He says Vincent Smothers told him authorities had the "wrong guy" in four fatal shootings in a Detroit drug den.

Davontae Sanford was 15 when he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2008. A judge is holding hearings on whether the 17-year-old may withdraw the plea.

Sanford's lawyer says he took responsibility for the Runyon Street killings to please adults.

Smothers is awaiting trial in eight homicides. Police say he confessed to the Runyon killings in 2008 but hasn't been charged.

Alaska Enacts DNA Access Law

On Friday, Alaska became the 48th U.S. state to enact a law granting post-conviction DNA access to prisoners seeking to overturn wrongful convictions. After passing the state’s House and Senate with unanimous support, the measure was signed into law by Gov. Sean Parnell on May 14. Only Massachusetts and Oklahoma now lack DNA access laws.

The new Alaska law is the result of years of work by a coalition of advocates, including the Alaska Innocence Project and the Innocence Project. It allows prisoners to apply for DNA testing in cases where it has the potential to prove innocence, and if testing is granted it will be paid for by the state. The new law also requires the state to preserve biological evidence from crime scenes as long as defendant is in prison (or for 50 years in unsolved crimes).

The full text of the bill is here.

Lawmakers and legal groups are actively seeking post-conviction DNA access legislation in Massachusetts, one of the last two states without such a law. Late last year, the Boston Bar Association released a report calling on the state to pass a law providing DNA access in cases where it can prove innocence.

Suspect in 1984 murder went on 'reign of terror'

Innocence Project identified suspect

A man who is now suspected in a 1984 murder - but who remained free at the time after another man was sent to prison - went on a "reign of terror" shortly after the slaying and beat a man to death seven years later, court records show.

The case shows how devastating a wrongful conviction can be, said Byron Lichstein, an attorney with the Wisconsin Innocence Project.

"There's a public safety aspect to these wrongful convictions," Lichstein said Wednesday. "When there's a wrongful conviction, the person wrongly convicted isn't the only one who suffers."

The Innocence Project, saying it has new DNA evidence and a signed confession, has identified Moses Price Jr. as being responsible for the 1984 murder of Ione Cychosz of Milwaukee.

Cychosz, 62, was a neighbor of Robert Lee Stinson, who spent 23 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of her murder.

Stinson was freed last year when the Innocence Project produced evidence showing that DNA and bite marks found on Cychosz could not have come from Stinson.

Now, the University of Wisconsin Law School program says it has evidence showing that the DNA recovered from Cychosz's clothing belongs to Price, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence for the 1991 murder of a Milwaukee man and other crimes.

Milwaukee County Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern said his office has a new suspect in Cychosz's murder, but he would not identify the suspect. He said he expects his office will decide before the end of the month whether to file new charges.

It is not known whether police investigated Price as a potential suspect in Cychosz's murder, but it is clear that he went on to rob, assault and kill.

Cychosz's body was found outside of her home on N. 7th St. by a neighbor on the morning of Nov. 3, 1984.

Her clothing and other personal items were scattered around the backyard and, although spermatozoa was found on her body, the number of cells was too few to help identify a suspect, according to court records.

Bite marks on Cychosz became the key evidence. Investigators arrested Stinson and said the marks could have come only from him.

Price remained free.

'Reign of terror'

On Dec. 2, 1984, a month after Cychosz's murder, Price went on a five-hour crime spree that a prosecutor called a "reign of terror."

A woman told police that while she was walking in the 1500 block of W. Hadley St. about 4:30 a.m., she was approached by Price, who pointed a knife at her and threatened to kill her.

Price took $50 from her and raped her on the playground outside of Hopkins Street School, according to a criminal complaint.

Another woman told police that about 9 a.m. that day Price confronted her with a knife at N. Teutonia and W. North avenues and threatened to kill her. He stole two purses, cash, her arthritis medicine and other items, the criminal complaint says.

Authorities said Price also committed four other armed robberies that day. But he was charged only with robbing the two women and with the rape, court records show.

In a plea bargain, the rape charge was dropped, and Price pleaded guilty to the armed two robberies.

At Price's sentencing in January 1985, his attorney said Price gave no explanation for his crimes, but she hoped that, at 24, he would mature, take care of his drinking problem and that "there has to be some light at the end of the tunnel."

Prison sentences

Price was sentenced to eight years in prison.

That same month, a jury found Stinson, then 20, guilty of Cychosz's murder. He was later sentenced to life in prison.

Price didn't speak to the judge, Ralph Gorenstein, during his sentencing.

But court records show that two months later, in March 1985, he wrote Gorenstein, saying "all I was trying to do was have some kind of contact with people and the liquor is what trigger me to have it in such a way, not that I was willfully trying to hurt people or break the law."

After 5 1/2 years in prison, Price was released in the summer of 1990. On Nov. 2, 1991, according to court records, he beat Eddie Hanson to death with a cordless phone and other objects, then set Hanson's north side home on fire, later confessing to the crimes.

At Price's sentencing in March 1992, one of Hanson's sisters, Mary Galway, told Price: "Get Christ in your life, so when you do come out, that you can lean on Christ and you will not have any problems."

This time, Price spoke to the judge, Victor Manian, saying:

"The thing that happened shouldn't have happened, but it wasn't like I'm going there just to kill somebody. We got in an argument, the man threw a phone (at me), we got to fighting. It happened. I'm more sorrier than anybody."

Price is serving a 35-year prison sentence for the Hanson homicide and related crimes.

He is eligible for parole in 2017, according to the state Department of Corrections.

***

Timeline

Nov. 3, 1984: Ione Cychosz is found dead by a neighbor in a backyard area near her Milwaukee home.

Dec. 2, 1984: A woman told police that while she was walking in the 1500 block of W. Hadley St. about 4:30 a.m. she was approached by Moses Price Jr., who pointed a knife at her and threatened to kill her. Price took $50 from her and raped her on the playground outside of Hopkins Street School. Another woman told police that about 9 a.m. Price robbed her with a knife at N. Teutonia and W. North avenues and threatened to kill her.

January 1985: Price is sentenced after pleading guilty to the two armed robbery charges in exchange for the rape charge being dropped.

The same month, Robert Lee Stinson is found guilty by a jury in Cychosz's murder. He is later sentenced to life in prison.

March 24, 1985: In a letter to the judge who sentenced him for the December 1984 crimes, Price said he thinks he committed the crimes because "all I was trying to do was have some kind of contact with people and the liquor is what trigger me to have it in such a way, not that I was willfully trying to hurt people or break the law."

Summer 1990: Price is released from prison.

Nov. 2, 1991: Eddie Hanson, 50, is found dead by a firefighter who was battling a blaze at Hanson's home, on N. 27th St.

March 9, 1992: Having previously pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide, arson and theft, Price is sentenced to 35 years in prison.

January 2009: Stinson is released from prison after the Wisconsin Innocence Project presents DNA and bite-mark evidence excluding him as a suspect in Cychosz's murder.

July: District attorney's office announces it won't put Stinson on trial again in Cychosz's murder.

May: Innocence Project announces that new DNA evidence from Cychosz's clothing matches Price and that Price has signed a confession admitting that he killed her.

Wrongful Convictions Clinic client released from prison

Duke Law students and faculty welcomed the release of Shawn Giovanni Massey after 12 years of incarceration for crimes he didn’t commit.

Massey, a client of the Law School’s Wrongful Conviction Clinic, was released from the Maury Correctional Institution in Maury, N.C., on Thursday, after Mecklenburg County District Attorney Peter Gilchrist ’65 secured a Superior Court order vacating his conviction on multiple counts of second-degree kidnapping, as well as one count each of felonious breaking and entering and robbery with a dangerous weapon. Incarcerated since his May 1998 arrest for the crimes against a Charlotte woman and her two young children, Massey, 37, had two years left to serve on his sentence.

Clinic co-directors James Coleman and Theresa Newman picked Massey up from prison and took him to Charlotte where he was reunited with his jubilant family. Coleman, Newman, and Kim Kisabeth ’07, a fellow with Duke’s Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility, have worked with numerous other students, alumni, and friends for more than four years to build their argument that Massey was a victim of erroneous eyewitness identification.

Their case turned on the perpetrator’s hair style and weight, two key issues at Massey’s trial. On noting his resemblance to her attacker in a series of photos, the victim told the police that he lacked her attacker’s cornrow braids. She made the same observation on seeing him in person for the first time prior to the start of his trial, and also observed that he had a lighter complexion and weighed less than her attacker. These observations, and photo notations uncovered years later by Duke students investigating the case, were not passed on to Massey’s trial lawyer.

“We believe the evidence is clear that Shawn is innocent and this was an erroneous eyewitness identification,” said Coleman, the John S. Bradway Professor of the Practice of Law. “We think when the victim identified him at trial she did so in good faith, but we think she made a mistake. She confirmed to us that the person who committed the crime had cornrows. We are certain that Shawn did not have cornrows at the time — he couldn’t have had cornrows. And we presented evidence to the district attorney that supports that.” Coleman credits the victim for her willingness to meet with Kisabeth and others to discuss her identification of Massey during their investigation of the case.

For Kisabeth, who first worked on Massey’s case as a student enrolled in the Wrongful Convictions Clinic, it was a joy to call Massey in prison to tell him he would be released within hours. “He was thrilled,” she said. “This has been a long time coming and I think he was speechless. His initial reaction was excitement at getting to reunite with his grandmother and with his aunts and especially to be able to see his son, Dantrez, who is now a junior in high school.” It was equally thrilling to tell his aunt and grandmother to expect him home, she said.

“Both of them just started crying as soon as I gave them the news. [His aunt] started praying and thanking God for making this happen — and thanking Duke for making this happen.”

Three teams of Wrongful Convictions Clinic students worked on Massey’s case: Kisabeth and Aleksandra Kopec ’07; Susan Pourciau ’09 and Emily Sauter ’09; and Jessica Neiterman ’09 and Toby Coleman ’10. Last fall, Pourciau joined Kisabeth in Georgia to interview the victim about her identification of Massey as her attacker. As the case neared a resolution, the clinic also enlisted the assistance of Tommy Holderness and Adam Doerr ’06, a partner and associate, respectively, at Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson in Charlotte.

“These cases really do take a village,” said Jim Coleman. “This is an effort that a lot of people worked on. And I think all of them contributed something that was important to the result.”

Kisabeth recalled her first meeting with Massey, during her student days, as being her first lawyer-client interaction — and her first ever visit to a prison. “It was a great learning experience. And having that experience under Jim and Theresa’s leadership was wonderful,” she said. “Having been so invested in this case as a student, I was excited for the opportunity to come back as a fellow and build on the work that the other students had done. They did amazing work on this case.”

Taking in the reaction of Massey’s aunt and grandmother to news of his release offered another lesson, she added.

“I think it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the legal system impacts people, and this is really about people.”

Man freed after nearly 29 years for rape he didn't commit

The judge who set Ray Towler free tearfully wished him well with an Irish blessing.

His attorneys handed him $1,500 in credit cards to buy whatever he needed.

The media gave him more than ample opportunity to spew venom at a justice system that locked him away for nearly 29 years for a rape he didn't commit.

But all Towler really wanted yesterday, on his first day of freedom, was to eat big slices of gooey pizza and hug a small group of family and friends.

"I know some people might expect me to feel bitter about this, but I feel blessed, truly blessed, to have this chance at life," said the 52-year-old Cleveland native between bites of cheese, pepperoni, sausage and green peppers. "I just wanted the sun to come up this morning, and it did. And it was nice to walk in the sunshine outside the prison walls."

The soft-spoken Towler, who was proved innocent by DNA testing, was declared a free man yesterday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court by Judge Eileen A. Gallagher and officially released from the Grafton Correctional Institution.

Towler, wearing a neat black sweater and slacks instead of his tan prison uniform, didn't stop beaming from the time he entered the courtroom.

At the end of the 10-minute hearing, Gallagher cried as she read the blessing to Towler:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And may God hold you in the palm of His hand now and forever.

She then stepped around the bench to shake Towler's hand and was greeted with nothing but smiles from the wrongly convicted man.

"Mr. Towler, you are free to go," the judge said.

Only a handful of the 253 men who have been exonerated nationally by DNA testing have served more time than Towler. Along with Columbus natives Robert McClendon and Joseph Fears Jr., Towler is the third man to be proved innocent in connection with a Dispatchinvestigation, "Test of Convictions."

The series, published in 2008 and available online at Dispatch.com/dna, exposed holes in the DNA testing system, helped spur testing for inmates such as Towler and led state lawmakers to pass sweeping legislation aimed at preventing more wrongful convictions.

"There have been many attorneys that have spoken up for Mr. Towler, but today, DNA testing spoke the loudest," said Towler's attorney, Carrie Wood, of the Ohio Innocence Project. "It speaks without bias."

Towler was serving 12 years to life for rape, felonious assault and kidnapping for an abduction on May 24, 1981. The victims, a 12-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy, said a man lured them into the woods at the Rocky River Reservation in Cuyahoga County. The victims could not be reached for comment. DNA testing proved that semen found in the girl's underwear didn't match Towler.

It didn't take Towler long to realize that the world has changed since he last walked free. He looked around the restaurant and saw almost everyone on a cell phone. There were no cell phones when Towler went to prison. They were invented in 1983.

There were no fax machines (1988), DVDs (1995), or World Wide Web (1989).

Towler hasn't been eligible to vote since 1980, when Ronald Reagan became the 40th president.

In sports, Gloria James was three years from giving birth to one of Towler's sports heroes, Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James.

He's never been to Cleveland Browns Stadium, which opened in 1999, or the Cavaliers' home, Quicken Loans Arena, or the Indians' Progressive Field, both of which opened in 1994.

"I know I've missed a lot, but that means I have a lot to look forward to," Towler said.

Towler plans to file a civil suit against the state, and he is likely to receive at least $1.4 million for being wrongly convicted. That figure could go much higher when lost wages are factored in.

But yesterday, he wasn't worrying about money.

He picked a casual pizza restaurant for his first meal as a free man because pizza was something his family could share. The store manager's eyes lit up when he saw the large group walk in about 10:30 a.m. Towler's family helped push together five tables and ordered six extra-large pies with the works. The Ohio Innocence Project picked up the tab.

Each person around the table took turns asking Towler questions about his future, not his days in prison. Towler told them that, for now, he plans to focus on his talents with the guitar, keyboard, trumpet and paintbrush. He plans to stay with his brother in Cleveland for a short time but is considering a move to either Cincinnati or New Orleans.

"We are all here for him and will support him no matter what," said Clarence Settles, Towler's brother. "None of us are angry; we just want Ray to enjoy the rest of his life."

Last night, Towler's first day of freedom grew even sweeter.

He had told The Dispatch on Tuesday that it was probably too much to ask to see LeBron James in person at a Cavaliers' playoff game.

But it wasn't. Tad Carper, Cavs vice president of communication, said yesterday that he would invite Towler and three guests to sit courtside for next week's playoff game in Cleveland against the Boston Celtics.

Towler at first thought it was a joke. But as it sunk in, he beamed with more joy than when he learned he was being released. He said he would take his brother, brother-in-law and niece.

"Now, that is what I call a homecoming present," he said.

An amazing moment at the Innocence Network Conference

The Innocence Network’s annual conference in Atlanta last month was the largest gathering of exonerated men and women in history, with at least 86 people who each served years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit. The one-minute video above captures the exonerees’ introduction at the beginning of the conference.

True Perpetrator on Cooley Innocence Project Case Sentenced

This is Ken Wyniemko. He was exonerated by the Cooley Innocence Project (where I work) in 2003. This is the often forgotten problem with wrongful convictions. It allows the true criminal to be free and continue to commit crimes. Gonser was not sentenced for the rape that Ken served time for because the statute of limitations had run and he could no longer be charged. If the police and prosecutor had not fabricated evidence to frame Ken they may have kept looking for the true perpetrator and find Gonser years ago.

Man who was wrongly imprisoned faces real rape suspect

Every day of the nine-plus years Kenneth Wyniemko sat behind bars for a rape he didn’t commit, he imagined the real culprit running free — and laughing at him.

“You don’t seem to be laughing now,” said Wyniemko, his voice shaky, as he turned to address for the first time the man who DNA evidence now indicates committed the 1994 assault.

Today, that man — 42-year-old Craig Gonser— was sentenced to 10-25 years in prison for an unrelated sex crime. By the time DNA evidence linked him to the 1994 rape for which Wyniemko had been convicted, the statute of limitations had expired, making it impossible for Macomb County prosecutors to charge him.

But prosecutors described the case in their efforts to have Gonser locked up for longer for being a longtime sexual deviant.

Speaking to the court, Gonser maintained his innocence despite Michigan State Police putting the odds of the DNA match not being correct in the quadrillions to one. He, like Wyniemko, was wrongly convicted, he said.

“All who desire to live godly will suffer,” he said in a prepared statement directed to “fellow Christians worldwide” that acknowledged previous misdeeds but denied the 1994 rape, as well as his most recent indecent exposure convictions.

“I am wrongly accused and wrongfully convicted,” he said. “I ask and plead for leniency.”

Circuit Judge David Viviano gave him none, describing Gonser’s rap sheet of crimes as “bizarre and disgusting” as he sentenced Gonser to more than double the 51-month minimum he faced. The deviation was allowed, in part, because Gonser pleaded no contest to being a sexual deviant, which allows latitude for heftier sentences.

Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Servitto said Gonser had a history of sex-related convictions dating back to 1992 that included masturbating in parking lots in front of women, groping women’s butts and masturbating in front of his 20-month-old daughter.

The most serious incident was the 1994 assault of a 28-year-old Clinton Township woman, who was repeatedly assaulted at razor point by a stranger who broke into her home. Wyniemko, incorrectly identified by the traumatized victim, was convicted and sentenced to 40-60 years in prison.

The victim in the case was prepared to testify to bolster prosecutors’ sexual deviancy case, Viviano said. She did not attend today’s hearing. It’s the policy of the Free Press not to identify victims of sex assaults.

In 1994, she told police that the rapist wore a stocking over his head, so she had only seen the bottom half of his face. After prodding, she identified Wyniemko in a lineup.

“I can only imagine how awful it must be to be physically and sexually violated by another person,” said Viviano, adding that part of the reason he allowed Gonser’s no contest plea was to avoid “making her relive this terrible ordeal again.” She would have had to testify to buttress the sexual deviancy argument.

Wyniemko, 58, won a $3.7-million settlement from Clinton Township. He was released from prison in 2003 with the help of the Innocence Project at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, which pushed for the DNA testing.

He said he waited 16 years to finally speak to the real culprit. His hands and voice quivering, he told Gonser that he believed the stress of his incarceration caused his father’s death while he was imprisoned.

“Each and every day that you’re in prison, I want you to think of my father,” he said.

Gonser’s lawyer, James Simasko, said the DNA evidence had been corrupted in its nine years in storage.

After Gonser was led away in shackles — headed to prison to wear the same uniform Wyniemko had donned for nearly a decade — Wyniemko said he felt “10 pounds lighter.”

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “I’ll sleep better tonight.”

Innocence in Japan

Japanese man formally acquitted after forced murder confession, 17 years in prison

(AP) — A Japanese court officially declared a man innocent Friday in the murder of a 4-year-old girl and offered a rare apology for a forced confession and wrongful conviction that kept him behind bars for more than 17 years.

Toshikazu Sugaya, 63, was serving a life sentence when new DNA tests last year showed his innocence. He was immediately released from a jail in Chiba, east of Tokyo.

Friday's verdict in his retrial, which opened in October, officially cleared Sugaya and confirmed that the flawed earlier DNA tests and a questionable investigation had pressured him into making a false confession.

"I won an immaculate innocent ruling," Sugaya said. He waved to supporters as he walked out of the court and then broke down in tears. "I've been waiting so long for this day."

The case has prompted calls by rights groups and lawyers to speed up the introduction of full recordings of interrogations to prevent forced confessions and other problems. Japanese investigators have long been criticized for questioning suspects for lengthy periods without immediate access to lawyers.

"I feel deeply sorry as a judge that we failed to listen to Mr. Sugaya's true voice and as a result took away your freedom for 17 1/2 long years," presiding Judge Masanobu Sato said in the unusual apology at the end of the ruling. "As I realize the irreversible damage we have caused, I renew my commitment not to repeat the same mistake."

The other judges also stood up and bowed in apology to Sugaya, who later said he accepted their apology.

Local police and prosecutors apologized to Sugaya earlier.

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba told reporters she planned to study the possibility of full recordings of interrogations and improving analysis of DNA tests and other evidence.

Utsunomiya District Court spokesman Masahiko Otake said prosecutors would not appeal Friday's ruling, making it final.

Sugaya, then a kindergarten bus driver, was arrested in late 1991 in the murder of a 4-year-old girl in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, a year earlier. A local court sentenced him to life imprisonment in 1993, and Japan's top court rejected his appeal in 2000.

Sugaya was arrested based on the earlier DNA tests, but his lawyers repeatedly questioned the accuracy of the results and demanded new tests. The Tokyo High Court in 2008 approved new DNA tests which were conducted in January 2009.

The new test results did not match Sugaya with dried body fluid on the girl's clothing, contradicting the initial tests. No new suspect has been identified.

"The fog in my heart won't completely clear until the real culprit is caught," Sugaya said.

2 exonerated Conn. inmates held pending appeal

Prosecutors just can't let go of wrongful convictions. This happens over and over.

VERNON, Conn. — A Connecticut judge has ruled that two prison inmates whose convictions for a 1993 killing were overturned should be released but that the men can be kept in jail while prosecutors decide whether to appeal.

Judge Stanley Fuger ruled last week that 51-year-old Ronald Taylor and 48-year-old George Gould are innocent and threw out their murder convictions. His ruling came after a star witness recanted.

On Wednesday, Fuger said the two men will remain in prison for at least the 10-day period that prosecutors have to appeal the inmates' release.

Gould's lawyer told the judge the two men should be released in the interest of justice.

They've been in prison for 16 years since being convicted of killing New Haven shop owner Eugenio Deleon Vega

Superior Court Judge Stanley Fuger Jr. reversed the convictions of George Gould, left, and Ronald Taylor, the two New Haven men charged with the July 1993 slaying of bodega owner Eugenio DeLeon Vega.