|
Truth in Justice
Newsletter - February - March, 2006
RECENT CASES
Cedric Willis, 29, of
Jackson was freed after spending 12 years locked up
for a crime he didn't commit, a judge ruled.
Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie T. Green dismissed murder and armed
robbery charges against Willis after District Attorney Faye Peterson
made the motion.
"No one wants an innocent person in prison," Green said.
George
Pitt always said the only thing he was guilty of was having bad
friends,
and that the only thing prosecutors put on trial was his
lifestyle.
Now, 12 years after the New Brunswick (Canada) man, an admitted
alcoholic, was condemned to life in prison for the rape and murder of
his six-year-old
stepdaughter, authorities have finally tested key evidence from the
crime
scene and have found none of it matches his DNA.
After his amnesia
cleared in prison, Christopher Bennett, of Stark County,
Ohio, begged someone to test the blood on a van dashboard, sure it
would
prove he wasn't the driver in a fatal crash. The Ohio Innocence Project
listened,
and DNA tests, along with other evidence, convinced the Ohio Court of
Appeals
to unanimously reverse his conviction -- in spite of his guilty plea.
Alan Crotzer of Tampa, Florida
stepped into the warm sunlight outside the
courthouse and raised his arms to the sky, celebrating his freedom
after
more than 24 years behind bars for crimes he didn't commit.
A judge freed the 45-year-old Crotzer after DNA testing and other
evidence
convinced prosecutors he was not involved in the 1981 armed robbery and
rapes
that led to his 130-year prison sentence.
|
|
INNOCENT IMPRISONED
Shaun
Rodrigues
Shaun Rodrigues
claims he is innocent of a Manoa, Hawaii robbery that happened
in July, 2000. Robert Rees of the Honolulu Advertiser described
Rodrigues'
conviction:
"What we have here is an injustice illustrative of the dangers inherent
in eyewitness identifications without one iota of physical evidence.
The Rodrigues verdict is illustrative also of the danger of combining
overzealous
prosecutors, uninhibited either by a dearth of evidence or by sloppy
police
work, with a judge who may have allowed her subjective feeling about
the
credibility of witnesses to become a factor in determination of guilt."
But the Hawaii Supreme Court upheld his conviction, and he turned
himself
in on January 9, 2006.
|
Marty Tankleff
Fifteen years ago, Arlene Tankleff was
slashed across the throat and bludgeoned
to death, and her husband, Seymour, was mortally wounded in the middle
of
the night in their affluent Long Island home. Their son, Martin, 17,
confessed,
then recanted. But in 1990 he was convicted of their murders in a
highly
publicized trial that was featured on Court TV. Ever since, he
and
the other surviving relatives have insisted that he did not kill his
parents.
Seymour Tankleff's brother, Norman, said that he never doubted the
son's
innocence. Mrs. Tankleff's sister, Marcella Falbee, said, "From the
beginning,
none of us ever believed he did this." Now Martin Tankleff's supporters
claim
to have new evidence, obtained by a former New York City homicide
detective,
that they say points to the real culprits.
Pushing to Clear His Name
|
HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS
UK's Criminal Cases Review
Commission
New Zealand is considering implementing a Criminal Cases Review
Commission
similar to that in the United Kingdom. Reporter Donna Chisholm
looked
into how well the CCRC functions--or doesn't function. The
experiences
of the innocent and the pitfalls in the legal system are strikingly
similar On Both Sides of
the Pond
.
Florida
The cost of justice is too high for some Florida lawmakers, who'd
rather
let innocent persons rot in prison than allow DNA testing that would
exonerate
the
m. They would rather do that than eliminate deadlines for DNA
testing
of inmates. Measure
the Cost
in Shame |
|
 |
POLICE/PROSECUTOR/JUDICIAL
MISCONDUCT
Illinois
:
In 1994, Chicago cops used a "reverse lineup" (in which a suspect is
asked
to identify his victims), along with threats and physical abuse, to
coerce
17-year-old Lafonso Rollins into confessing to the rape of an elderly
woman. He was convicted and sentenced to 75 years prison, but he
was freed in 2004
when DNA proved his innocence. He sued. Discovery in his
civil suit disclosed that the police crime lab had excluded him based
on blood
type before Rollins was ever tried. Oops. The great
teamwork cost
the city $9 million.
Cops & Crime Lab, Working Together
|
Florida
:
With the help of testimony from convicted murderer Clarence Zacke,
Brevard
County prosecutors sent Wilton Dedge to prison for 22 years for a crime
he
did not commit. In December, 2005,
Zacke was sentenced to life in prison for raping his adopted daughter
30
years earlier.
Now, Dedge's attorneys are calling for an investigation of the state
attorney's
office after learning during Zacke's rape trial that the child-rape
allegations
were the subject of a grand jury investigation before Dedge's trial in
1984. Hidden
Dirt, Hidden Deals
New York
: A former FBI agent helped set up the 1992
shotgun murder of a Brooklyn mobster,
a federal civil suit filed by the gangster's widow charges.
The agent, Lindley DeVecchio, pulled a surveillance team shortly before
the
rubout of Nicholas Grancio as a favor to Mafia capo Gregory Scarpa Sr.
-
DeVecchio's secret informant, the suit contends.
It's Nothing Personal; It's Just Business
|
JUNK SCIENCE
The Search for Truth
Like alchemists cooking up recipes to turn lead into gold, men in lab
coats
look to technology to replace investigation. Junk by any other
name
is still ... junk.
|
|
INNOCENCE PROJECTS
|
Innocence
Projects provide representation and/or investigative assistance
to prison inmates who claim to be innocent of the crimes for which they
were
convicted. There is now at least one innocence project serving each
state.
Most of these innocence projects are new and overwhelmed with
applications,
so waiting time between application and acceptance is long. Wrongfully
convicted persons should not be dissuaded from applying to Innocence
Projects because of this, but should have realistic expectations
regarding acceptance and time
lags. Check the list for the innocence project in your area; we
update
it regularly.
|
LINKS
The links pages at Truth in Justice are frequently updated. Be
sure
to check them for resources, "must" reading, websites of inmates with
compelling
innocence claims and more. Start at
http://truthinjustice.org/links.htm
SITE SEARCH ENGINE
There are now over 1,200 pages at Truth in Justice. The site
search engine on the main page can make it faster and easier to find
what you seek.
And remember, YOU can make a difference!
Sheila and Doug Berry
Back to Top
|
