John Kunco

In 1991, John Kunco was convicted of raping and beating a 55-year-old woman the previous December.

The victim claimed that her assailant’s voice sounded like the voice of a former maintenance worker in her apartment building named “John.” But she also said she had only spoken to Kunco once, never saw her attacker, and only identified Kunco based on his voice, and even then, not based on Kunco’s voice itself, but on a detective’s imitation of Kunco’s lisp.

The state’s case depended on the testimony of two bite-mark analysts. The police collected more than 40 other samples of forensic materials, including blood, hair and clothing fibers. None of it implicated Kunco. The bite-mark testimony was the only physical evidence linking him to the crime.

In 2009, DNA excluded Kunco as the source of biological material found on a lamp cord used to strangle the victim. His appeal was denied. In 2016, after two bite-mark skeptics within the ABFO submitted affidavits that were critical of the bite-mark testimony, the State’s experts submitted their own affidavits retracting their testimony and analysis. In May 2018, Kunco’s attorneys announced that they believe new DNA tests have exonerated their client.

Source: “Yet another bite-mark conviction is unraveling” Washington Post, May 21, 2018

Proposal Post

Update May 23, 2018 : New trial awarded

 

 

Barry Jones

Barry Jones was convicted of the murder of a 4 year old girl in 1994, and sentenced to death. However 22 years later the prosecution case has fallen apart. See here for details.

Proposal Post

News

August 2, 2018 : conviction overturned

Dana Chandler

Dana Chandler was convicted in 2012 of the murder of her ex-husband, Michael Sisco, and his girlfriend, Karen Harkness, on July 7, 2002.

The prosecution case was entirely speculative. There was no evidence to place her at the scene, no forensic evidence to link her to the crime. She did make a credit-card purchase of two gas cans on the day before the murders, which the prosecution suggested were to help conceal her long trip to commit the murder, however they would not have been sufficient to complete the round trip. Police could not confirm her alibi, but videos of the locations she visited were not complete.

In addition, the prosecutor told the trial jury that Sisco secured a court protective order in 1998 to shield him from Chandler, but this was completely untrue.

The prosecutor made other claims that were either false or unsupported by evidence.

Discussion | Proposal Post

Update April 6, 2018 Conviction Overturned Ruling

Update May 20, 2020 Prosecutor disbarred due to violation of professional ethics

Ronald DiMambro Jr.

Ronald DiMambro Jr. was convicted in 2014 for the murder of Damian Sutton, the two-year-old son of his ex-girlfriend, and sentenced to life in prison.

Damian and his mother were living in the home of Ronald’s parents. Damian was in the care of Ronald at the time of the alleged assault in August 2013 while his mother was at work.  The defense say Damian accidentally fell from a kitchen bar stool 1-3 days earlier, and that likely accounted for his death. Damian was taken to hospital, but was taken off life support and died six days later.

In October 2014 a judge ordered a new trial, ruling that 32 photographs withheld by the prosecution were crucial, stating that “The information provided by these photographs … would likely have materially changed how the jury viewed the relationship between the defendants’ conduct and Damian’s death. The nondisclosure may have been unintentional, but it was no harmless error.”

The photographs could have helped the defense, and its expert, Dr. Bader Cassin, because they more clearly show that bleeding on one side of Damian’s brain was caused by surgical incisions, not necessarily blunt-force trauma, the judge said. The information suggests Damian may have suffered only one blow instead of two, raising the possibility of a fall instead of an intentional act.

Source: Judge orders new trial for man in 2-year-old’s death 1 Nov 2015.

In December 2016, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the judge’s decision. The county prosecutor’s office planned to appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court. In October 2017, the Michigan Supreme Court endorsed the decision.

Proposal Post

Vanessa Cameron

Vanessa Cameron was convicted of murder of her son’s father in 2012. She was sentenced to 70 years. There was no physical evidence. Just a false confession from Vanessa and the testimony of the co-defendant Lakisha Brown. The alleged shooter was acquitted of murder. The real shooter plead guilty and received 25 years. The real shooter is Vanessa’s older sister Susan Sutton. All facts of the case can be read on www.freevanessa.com.

Featured case #152 | Proposal Post

 

Brendan Dassey

After Steven Avery was wrongly accused of murdering Teresa Halbach, Brendan Dassey was coerced into making a false confession, due to his being an alibi for Avery.

Brendan was convicted in March 2007 for the murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach on Halloween in 2006. Dassey was sentenced to life in prison, with a chance for early release in 2048.

Featured case #124 | Proposal Post

News

August 12, 2016 Conviction overturned | Ruling available from here | Copy : Dassey-Order

Extract:

Consequently, the court finds that the confession Dassey gave to the police on March 1, 2006 was so clearly involuntary in a constitutional sense that the court of appeals’ decision to the contrary was an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law.

The court does not reach this conclusion lightly. The present decision is made in full appreciation of the limited nature of the habeas remedy under AEDPA and mindful of the principles of comity and federalism that restrain federal intervention in this arena. See, e.g., id. at 15.

However, the high standard imposed by AEDPA is not a complete bar to relief. Cockrell, 537 U.S. at 340. While the circumstances for relief may be rare, even extraordinary, it is the conclusion of the court that this case represents the sort of “extreme malfunction[] in the state criminal justice system[]” that federal habeas corpus relief exists to correct.

 

 

John Giuca

John Giuca was convicted on a charge of second-degree felony murder in the death of 19-year-old Mark Fisher in 2003. Giuca was arrested a year after the murder, he was found guilty along with Antonio Russo; both were given a sentence of 25 years to life.

In the early morning hours of October 12, 2003, Mark Fisher accompanied a college acquaintance, Angel DiPietro, to a house party at Mr. Giuca’s home in the Ditmas Park section of Brooklyn.

Fisher had started off the evening barhopping in Manhattan with a different group of friends, but after unexpectedly running into Ms. DiPietro and taking a liking to one of her friends, Meredith Denihan, he found himself happily separated from his original group. Fisher, Ms. DiPietro and Ms. Denihan then met up with another friend of Ms. DiPietro’s, Albert Cleary, the son of a prominent member of the Brooklyn GOP, who was out with his buddy, John Giuca. When the group had trouble getting into another bar, Mr. Giuca invited them to party at his house, as his parents were out of town.

According to what investigators were able to piece together, the group arrived at Mr. Giuca’s place around 5 a.m. and began smoking and drinking. At some point, other people joined the party, including Mr. Russo, who was a nearby neighbor. At 5:23 a.m. Fisher, accompanied by Mr. Russo, withdrew $20 from a nearby ATM and both returned to Mr. Giuca’s home within minutes. At some point, Fisher and Ms. Denihan fell asleep and Ms. DiPietro and Mr. Cleary, who lived about three blocks from Mr. Giuca on Argyle Road, left Mr. Giuca’s house.

At about 6:40 a.m. Fisher was shot five times about 50 feet across the street from Mr. Cleary’s driveway on Argyle Road. Cops arrived on the scene within minutes and found his body lying atop a blanket they later confirmed came from Mr. Giuca’s home. Fisher’s wallet was missing but an ATM receipt in his pocket revealed his identity. Only two of five shell casings were recovered from the scene.

Several witnesses saw or heard a vehicle speed down Argyle Road following the shooting. Antonio Russo went to a neighbor’s house at approximately 7AM, asking him to cut off his braids, a style he’d worn for years. Russo also fled to California. Three witnesses told police that they saw Russo with a gun in his waistband both before and after the murder,one was even threatened by Russo with a gun.

At trial prosecutors alleged that the murder was the result of a robbery attempt by Russo, and that John Giuca supplied him the murder weapon (which was never found).

The conviction was based on the testimony of four main witnesses, three of which have since recanted, two of them accusing the trial prosecutor of coercion and intimidation. The fourth witness has been completely discredited.

Nevertheless, appeals have been denied.

Late in 2014, Giuca’s lawyers sent Brooklyn DA Kenneth Thompson a petition seeking to overturn their client’s conviction, saying they have irrefutable evidence that shows that Giuca didn’t receive a fair trial.

“I am confident John will be exonerated because the case has been exposed as a house of cards propped up by prosecutorial misconduct,” one of his lawyers, Mark Bederow, told The New York Post.

Featured case #120 | Website | Wikipedia | Proposal Post

Update Feb 7, 2018 : New Trial Granted

Lamarr Monson

Lamarr Monson was convicted of brutally killing a 12-year-old girl in 1996.

He was tricked into a confessing that he stabbed the girl, but in fact it wasn’t true. A year later, the homicide inspector who oversaw Monson’s interrogation was removed for illegally obtaining confessions.

Now the finger-prints of someone who confessed to his girl friend have been matched to the likely murder weapon, a toilet seat.

The Michigan Innocence Clinic has filed a motion, arguing this new evidence is grounds for Lamarr Monson to get a new trial.

It’s been nearly 20 years since he went to prison.

“I knew he was innocent. But everywhere I went, I could get no help. No help. Nobody believed,” says Delores Monson, Lamarr’s mother.

Source

Proposal Post

News

Jan 30, 2017: Lamarr Monson, convicted of killing Detroit girl in 1996, granted new trial 

Feb 2, 2017 Released on Bond.

Aug 25, 2017 Case Dismissed

Adnan Syed

Adnan Syed, was convicted of first degree murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in January 1999.

The conviction was based on the testimony of Jay Wilds, who claimed he had helped Syed bury Lee’s body and dispose of her car, and cellphone evidence.

Syed’s lawyer has stated that “the cell tower evidence was misleading and should have never been admitted at trial.”

On November 6th, 2015 judge Martin P Welch ordered an appeals court to consider testimony from Asia McClain, who claimed to have seen him around the time of Lee’s disappearance, but whose account was never brought before the court by Syed’s lawyer at the time.

Welch also granted Syed’s petition to include a rediscovered document that casts doubt on cellphone-tower evidence that was critical to the prosecution’s case in 2000.

News Report

Featured case #110 Discussion | Proposal Post | Facebook Page | Website

News

6 July 2016 New trial granted

Richard Raugust

“In recent years, a legal team assembled by the Montana Innocence Project has been mounting a case for Raugust’s innocence, fighting to secure a new murder trial by arguing that if jurors heard newly presented evidence that has emerged since Raugust’s conviction they would not reasonably believe he could have committed the crime, that the facts support his alibi, and that key state witnesses – including the man they say pulled the trigger – colluded to spin a web of lies, framing Raugust for Tash’s murder.”

Source : News aticle 29 August, 2015

Featured case #94 Discussion | Proposal Post | Featured Case Post

News

Conviction overturned November 16, 2015

In 2012, the Montana Innocence Project appealed Raugust’s conviction, saying that new evidence implicates another killer, and that if Raugust were granted a new trial, a jury would agree.

The new evidence challenges key testimony provided by the state’s sole eyewitness, a man the Montana Innocence Project asserts is the true killer, and claims that the testimony of a sheriff’s deputy would have supported Raugust’s alibi but was never divulged prior to trial.

Exoneration Report

Malcolm Scott and De’Marchoe Carpenter

Almost 20 years ago, a jury found Malcolm Scott and De’Marchoe Carpenter guilty of first-degree murder and related counts in a drive-by shooting that killed 19-year-old Karen Summers in 1994. Scott and Carpenter, who were 17 at the time of the crime, were sentenced to life plus 170 years in prison.

A witness who testified against the two in exchange for a deal from prosecutors, Michael Lee Wilson, was convicted of a different murder and executed in January 2014.

Shortly before his execution, Wilson released a videotaped confession discussing his deal with the state and a written affidavit saying that he had killed Summers during a gang-related drive-by shooting.

Christina Green with the Oklahoma Innocence Project and Josh Lee with Ward Lee & Coats are representing Scott in post-conviction relief proceedings.

News Article July 20, 2015

Innocence Project Post July 20, 2015

Proposal Post | Featured Case #99

News

22 Years Later, Oklahoma Innocence Project Could Free Two Convicted Murderers Jan 26, 2016

Death Row Inmates Claim They Committed Tulsa Murders Others Were Convicted For Jan 30, 2016 ( report on evidentiary hearing on Friday Jan 29, has videos ).

A killer’s word: Should Michael Lee Wilson’s confession free two men? Jan 31, 2016 readfrontier.com

A judge declared both De’Marchoe Carpenter and Malcolm Scott innocent Monday afternoon. May 9, 2016

Malcolm Scott and De’Marchoe Carpenter freed after 20 years in prison, declared innocent May 9, 2016

 

David Mark Temple

In 2007, David Mark Temple was convicted of murdering his wife on January 11, 1999. In July 2015, the conviction was overturned.

Report, July 8, 2015 : “Judge says ex-prosecutor Kelly Siegler withheld evidence in David Temple Case”

Quote

A visiting judge has accused former Harris County prosecutor Kelly Siegler of withholding evidence in the murder case against David Mark Temple, who was convicted of killing his wife in 2007, and has recommended that Temple be granted a new trial.

Judge Larry Gist’s findings, which were issued Wednesday after nearly three months of witness testimony in a habeas hearing, are not binding; it’s now up to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to decide whether the former Katy football star and high school coach was denied a fair trial in a high-profile case pitting two outsized egos — Siegler and defense attorney Dick DeGuerin — against each other. (The CCA previously denied Temple’s appeal).

“Both were famous and neither could stand losing to each other,” Gist wrote in his 19-page recommendation, issued Wednesday.

But the finding paints a picture of Siegler being overzealous to the point of depriving Temple of a fair trial, leading to his conviction for the shotgun slaying of his wife Belinda in 1999.

Prosecutors “intentionally, deliberately, or negligently failed to disclose” investigators’ reports and witness statements that pointed to other suspects, but Siegler continued the suppression even following the conviction, according to the findings.

Siegler testified in the habeas hearing that potential exculpatory evidence didn’t need to be disclosed if prosecutors “did not believe it was true,” according to the findings.

Gist also wrote that Siegler influenced post-trial maneuvers by telling police and officials within the DA’s Office not to disclose public records if they were requested. The findings also state that Siegler continued to pull strings even after leaving the DA’s Office in 2008, after 21 years, by getting an alleged witness who approached DeGuerin after the trial to change his story.

In that situation, Daniel Glasscock gave DeGuerin a sworn statement that he overheard another man implicate himself in the murder. Glasscock passed a polygraph administered by the DA’s Office and also gave the same story to a DA’s investigator.

But Siegler “asked” a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy — who was involved with the trial investigation — to contact Glassock and another witness “before they could be contacted by the Special Prosecutor [in the habeas investigation] or current members of the District Attorney’s Office. The Deputy did so and afterwards, their stories were significantly different than the original version,” according to the finding.

“In substance, Glasscock repudiated the most important details to the extent that his future credibility as a witness is significantly impaired,” Gist wrote.

At trial, DeGuerin argued that Belinda Temple, who was eight months pregnant, was killed by teenagers during a burglary. But prosecutors said that David Temple was having an affair and had a clear motive to kill his wife. Temple was sentenced to life in prison.

Houston attorney Paul Looney, who worked on Temple’s case before DeGuerin took over, told theHouston Press that Siegler’s ultimate goal was to use the case as leverage to get her own TV reality series — an idea she had unsuccessfully pitched once before.

Siegler then asked to take over the Temple case, which had been languishing for years because the original grand jury chose not to indict.

“This was her opportunity to enhance her resume to the point where she would get her TV show,” Looney said. “It worked, she got the show (“Cold Justice” on TNT). But boy, at what a price. At the price of David Temple’s life, at the price of an entire family’s reputation, and at the price of her own integrity.”

As for Siegler’s impression of exculpatory evidence, Looney said, “If Kelly’s bizarre interpretation of that rule were ever to be the law, then all a prosecutor would ever have to do to keep any witness statement away from the defense is say, ‘Well, I didn’t believe it, so I didn’t give it to the defense.’ That’s never been the law, it would totally eliminate law, but she just boldly stated it — and the only thing I can figure is she’s trying to find some arguable basis to try to defend her law license from the ultimate scrutiny of the State Bar of Texas, which undoubtedly is going to happen over this case.”

But Looney alleged that Siegler not only violated professional ethical standards, but that she committed a felony by obstructing justice.

“If Kelly Siegler’s a lawyer in five years, I’ll be shocked,” Looney said. “And if she’s not a felon in five years, it’ll be because [District Attorney] Devon Anderson decided to protect her own friend.”

Most of the investigators’ reports and witness statements revealed at the habeas hearing were not available — or even known — to Temple’s appellate lawyers, and were only discovered after Temple’s latest team filed a post-conviction writ. (Looney gave props to Temple’s current lawyers, Stanley Schneider and Casie Gotro, saying they conducted “some of the best legal work that’ll ever be done in our state.”)

“They went in and started looking through all the files, and they had a ‘holy shit’ moment where they’re looking at stuff that nobody’s ever seen or heard of before,” Looney said.

Siegler was not available for comment, but we’ll update if we hear back.

End Quote

Featured case #84 Discussion | Proposal Post | Facebook Page | Featured Case Post

See also here, re Siegler.

Useful reference: ( January 16, 2013 )
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/tx-court-of-criminal-appeals/1620884.html

News
24 November 2016 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirms Gist’s findings.
28 December 2016 Released on bond.

Temple’s appellate attorney, Stan Schneider said “The new evidence is really substantial, and I believe the evidence shows overwhelmingly that he’s innocent.”

7 January 2017 Update post : David’s Alibi.

Raymond Tempest

Raymond Tempest, 62, was convicted in 1992 of second-degree murder. He was said to have bludgeoned and strangled 22-year-old Doreen Picard in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in 1982. But new DNA tests reveal hair and blood found at the scene were not his.

Source: Daily Mail, July 14, 2015 – Conviction overturned.

Supported by the New England Innocence Project.

Reversal Ruling also here : a good read.

Proposal Post | Facebook Group

News

Bail hearing August 4th : “A Superior Court judge on Tuesday rejected the state’s request that he put on hold his ruling vacating Raymond D. `Beaver’ Tempest’s murder conviction and agreed to consider releasing the 62-year-old on bail Aug. 14.
Judge Daniel A. Procaccini found that Tempest did not pose a flight risk or represent harm to the public.”

August 14 : “After spending 23 years in prison for the murder of Doreen Picard, Raymond “Beaver” Tempest will be released to home confinement on Tuesday.”

September 22 : Bail Granted

Innocence Project Blog 24 September 2015 – Summarises position.

Darryl Howard

From Innocence Project Article July 2, 2015

Quote

In honor of Independence Day this year, the Innocence Project calls attention to the case of Darryl Howard, who, like others who have been wrongfully convicted at the hands of a flawed criminal justice system, is fighting to prove his innocence and to secure his freedom.

As some may recall, in May of 2014, a North Carolina judge ruled that Innocence Project client Darryl Howard was entitled to a new trial for the 1991 murders of a woman and her teenage daughter. Howard was convicted of the murders in 1995, but North Carolina Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson overturned the murder and arson convictions based on newly discovered evidence of innocence, including new DNA test results and evidence of prosecutorial and police misconduct in Howard’s case.

According to Judge Hudson, Howard’s case had the most “horrendous prosecution” that he’d seen in his 30-year law career. He vacated Howard’s convictions, but the state appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.  Judge Hudson was poised to release Howard from prison on unsecured bail, but the state asked the Court of Appeals to stay Howard’s release on bail pending the appellate court’s ruling.  The Court of Appeals denied the state’s request.  As a result, the state moved the North Carolina Supreme Court to stay his release on bail pending the appellate court’s ruling.  The North Caroline Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the motion, leaving Howard still incarcerated.

During that time, Howard has suffered more than the already intolerable injustice of remaining in prison despite his convictions being overturned. Earlier this year, Howard’s son died. In March, Howard’s wife, Nannie, penned an op-ed for the News & Observer in which she discussed the effects that Howard’s wrongful conviction and subsequent absence have had upon his family. Nannie wrote: “He is heartbroken that he missed out on so much of his son’s life and feels like he lost a part of himself. Because Darryl has been imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, the streets raised his son. I have to keep reminding him that his son’s death wasn’t his fault. Had Darryl had the opportunity to have a meaningful relationship with his son, he might still be alive. Now Darryl will never know his son.”

The North Carolina Court of Appeals heard oral argument in April on Howard’s appeal. A decision could come as soon as July 7, but it could be longer. In the meantime, Howard sits behind bars, an innocent man who awaits his very own independence day.

Learn more about Howard’s case and read Nannie’s op-ed here.

End Quote

Darryl Howard and the rampaging prosecutor: Durham learns little from Duke lacrosse debacle Radley Balko, Washington Post, March 2014

Proposal Post

2014-05-27_howard_opinion Ruling vacating the conviction

Jason Young

Jason Young was convicted for the November 2006 murder of his wife, Michelle.  He was convicted based on very weak, manufactured circumstantial evidence.  There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime.

A neighbor testified that she saw an SUV type vehicle exiting the Young’s driveway at approximately 5:20 that morning. She said there was a white male driver and a female passenger with thick, bushy hair, who looked away sharply as she passed.

Two footprints in blood were identified near the body: One was a Hushpuppy shoe (approximate size, 12) and the other was a Franklin athletic shoe, size 10.

Unidentified DNA was found on a jewelry box in the Young’s bedroom, and unidentified fingerprints and palm prints were found in the Young’s home, some near the body.

Facebook Page | Website | Proposal Post | Facebook Group | Featured Case Post

News

April 1, 2014

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered a third trial for a man convicted of murdering his pregnant wife in their Wake County home seven years ago, saying a judge should not have allowed evidence about a wrongful death lawsuit.

May 19, 2015

RALEIGH (WTVD) —

North Carolina’s highest court is considering whether a Raleigh man convicted of killing his pregnant wife should get a new trial.

The state Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in the Jason Young case.

Young is serving a life sentence at the Alexander Correctional Institution in Alexander County for the death of his wife Michelle. She was five months pregnant in 2006 when her bloody body was found in their bedroom with their unharmed daughter. She was beaten to death.

..

Young was convicted of killing Michelle in March, 2012. At his first trial in 2011, a jury couldn’t come to a verdict deadlocking 8-to-4 for acquittal. Eight months later, he was tried again and convicted, after prosecutors introduced evidence that wasn’t used in the first trial.

In April 2014, the state Court of Appeals said the judge at the second trial shouldn’t have allowed evidence about a wrongful death lawsuit and child custody complaint.

Jimmy Dennis

Calling the conviction a “grave miscarriage of justice,” the judge noted that the prosecution, whose case was based “on scant evidence at best” covered up evidence pointing to Dennis’ innocence, including evidence undermining the reliability of the police investigation, and statements pointing the finger at three other men in the murder.

“Dennis’ conviction was based solely on shaky eyewitness identifications from three witnesses, the testimony of another man who said he saw Dennis with a gun the night of the murder, and a description of clothing seized from the house of Dennis’ father that the police subsequently lost before police photographed or catalogued it,” the judge said.

Further, the court wrote that the Commonwealth “ignored Dennis’ own explanation for where he was at the time of the murder. … It allowed a witness who saw Dennis on that bus to give incorrect testimony about what time that interaction occurred. Police never recovered a weapon, never found the car that witnesses described, and never found the two accomplices,” she added.

In addition, the defense counsel was ineffective, having failed to interview a single eyewitness–including a girl who was with the victim at the time and said she knew the killers and their nicknames, or a witness whose felony assault charges against his girlfriend suddenly were dropped after he implicated Dennis.

Featured case #55. Facebook Page | Proposal Post | Article | Featured Case Post | Website | Petition

May 6, 2015 ( Via the website )
Good news! The full Third Circuit court vacated (voided) the February 9, 2015, decision. They have granted Jimmy a rehearing: http://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/139003po.pdf

Dec 24, 2016

“James Dennis entered a no-contest plea, not a guilty plea, because he maintains the same position that he has maintained for 25 years: that he is innocent of this crime,” one of his lawyers, Karl Schwartz, told the judge. “He and his family have made this incredibly difficult decision based on his and their strong desire to have him home and free, [in] lieu of potentially years of continuing litigation.”

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/end-decades-death-row-inmate-makes-agonizing-choice-n699561

via

Michael Skakel

Long article in The Atlantic by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. January 2003

Celebrity trials can turn into media lynchings. Last year a Connecticut jury convicted Michael Skakel of killing his neighbor Martha Moxley twenty-seven years ago, even though the prosecution had no fingerprints, no DNA, and no witnesses. The author, a former New York City prosecutor, argues that his cousin’s indictment was triggered by an inflamed media, and that an innocent man is now in prison

Ruling overturning conviction October 2013

Discussion | Proposal Post | Facebook Group | Facebook Page

News

Report on bail hearing Nov 21, 2014

Michael Skakel settles lawsuit against HLN host Nancy Grace, claiming slander over murder case Nov 12, 2014

News report Dec 12, 2014

Please see this January 2, 2017 article for an update and full case description.

Henry Keogh freed after 20 years

“a litany of errors during the autopsy, resulting in the bizarre conclusion that he had drowned his fiancee in the bath by lifting her legs over her head”

Via Wrongful Convictions Blog

News Report

John Horton

Featured Case #41: John Horton was wrongly convicted of murder in 1995. His cousin subsequently confessed to the crime. The case is supported by the Center of Wrongful Convictions of Youth at Northwestern University School of Law.

Facebook Page | Proposal Post | Featured Case Post | Article | Petition

News

12 October 2016 : New trial granted

The Court ruled that John was entitled to a new trial because prosecutors had violated his due process rights by not disclosing exculpatory evidence, although a special concurrence penned by one of the Justices added that this case was riddled with “outrageous errors and missteps” and that John has “significant” evidence of actual innocence.

Ruling | News Report

10 February 2016 : Released on Bond.  Judge Joseph G. McGraw set his bond at $50,000.

 

Mario Casciaro

Mario Casciaro was convicted based only on the testimony of a criminal who received immunity in exchange for his testimony against Casciaro. Mario had alibi witnesses and actual evidence pointed to another criminal. The witness has now admitted he lied after being coached by the prosecutor. Fortunately, Casciaro now has Kathleen Zellner on his side. She found evidence the prosecution concealed which has now magically ‘disappeared’.

Please refer to this article from October 3rd 2014 for information.

Featured Case #34 : Facebook page | Proposal | Featured case post

Conviction overturned 17 September 2015

Leaves prison 23 September 2015 ABC News

In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ “20/20” last October, Lamb recanted his testimony, saying he lied to prosecutors and lied under oath.

“All of it was false. Every single thing … The state’s attorney set it up,” Lamb told “20/20.” “Mario is in there for 26 years for something he didn’t do.”