Lessons Not Learned - The Innocence Project

More documents

Recommendations

Info

her clothes back on, including her underwear. The victim ran to her boyfriend’s home, where she spent the night. She went to the hospital later that day and did not shower, change clothes, or go to the bathroom before she was examined by the doctor. Her clothing was collected as evidence. The examining physician collected a milky white substance from the victim’s vagina. Wet slides revealed the presence of non-motile sperm. He took rectal smears but did not detect sperm, although an examination of fixed rectal slides later showed several sperm heads. The victim’s boyfriend testified that he did not have sex with the victim on the night of the incident or at any other time. He remembers the victim came into his house, woke him up, said she had been raped. He confirmed that she stayed in his room until the incident was reported the next day. Ortiz contacted the Innocence Project in 1994, claiming innocence. The case was accepted and assigned to a student. The Project confirmed in 1995 that the rape kit and other evidence from the case still existed. The Orange County District Attorney’s stipulated to the release of the physical evidence used at trial. The evidence was sent to Forensic Science Associates along with a sample of Ortiz’s blood. DNA testing excluded Victor Ortiz as the source of spermatozoa on the evidence. He was exonerated and released in October 1996, having served ten years in prison. 6. Habib Wahir Abdal – Buffalo Convicted in 1983 of a rape that happened in 1982 Sentenced to 20 years to life Age at conviction: 44 Served 16 years; exonerated in 1999 Factors leading to wrongful conviction: eyewitness misidentification, government misconduct Habib Wahir Abdal, then known as Vincent Jenkins, was convicted of rape in 1983. The conviction stemmed from a crime that occurred in Buffalo, New York, in May 1982. A young white woman was raped in a nature preserve after she had been separated from her husband. 44 THe InnoCenCe PRoJeCT
APPenDIx A The initial description of the assailant was a black man with a hooded jacket. The assailant had blindfolded her. Abdal was picked up over four months later and identified by the victim in a show up procedure. Though she had been informed by police that Abdal was the suspect, she failed initially to identify him as her assailant. The victim then viewed a photo of Abdal that was four years old. She returned to the show up and eventually identified him as the perpetrator. Forensic comparison of the hairs that were collected pointed to a black man other than Abdal. He also did not match the initial description of the attacker. Still, the jury convicted him and he was sentenced to twenty years. Abdal’s attorney, Eleanor Jackson Piel, continued to work on his case. She eventually contacted the Innocence Project. Piel’s postconviction efforts to secure the physical evidence for DNA testing were successful in 1993, but the tests were deemed inconclusive. Years later, as DNA testing became more sophisticated and discerning, Abdal’s evidence was again submitted for testing. This time, the results revealed that there were two contributors of spermatozoa, in keeping with the victim’s claim of prior consensual sex with her husband. Neither of the profiles belonged to Abdal, and neither belonged to the victim’s husband. Though the results exculpated Abdal, prosecutors fought his exoneration, claiming there may have been more rapists or that Abdal participated in the rape without ejaculating. These theories contradict the victim’s statements to police that there was a singular rapist who ejaculated inside of her, as well as the prosecution’s own theory of the crime at trial. Abdal, after spending sixteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit, was finally released in September 1999. He died in 2005, just six years after his exoneration. 7. James o’Donnell - staten Island Convicted in 1998 of attempted sodomy and assault that happened in 1997 Sentenced to 3.5 to 7 years 45
Page 1 and 2: Lessons n o t learned neW YoRK sTAT
Page 3 and 4: exeCUTIVe sUMMARY Throughout New Yo
Page 5 and 6: Despite the large number of DNA exo
Page 7 and 8: 23 CAses AnD THeIR ConseqUenCes: A
Page 9 and 10: 8 Hector Gonzalez - Brooklyn Convic
Page 11 and 12: 18 Doug Warney - Rochester Convicte
Page 13 and 14: TRYInG To ReBUILD THeIR LIVes All o
Page 15 and 16: ReAL PeRPeTRAToRs CoMMIT ADDITIonAL
Page 17 and 18: THe Lessons THe Lessons CAUses oF W
Page 19 and 20: THe Lessons • The victim identifi
Page 21 and 22: THe Lessons • County rape in 1987
Page 23 and 24: THe Lessons • victed of the 1989
Page 25 and 26: THe LeARnInG THe LeARnInG LeGIsLATI
Page 27 and 28: THe LeARnInG Allow All of the Wrong
Page 29 and 30: THe LeARnInG cessful, New York shou
Page 31 and 32: THe LeARnInG Convictions, composed
Page 33 and 34: FInDInGs oF THe CoMMIssIon The comm
Page 35 and 36: ReCoMMenDATIons oF THe CoMMIssIon A
Page 37 and 38: ConCLUsIon time to research for evi
Page 39 and 40: APPenDIx A APPenDIx A FULL PRoFILes
Page 41 and 42: APPenDIx A ecution for DNA testing
Page 43: APPenDIx A process. On July 18, 199
Page 47 and 48: APPenDIx A and if it was still avai
Page 49 and 50: APPenDIx A The following year, all
Page 51 and 52: APPenDIx A Eventually, the evidence
Page 53 and 54: APPenDIx A On December 19, 2002, on
Page 55 and 56: APPenDIx A On the night of April 19
Page 57 and 58: APPenDIx A His chance to test the e
Page 59 and 60: APPenDIx A defenses. Prosecutors al
Page 61 and 62: APPenDIx A suggested she had been r
Page 63 and 64: APPenDIx A from the defendants pres
Page 65 and 66: APPenDIx A brother’s moving busin
Page 67 and 68: APPenDIx A days or weeks. The bandi
Page 69 and 70: APPenDIx A While the case was being
Page 71 and 72: APPenDIx A watching television, he
Page 73 and 74: APPenDIx A The Office of the Chief
Page 75 and 76: APPenDIx A Deskovic’s alleged con
Page 77 and 78: APPenDIx A consistent” with Brown
Page 79 and 80: APPenDIx B APPenDIx B RePoRT on THe
Page 81 and 82: RePoRT on ConVICTIon oF JeFFReY Des
Page 83 and 84: RePoRT on ConVICTIon oF JeFFReY Des
Page 85 and 86: scientific evidence exonerated him.
Page 87 and 88: It is, of course, theoretically pos
Page 89 and 90: · · a murder that he did not comm
Page 91 and 92: wholly unsupported by anything poli
Page 93 and 94: investigative reports strongly sugg
Page 95 and 96:
interrogations of Deskovic on Janua
Page 97 and 98:
a confession. 44 During part of thi
Page 99 and 100:
emained steadfast. Finally, on Janu
Page 101 and 102:
Deskovic’s knowledge of Correa’
Page 103 and 104:
As it was, the Grand Jury was denie
Page 105 and 106:
he was aware, as the jury was not,
Page 107 and 108:
On this record, the trial judge may
Page 109 and 110:
without his attorney. 112 There is
Page 111 and 112:
Court’s Mid-trial Loss of Evidenc
Page 113 and 114:
arrested. District Attorney DiFiore
Page 115 and 116:
occasions a voice tape recorder was
Page 117 and 118:
The Innocence Project was founded i
show all

Lessons Not Learned - The Innocence Project

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?