Lessons Not Learned - The Innocence Project

APPenDIx A
brother’s moving business.
In late March 1985, Kogut was brought to police headquarters for a
polygraph examination. After three polygraphs, a detective analyzed
Kogut’s “polygraph charts” and determined that Kogut was lying
when he denied involvement in the victim’s murder. Multiple officers
proceeded to interrogate Kogut for 12 hours, repeatedly telling him
that he had failed the lie detector tests. Kogut was bombarded with
allegations that he, John Restivo, and Dennis Halstead had abducted,
raped, and murdered the victim. Eventually Kogut signed a confession
that had been handwritten by a detective; this confession was the
sixth version of facts allegedly given by Kogut.
According to the final version of the confession, Restivo, Kogut, and
Halstead were driving in Restivo’s van. They encountered the victim,
who got in the van voluntarily. Halstead and Kogut stripped the victim
and Halstead raped her. They arrived at a cemetery, where Restivo
stopped the van and also raped the victim. During the attack, the
victim drifted in and out of consciousness. When she began to regain
consciousness after the rape, she grew frantic and Kogut strangled
her with a hard nylon rope.
Kogut’s confession did not include any details about the crime not
previously known by law enforcement. Kogut was taken to the site
where the victim’s body had been discovered, but again was unable to
offer any new details about the crime.
Based on Kogut’s confession, Restivo’s van was searched. Two hairs
that were microscopically similar to those of the victim were found
in the front passenger seat. The two hairs appeared identical to the
victim’s from “root to tip, including artificial treatment.”
The Trials
John Restivo and Dennis Halstead were tried together for rape and
murder in November 1986; John Kogut had already been tried separately
and convicted of rape and murder in March 1986. The prosecution
argued that the two hairs allegedly found in Restivo’s van were
corroborative of Kogut’s confession.
The defense presented the testimony of hair comparison expert Dr.
Peter DeForest. Dr. DeForest testified that the hairs found in Restivo’s
van displayed “advanced banding,” a condition caused by bacteria
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