Lessons Not Learned - The Innocence Project

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The Crime On January 3, 1996, in Rochester, New York, police found the victim lying on his back with puncture wounds to his neck and chest. He had been stabbed 19 times and exhibited defensive wounds on his left hand. A bloodstained knife, a bloodstained towel, and several bloody tissues were in the clothing hamper in his bathroom. The Confession Douglas Warney, a man with a history of mental health issues, an eighth-grade education, and advanced AIDS, called the police stating that he had information about a homicide. He knew the victim: he had cleaned the victim’s house and shoveled snow from his driveway just two years before the murder. Warney was interrogated for 12 hours by police, he confessed and provided details that only the killer could know - that the victim was wearing a nightgown, that he had been cooking chicken, and that the killer cut himself with a knife and wiped it with a tissue in the bathroom. He also mentioned a second man, who was later found to have been confined to a clinic at the time of the murder. Warney’s confession contained other inconsistencies, such as the location of the murder and the disposal of clothing after the crime. The Biological Evidence The Monroe County Public Safety Laboratory conducted blood and enzyme testing on the crime scene evidence. The victim was type O, and Warney was found to be type A. The blood on the knife was consistent with the victim’s blood and enzyme types. Bloodstains on the towel and bloody tissues could not have come from either the victim or Warney. Blood was also found under the victim’s fingernail scrapings, but there was an insufficient amount of material for testing. Post-Conviction Warney was initially charged with capital murder, though he was ultimately convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. The Innocence Project and Donald M. Thompson began working on Warney’s case in 2004 and sought DNA testing of blood from the fingernail clippings, knife, towel, and tissues. The prosecution opposed testing, and Warney lost his motion for DNA testing in 2004. 68 THe InnoCenCe PRoJeCT
APPenDIx A While the case was being appealed, Rochester prosecutors, without notifying Warney, Thompson, or the Innocence Project, arranged for DNA testing on the blood splatter and fingernail scrapings. The Monroe County Public Safety Laboratory conducted STR based DNA testing on the victim’s left fingernail scrapings, blood flecks from around the crime scene, bloodstains on the towel, and bloodstains on tissues in the bathroom. Warney was excluded from this evidence and the profile was compared against the national DNA profile database. The DNA profile matched Eldred Johnson, Jr., a New York state inmate already serving a life sentence for other crimes. When he was interviewed by prosecutors, Johnson stated that he had killed the victim, had committed the crime alone, and he did not know Douglas Warney. On May 16, 2006, Douglas Warney’s conviction was vacated and he was released from prison. 19. Alan newton – Bronx Convicted in 1985 of rape, robbery and assault that happened in 1984 Sentenced to 13.5 to 40 years Age at conviction: 22 Served 21 years; exonerated in 2006 Factors leading to wrongful conviction: eyewitness misidentification On July 6, 2006, Alan Newton was exonerated of rape, robbery, and assault charges. He had asked for DNA testing in 1994, and his request was denied because evidence had been presumed to be lost. In 2005, at the Innocence Project’s request, the district attorney’s office found the rape kit after an exhaustive search. Postconviction DNA testing then proved that Newton was not the perpetrator of this crime. The Crime At about 4:00 AM on June 23, 1984, the 25-year-old victim stopped at a convenience store in the Bronx, New York. As the victim was leaving the store, she was grabbed from behind by another customer, who put a box cutter to her throat and pushed her from behind into a blue and white Grand Prix and drove away. After a few minutes, the car stalled as they were going up a hill and the assailant got out and lifted the hood. The victim could not get out of the car because the 69
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Lessons n o t learned neW YoRK sTAT
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exeCUTIVe sUMMARY Throughout New Yo
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Despite the large number of DNA exo
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23 CAses AnD THeIR ConseqUenCes: A
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8 Hector Gonzalez - Brooklyn Convic
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18 Doug Warney - Rochester Convicte
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TRYInG To ReBUILD THeIR LIVes All o
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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 and 44: APPenDIx A process. On July 18, 199
Page 45 and 46: APPenDIx A The initial description
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: APPenDIx A days or weeks. The bandi
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
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Lessons Not Learned - The Innocence Project

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