TOO MANY WRONGFULLY CONVICTED - The Innocence Project

00ANTHONY HICKS • 1997 MARVIN MITCHELL •1997 CHESTER BAUER • 19975 YEARS 7 YEARS 8 YEARSStopped for a traffic Shortly after a young Chester Bauer wasviolation, Anthony girl was raped, she convicted of raping aHicks became 0awas driven around by woman at knifepoint.suspect in a robbery the police to see if she The victim and herand sexual assault could identify the husband misidentifiedcase when someone assailant. She saw a Bauer, and a labin the jail thought he resemblance in analyst testified thatresembled the Marvin Mitchell, several hairs from thecomposite sketch. except that he had crime scene matchedOne of five hair roots facial hair and the Bauer. He wasfound at the scene assailant had been convicted, but evidencewas eventually clean-shaven. Police later surfaced showingsubjected to DNA then picked up that the analysttesting, and Hicks Mitchell and took a miscounted the numberwas exonerated. photo of him, which of hairs at the crimethey showed to the scene — and thatvictim. At that point, none of them matchedshe identified him as Bauer. DNA testingher attacker, and he ultimately proved hiswas later convicted. innocence in 1997.Many years later,DNA testing provedhis innocence.WALTER D. SMITH • 1996While Walter Smithwas awaiting trial onunrelated charges,three women identifiedhim as their rapist.Smith pleaded guilty tothe unrelated charges,but denied theaccusations of rape.He was convicted oftwo rapes andsentenced to 78 to190 years in prison.KEVIN BYRD • 199712 YEARSOHIO WISCONSIN MASSACHUSETTS MONTANA TEXASDNA testing provedMANY WRONGFULLY CONVICTEDhis innocence,and today he is amotivational speakerand professionalbodybuilder.Months after a pregnantwoman was raped atknifepoint, she identifiedKevin Byrd, whom sheencountered at thegrocery store, as herattacker. Byrd is AfricanAmerican, and thevictim initially said awhite man had rapedher. Byrd was convictedand sentenced to lifein prison. The evidencein his case, which wasslated to be destroyed,was recovered bychance, subjected toDNA testing andexonerated him.Byrd is now living inHouston, Texas.10 YEARS 14 of them served time on death row.10 | Innocence Project