TOO MANY WRONGFULLY CONVICTED - The Innocence Project

MARVIN ANDERSON200215 YEARSVIRGINIAEDDIE JOE LLOYD • 200217 YEARSMICHIGANJIMMY RAY BROMGARD200214.5 YEARSMONTANAALBERT JOHNSON • 200210 YEARSCALIFORNIADOUGLAS ECHOLS • 20025 YEARSGEORGIAAn all-white juryconvicted MarvinAnderson of rape andrelated charges whenhe was 18 years old.He became a suspectin the investigationbecause he lived witha white woman and thevictim said her attackerclaimed he “had awhite girl.” He wasexonerated throughDNA testing 15 yearslater. Today, he owns atrucking company andlives in Hanover withhis three children.Police officersinvestigating the brutalmurder of a 16-year-oldgirl interrogated EddieJoe Lloyd while he wasa patient in a mentalhospital. They led himto believe that byconfessing and gettingarrested, he would helpthem expose the realperpetrator. The judgesaid that Lloyd wouldhave received the deathpenalty if it were legal inMichigan. For over sixyears, Innocence Projectlegal clinic studentsworked to secure theevidence in Lloyd’scase. Lloyd died twoyears after DNA testingproved his innocence.At the age of 18,Jimmy Ray Bromgardwas convicted ofrape and sentenced to40 years in prison.His conviction wassecured with thehesitant eyewitnessidentification of theeight-year-old rapevictim and thefraudulent testimony ofa forensic analyst(who simply inventedstatistics claiming thata hair at the crimescene was likely fromBromgard). DNAtesting eventuallyproved his innocence.Albert Johnsonbecame the primesuspect in a sexualassault case whenpolice stopped him forspeeding. He matchedthe description of theassailant as a blackman driving a smallwhite car. Two rapevictims identified him.Johnson studied lawwhile incarcerated andsought DNA testing.One of the rape kitshad been destroyed,but the second waslocated and subjectedto testing; Johnson wasexonerated based onthe results.Douglas Echols, aformer Army officer,was convicted ofkidnapping a womanoutside a Savannahnightclub andrestraining her whilehis co-defendant,Samuel Scott, rapedher. Echols wasparoled five yearslater. Scott contactedthe Innocence Project,which helped locatethe evidence andsecured DNA testing.Both Echols and Scottwere vindicated.19% were convicted based at leastin part on faulty microscopic hair analysis.24 | Innocence Project