The Snitch System - The Innocence Project

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Steven SmithNational RosterLarry HicksSentenced to death in 1978 for a doublemurder in Indiana. Snitches: Two womenwho claimed to be eyewitnesses. Exoneratedby:The women’s recantations.Years lost: 2Madison HobleySentenced to death in 1990 for an arson firethat claimed seven lives in Chicago. Snitch:A suspect in another arson fire in thesame neighborhood. Exonerated by: Pardonbased on innocence.Years lost: 13Verneal JimersonSentenced to death in 1985 for a doublemurder in Illinois. Snitch:A purported accomplicepromised release for testifying.Exonerated by: DNA and convictions ofthree actual culprits.Years lost: 11Richard Neal JonesSentenced to death in 1983 for a murder inOklahoma. Snitch: One of the actualkillers. Exonerated by: Confession of one ofthe snitch’s confederates.Years lost: 4Curtis KylesSentenced to death in 1984 for a murder inNew Orleans. Snitch:The actual killer.Exonerated by: Evidence that the snitch lied.Years lost: 14Fredrico M. MaciasSentenced to death in 1984 for a doublemurder in Texas. Snitch:A purportedaccomplice who testified pursuant to a pleaagreement. Exonerated by:A solid alibi.Years lost: 10Steve ManningSentenced to death in 1993 for a murder andarmed robbery in Illinois. Snitch:A jailhouseinformant. Exonerated by: Dismissal ofcharges.Years lost: 10Walter McMillianSentenced to death in 1988 for a murder inAlabama. Snitch:The actual killer.Exonerated by: Exculpatory documents withheldat the trial.Years lost: 10Virdeen Willis Jr., an off-duty assistant warden at the Illinois penitentiary in Pontiac,was shot to death in the parking lot of a Chicago tavern in 1985. Steven Smith, 36,who had been in the bar, as had Willis, was charged with the crime several dayslater after he was identified by Debra Caraway, who claimed to have witnessed themurder. Her testimony persuaded a jury to send Smith to death row.The jury, however, was told neither that Caraway’s boyfriend, Pervis (Pepper) Bell,was in custody as the primary suspect when she accused Smith nor that she was highon cocaine when the crime occurred. Caraway’s testimony was all the more dubiousbecause she claimed that only Willis and Smith were in the parking lot, but, in fact,Willis was accompanied by two friends.In 1999, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the conviction outright, holdingthat Caraway’s testimony was less reliable than the testimony of the men who werewith Willis when he was shot, neither of whom identified Smith.There was nophysical evidence, or evidence of any kind other than Caraway’s testimony, linkingSmith to the crime.Juan Roberto MelendezSentenced to death in 1984 for a murderand armed robbery in Florida. Snitch:A convicted felon who testified in anticipationof leniency. Exonerated by:Withheld policereports.Years lost: 188
Gary GaugerGary Gauger was sentenced to death in 1994 for themurder of his parents, Morris and Ruth Gauger,on their farm in northern Illinois the previous year.The conviction stemmed primarily from an allegedconfession that the authorities claimed Gaugermade during interrogation. However, the prosecutionalso relied in part on a jailhouse snitch — RaymondWagner, a twice-convicted felon, who testified thatGauger repeatedly admitted the crime.The conviction was reversed on appeal in 1996 onthe ground that the purported confession shouldhave been suppressed at the trial because it was thefruit of an arrest made without probable cause.With no remaining evidence, other than Wagner’sdubious testimony, prosecutors dropped the chargesand set Gauger free, although they continuedto insist publicly that he had committed the crime.two members of a motorcycle gang on multiplecounts of racketeering, including the murder of theGaugers. One of the Outlaws, James Schneider,pleaded guilty in 1998, and the other, Randall E.Miller, was convicted in June of 2000. At Miller’strial, federal prosecutors played tape recordings inwhich Miller was heard boasting that the authoritieswould never link him and Schneider to theGauger murders because they had worn hairnetsand gloves to avoid leaving physical evidence.In 2002, Gauger received a gubernatorial pardonbased on innocence.A year later, Gauger’s innocence became apparentwhen a federal grand jury in Milwaukee indicted9
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The Snitch System - The Innocence Project

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