Troy Davis Executed
The law is prepared to believe these witnesses when they convict the Defendant, but once the same witness recants they suddenly lose all credibility. Individuals who recant have a lot to lose. They face perjury charges, pressure from law enforcement, and having their name dragged through the dirt. No one who has ever been in the witness box regards hours of vigorous cross-examination as a painless experience. Many people who prefer to spend that time under the dentist’s drill.
The Davis case could have also been used as a vehicle for the United States Supreme Court to finally answer the question about whether convicting an actually innocent defendant is a self-standing constitution question. The US Supreme Court’s 2009 original habeas corpus proceedings in In re Davis almost reached that question. Right now, actual innocence is a wild card in federal court that can substitute in for demonstrating good cause for failing to raise an otherwise valid constitutional issue, but it can never be a self-standing “winning hand.” You need actual innocence plus an error. In theory if an actually innocent defendant is convicted at a textbook perfect trial, there is no error.
I don’t have a clue whether Mr. Davis was innocent or guilty, but I think his case should serve as a vehicle for scholars to reexamine the recanting witness doctrine and for Courts to finally recognize that convicting an actually innocent defendant is a constitutional violation.
West Memphis Three to Be Freed, But State May Avoid Liability.
There is something is something wrong with a system which refuses to compensate individuals for wrongful incarceration, regardless of fault. They have lost everything and will have to restart their lives penniless. Innocence should be enough. Our system should not require a dual showing of actual innocence and affirmative misconduct on the part of an individual player.
Mich. Sup. Ct. Refuses to Hear Lorinda Swain Appeal. Actual Innocence May be Irrelevant in Michigan.
On December 16, 2010, the Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear the Michigan Innocence Project’s appeal in the Lorinda Swain case. People v Swain, Supreme Court No. 141504. Justices Kelly, Cavanaugh, and Hathaway dissented. New evidence had convinced Calhoun Circuit Judge Conrad Sindt (a very conservative judge) to grant her a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel and newly discovered evidence. The Michigan Court of Appeals (Hoekstra, Saad, and Murray) reversed the conviction based on a procedural bar. Michigan law prohibits filing more than one 6.500 motion unless there is newly discovered evidence. The Court of Appeals ruled that such newly discovered evidence has to be evidence which the defense could not have located using due diligence. The Court implied that there was no actual innocence exception to this rule and that it is not a violation of the constitution to convict an actually innocent defendant. By a 4-3 vote, the Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. Update: The Michigan Innocence Project has since moved for rehearing in the Supreme Court. Since Judge Davis voted with the majority, it is possible that they could pick up the vote of incoming Justice Mary Beth Kelly (not to be confused with co-Justice Marilyn Kelly).
Is Texas About to Execute Another Innocent Defendant?
The state's case against Skinner was entirely circumstantial. He has consistently professed his innocence, there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder weapons and no eyewitness or apparent motive for the crime. Skinner indisputably was in the home at the time of the murders, but claims he had passed out from mixing large quantities of alcohol and codeine. When he awoke, he stumbled to a neighbor’s residence to report the murders, according to Skinner.
But the neighbor, Andrea Reed, testified that Skinner made incriminating statements about the crime and ordered her not to call the police. That was enough for the jury to find him guilty, and, although Skinner had no history of violence that would remotely explain the horrific murders (his worst offense was a conviction for assault), he was sentenced to death. Ms. Reed later recanted her trial testimony in an audio-taped interview. Reed told the student-journalists that she had been intimidated by the authorities into concocting a false story against Skinner. “I did not then and do not now feel like he was physically capable of hurting anybody,” Reed said.
For another, toxicology tests on Skinner's blood indicated he would have lacked the strength, balance and agility to commit the triple homicide. Based on the crime scene evidence, the actual killer would have had to bludgeon Twila to death and then repeatedly stab her six foot, six inch son who was standing next to her, a near impossibility for Skinner -- whose blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit and contained a comparable level of codeine.
Earlier this week, a new scientific report by one of the leading experts in the field of toxicology revealed that Skinner's incapacity at the time of the murders was more severe than originally believed. Dr. Harold Kalant, an M.D. and Ph.D., reviewed the tests of Skinner's blood levels and concluded that a moderate drinker with that much alcohol and codeine would "almost certainly be comatose, and in some cases be near death or even dead." Even a heavier drinker like Skinner "would not be able to assess correctly where he was...would be very confused and badly impaired, and would have difficulty standing or walking in a coordinated manner."
Other residents of Pampa told the student-journalists in videotaped interviews that the more likely perpetrator was Robert Donnell, Twila's uncle. Donnell had been “hitting on” his niece at a New Year’s Eve party shortly before the slayings. Rebuffing his advances, she left the party frightened, her uncle following behind, according to the witnesses. (A close friend of Twila’s said she confided to being raped by her uncle in the past.) The day after the crime, another witness claimed to have seen Donnell scrubbing the interior of his pick-up truck, removing the rubber floorboards and replacing the carpeting. Perhaps most telling, a windbreaker just like the one the uncle often wore was found at the scene – directly next to his niece’s body. The jacket was covered with human hairs and sweat.
Yet evidence from the windbreaker has never been scientifically tested. Moreover, prosecutors have steadfastly opposed DNA tests on two blood-stained knives, skin cells found underneath Twila’s fingernails, vaginal swabs and hairs removed from her hand – even though forensic tests on one of the hairs proved it did not come from Skinner. (The physical evidence remains sealed, but the courts have acceded to prosecutors’ demands not to conduct the tests.) In a death row interview with the student-journalists, Skinner said he was innocent and welcomed new tests on the old evidence.
There were also serious problems with trial counsel and potential conflict of interest questions. Click here for more details from the Mellin Innocence Project.
New York Perjury Conviction Demonstrates How Easily Some People Will Falsely Claim “Rape.”
Today’s New York Post contained a troubling story involving an a demonstrably false allegation of rape. Biurny Peguero Gonzalez repeatedly told police, prosecutors, the grand jury, and the petite jury that she had been raped by William McCaffrey. The jury believed Ms. Gonzalez and convicted the defendant. Mr.McCaffrey served more than four years in prison before exonerated by DNA test. At that point, Ms. Gonzalez coached on by her priest recanted her testimony and admitted she was never raped. What is sickening about the case is her underlying reason for the false allegation of sexual abuse. Ms. Gonzales was out with friends and temporarily left with the Mr. McCaffrey. Her friends were upset with her for leaving. In order to garner her sympathy, she invented the story that she was raped. At the original trial, she testified that she was 110% sure that the police have the right defendant and that he had raped her. Like many allegations of sexual abuse, the state had relied on her contemporaneous and distressed outburst over it to demonstrate that it was not a fabrication. While I recognize the danger of anecdotal evidence, the Gonzalez case demonstrates just how difficult it is to tell a genuine allegation of sexual abuse from a false one. It also paints a troubling picture about how easily some people won't make up such a damning lie. Click here to read the New York Post story.
Read More...
Innocence Project Wins Release of Man After 35 Years Wrongful Confinement
Read More...
New Innocence Project Report Says Michigan and Other States Are Failing to Help Exonerated.
Illinois Prosecutor's Office Continues Attack on Northwestern Innocence Project
More Innocence Project Bashing
Last month, we reported that the prosecutors were going after the Northwestern Innocence Project at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. The prosecutors were claiming that students biased in favor of finding claims of innocence based on grade pressures. The students vigorously deny this. Based on their claims, the prosecution has sought broad based discovery into numerous aspects of the student’s lives. The prosecution have asked for Northwestern University to provide the students grades and emails. Northwestern University is fighting the request. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. This story was covered by CNN, the New York Times,and the Chicago Tribune
Prosecutors Go After Northwestern Innocence Project
Sunday’s New York Times has an interesting article about state prosecutors trying to turn the tables on the Medill Innocence Project at Northwestern University. The students of that project provided investigation that is being used in a motion for new trial in the Cook County Circuit Court pertaining to the thirty year murder conviction of Anthony McKinney. The prosecution were provided the affidavits, video tapes of the statements of the witnesses, and their written statements. The state, however, wanted more. They have subpoenaed all the students e-mails, notes, and internal memorandums.
