Search | Wrongly Convicted

$175,000 in Damages, Attorney Fees Against Sentinel Offender Services

Article • February 8, 2017 • from PLN February, 2017

Filed under: Private Prisons, Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, Parole/Probation Searches, Wrongful Imprisonment, Probation, False Arrest

$175,000 in Damages, Attorney Fees Against Sentinel Offender Services by A Georgia state jury awarded $50,000 to a woman for false arrest and imprisonment by Sentinel Offender Services, a private probation company. The award was the outcome in the first trial of more than a dozen lawsuits filed against the …

A Story of Racial Bias, the Absence of Mercy, and a Death in Prison

Article • February 8, 2017 • from PLN February, 2017

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Parole Board Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Failure to Treat, Malicious Prosecution, Guilty Pleas, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Racial Profiling

A Story of Racial Bias, the Absence of Mercy, and a Death in Prison by By Equal Justice Initiative Forty-five years after Phillip Chance traveled from his home in Detroit, Michigan to visit family in rural Choctaw, Alabama, he died in an Alabama prison. During that visit in 1971, 15-year-old Phillip …

Texas: “San Antonio Four” Exonerated after Two Decades

Article • February 7, 2017 • from PLN February, 2017

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Malicious Prosecution, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, False Arrest

Texas: “San Antonio Four” Exonerated after Two Decades by In 1997, Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez were convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls. The women came to be known as the “San Antonio Four.” With help from the Innocence Project of Texas, all four were …

Five Wrongfully Convicted North Carolina Men Receive Almost $8 Million

Article • February 7, 2017 • from PLN February, 2017

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Malicious Prosecution, Guilty Pleas, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Due Process, Police

Five Wrongfully Convicted North Carolina Men Receive Almost $8 Million by David Reutter Five former prisoners who were wrongfully convicted in a home invasion murder have received settlements and compensation totaling nearly $8 million following a botched investigation and misconduct by the sheriff’s office in Buncombe County, North Carolina. Three …

Boozer v. Waltman, PA, Complaint, Wrongful Arrest, 2017

Brief • January 16, 2017

Filed under: Malicious Prosecution, Wrongful Imprisonment, Money/Property, Mental Health, False Arrest

Boozer v. Waltman, PA, Complaint, Wrongful Arrest, 2017 Filed and Attested by the Office of Judicial Records 16 JAN 2017 03:35 pm J. OSTROWSKI Case ID: 160900497 IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF PHILADELPHIA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA KHANEFAH BOOZER 1322 McKinley Street Philadelphia, PA 19111 CIVIL ACTION Plaintiff v. RYAN …

Illinois: DNA Evidence Exonerates One Man, Implicates Another

Article • January 10, 2017 • from PLN January, 2017

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, DNA Testing/Samples, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment

Illinois: DNA Evidence Exonerates One Man, Implicates Another by On September 28, 2016, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced charges against convicted murderer Osborne Wade, 42, in connection with the brutal sexual assault and murder of a child in 1992. The charges followed an extensive investigation by the State’s …

$28.1 Million Jury Award after Eighth Circuit Allows Conspiracy Claims in Nebraska Wrongful Conviction Suit

Article • January 10, 2017 • from PLN January, 2017

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment

$28.1 Million Jury Award after Eighth Circuit Allows Conspiracy Claims in Nebraska Wrongful Conviction Suit by Matthew Clarke On December 31, 2015, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that six wrongfully convicted former prisoners could sue Gage County, Nebraska for conspiring to manufacture false evidence; further, law enforcement officials …

Too Little, Too Late: Prosecutor Remorseful for Sending Innocent Man to Death Row

Article • January 10, 2017 • from PLN January, 2017

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Prosecutors, Juries, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty, Death Row, Racial Profiling

Too Little, Too Late: Prosecutor Remorseful for Sending Innocent Man to Death Row by David Reutter The district attorney who prosecuted Glenn Ford, a Louisiana man exonerated after spending 30 years on death row, called capital punishment “an abomination that continues to scar the fibers of this society.” That statement …

Kansas Supreme Court Modifies “Exoneration Rule”

Article • January 3, 2017

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Attorney Misconduct, Malpractice (Attorneys), Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment

Kansas Supreme Court Modifies “Exoneration Rule” by Matthew Clarke In an opinion handed down on December 31, 2015, the Supreme Court of Kansas modified the requirement that a criminal defendant be exonerated prior to suing the attorney who represented him (the “exoneration rule”). Under the modification, reversal of a conviction …

Exonerated Ohio Prisoner’s Claim for Improperly Released Medical Record to Proceed

Article • January 3, 2017

Filed under: Medical Records, Settlements, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Bankruptcy, Privacy Act

Exonerated Ohio Prisoner’s Claim for Improperly Released Medical Record to Proceed by An Ohio Court of Appeals held a trial court improperly granted summary judgment to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) in a lawsuit claiming invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit was …

Exonerations 2013, Innocence Network, 2013

Publication • December 28, 2016

Filed under: Statistics/Trends, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment

Exonerations 2013, Innocence Network, 2013 INNOCENCE NETWORK EXONERATIONS 2013 CONTENTS I. LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT...................................................................3 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Erika Applebaum Innocence Project of Minnesota II. THE CASES .. .............................................................................................4 1. BENNIE STARKS................................................................................................... 4 2. KRISTINE BUNCH................................................................................................ 4 3. GEORGE ALLEN................................................................................................. 5 Shawn Armbrust Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project 4. RONALD ROSS .................................................................................................. …

Phoenix Fire Investigators and Insurance Company Implicated in Wrongful Prosecutions

Article • December 8, 2016 • from PLN December, 2016

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Police Misconduct, Evidence, Dogs, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment

Phoenix Fire Investigators and Insurance Company Implicated in Wrongful Prosecutions by Joe Watson Following a decision by Arizona prosecutors not to criminally charge a pair of Phoenix Fire Department (PFD) investigators who allegedly lied under oath and trained a dog to implicate innocent people, victims have pursued justice through civil …

Alabama Prisoner Exonerated after Serving 30 Years on Death Row

Article • November 8, 2016 • from PLN November, 2016

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Row, Racial Profiling

Alabama Prisoner Exonerated after Serving 30 Years on Death Row by After almost 30 years, Alabama death row prisoner Anthony Ray Hinton was freed on April 3, 2015 – at the age of 58 – when prosecutors dropped the charges against him. At the time of his release, Hinton, who …

Pennsylvania: Former Cop Indefinitely Jailed for Failure to Supply Passwords

Article • November 8, 2016 • from PLN November, 2016

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Evidence, Computer Searches, Computers, Wrongful Imprisonment

Pennsylvania: Former Cop Indefinitely Jailed for Failure to Supply Passwords by In March 2015, former Philadelphia police sergeant Francis Rawls, 37, was identified as a suspect in a child pornography ring. As part of the investigation, Delaware County authorities confiscated several electronic devices from Rawls’ home and requested that he …

Wayward Prosecutors Go Unpunished as Prison Time for Victims Piles Up

Article • November 7, 2016 • from PLN November, 2016

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Malicious Prosecution, Criminal Prosecution, Prosecutors, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Prosecutorial Immunity

Wayward Prosecutors Go Unpunished as Prison Time for Victims Piles Up by by Brooke Williams & Shawn Musgrave Massachusetts prosecutors have violated defendants’ rights to a fair trial regularly and without punishment, even as wrongfully convicted victims of tainted prosecutions have spent years in prison before being freed, decades of …

Pennsylvania v. Livingstone, PA, Appeal-Opinion, Illegal Detention, 2016

Brief • November 2, 2016

Filed under: Wrongful Imprisonment, Fourth Amendment, rights, Search and Seizure, Fourth Amendment

Pennsylvania v. Livingstone, PA, Appeal-Opinion, Illegal Detention, 2016 [J-112-2016] IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA WESTERN DISTRICT SAYLOR, C.J., BAER, TODD, DONOHUE, DOUGHERTY, WECHT, MUNDY, JJ. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, Appellee v. VICTORIA LIVINGSTONE, Appellant : : : : : : : : : : : No. 11 WAP 2016 Appeal …

AL: Insurance Company Required to Pay $2.3M Award in Wrongful Imprisonment Suit

Article • October 27, 2016

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Malicious Prosecution, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, False Arrest

AL: Insurance Company Required to Pay $2.3M Award in Wrongful Imprisonment Suit by Lonnie Burton Robert Garland and John Tatum were convicted and sentenced in 1991 on federal drug charges ...

Few Oklahoma Exonerees Paid for Their Wrongful Incarceration

Article • October 25, 2016

Filed under: Police Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, DNA Testing/Samples, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Death Penalty/Death Row

Few Oklahoma Exonerees Paid for Their Wrongful Incarceration by Matthew Clarke Despite Oklahoma having a wrongful-conviction compensation statute on the books since 2003, few exonerees in that state have received payment. One example of the battles exonerees face is the case of Greg Wilhoit, who was sentenced to death for …

Illinois Man Falsely Convicted of Rape Released After 20 Years

Article • October 14, 2016

Filed under: Police Misconduct, DNA Testing/Samples, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment

Illinois Man Falsely Convicted of Rape Released After 20 Years by Matthew Clarke On March 9, 2015, the rape and kidnapping charges against Angel Gonzalez that had held him in prison for nearly 20 years were dismissed. He had been exonerated by DNA evidence. However, he was not immediately released …

“Demons” Push Chris Conover to Suicide 12 Years after Release

Article • October 14, 2016

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, DNA Testing/Samples, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Suicides, FBI

“Demons” Push Chris Conover to Suicide 12 Years after Release by Release from prison is a great relief, and that is especially so for wrongfully convicted persons. The future, however, is wrought with difficulties, obstacles, and prejudice. For Chris Conover, it was a burden that overwhelmed him, pushing him to …