| Chester Bauer | Incident Year: 1983 Jurisdiction: MT Charge: Rape, Assault Conviction: Rape, Agg. Assault w/ Weapon Sentence: 30 Years |
Year of Conviction: 1983 Exoneration Date: 9/22/97 Sentence Served: 8 Years Real perpetrator found? Not Yet Contributing Causes: Eyewitness Misidentification, Unvalidated or Improper Forensic Science Compensation? Yes |
Chester Bauer was convicted in 1983 of rape and aggravated assault. The state’s theory was that he had previously been to the victim’s home to sell a boat or car. He allegedly came back to get the decision. While in the house, he allegedly raped the victim at knife point in her bedroom. In 1983, Bauer was charged with and convicted of sexual intercourse without consent and aggravated assault. Bauer was sentenced to a term of twenty years in the Montana State Prison for the first charge and a term of ten years for the second charge, to be served concurrently. Bauer’s sentence for sexual intercourse without consent was also enhanced with a ten-year term for the use of a weapon, to be served consecutively to the other sentences.
Bauer was convicted based on the identification made by the victim and her husband. A lab analyst testified at trial that hairs from the victim’s bedding matched Bauer’s hair. The analyst gave improper statistical information about the alleged hair match, saying: “To have them both match, it would be the multiplication of both factors so approximately using that 1 out of 100, you come out with a number like 1 chance in 10,000.” There is not adequate empirical data on the frequency of various class characteristics in human hair, and it is invalid for an analyst to characterize whether consistency is a rare or common event.
The analyst also testified incorrectly about a blood type match in the case, saying that Bauer was among just 7.5% of the population that could have matched evidence from the crime scene. This number was incorrect, because the victim’s blood type also matched the crime scene evidence. When the evidence being tested is a mixed stain of semen from the perpetrator and vaginal secretions from the victim – and testing does not detect blood group substance or enzymes foreign to the victim – no potential semen donor can be excluded because the victim’s blood group markers could be “masking” the perpetrator’s. Under such circumstances, the failure to inform the jury that 100% of the male population could be included and that none can be excluded is highly misleading.
DNA testing came about through Bauer’s civil attorney in another matter. The prosecution agreed to testing, which proved Bauer’s innocence.
In 1991, roughly eight years after Bauer had begun serving his sentence, he was charged with intimidation. Bauer subsequently pleaded guilty to the intimidation charge and was sentenced to a term of five years in the Montana State Prison, to be served consecutively to the other sentences. The state transferred Bauer to the Blaine County Jail. Then, on October 10, 1995, the State charged Bauer with three offenses: sexual intercourse without consent, intimidation, and escape, after an incident with a female inmate at the Blaine County Jail. Following a jury trial, Bauer was convicted on all three charges in March 1996.
Bauer was convicted based on the identification made by the victim and her husband. A lab analyst testified at trial that hairs from the victim’s bedding matched Bauer’s hair. The analyst gave improper statistical information about the alleged hair match, saying: “To have them both match, it would be the multiplication of both factors so approximately using that 1 out of 100, you come out with a number like 1 chance in 10,000.” There is not adequate empirical data on the frequency of various class characteristics in human hair, and it is invalid for an analyst to characterize whether consistency is a rare or common event.
The analyst also testified incorrectly about a blood type match in the case, saying that Bauer was among just 7.5% of the population that could have matched evidence from the crime scene. This number was incorrect, because the victim’s blood type also matched the crime scene evidence. When the evidence being tested is a mixed stain of semen from the perpetrator and vaginal secretions from the victim – and testing does not detect blood group substance or enzymes foreign to the victim – no potential semen donor can be excluded because the victim’s blood group markers could be “masking” the perpetrator’s. Under such circumstances, the failure to inform the jury that 100% of the male population could be included and that none can be excluded is highly misleading.
DNA testing came about through Bauer’s civil attorney in another matter. The prosecution agreed to testing, which proved Bauer’s innocence.
In 1991, roughly eight years after Bauer had begun serving his sentence, he was charged with intimidation. Bauer subsequently pleaded guilty to the intimidation charge and was sentenced to a term of five years in the Montana State Prison, to be served consecutively to the other sentences. The state transferred Bauer to the Blaine County Jail. Then, on October 10, 1995, the State charged Bauer with three offenses: sexual intercourse without consent, intimidation, and escape, after an incident with a female inmate at the Blaine County Jail. Following a jury trial, Bauer was convicted on all three charges in March 1996.
| Chester Bauer | Incident Year: 1983 Jurisdiction: MT Charge: Rape, Assault Conviction: Rape, Agg. Assault w/ Weapon Sentence: 30 Years |
Year of Conviction: 1983 Exoneration Date: 9/22/97 Sentence Served: 8 Years Real perpetrator found? Not Yet Contributing Causes: Eyewitness Misidentification, Unvalidated or Improper Forensic Science Compensation? Yes |