Innocence Blog

DNA and Other Withheld Evidence Prove Missouri Man's Innocence

Posted: May 18, 2012 4:50 pm

Friday morning, lawyers appeared before a Cole County Circuit Court Judge to urge the court to vacate the conviction of George Allen who has served 30 years for a rape and murder that DNA and other evidence proves he didn’t commit. At the hearing, Allen’s legal team presented exculpatory DNA evidence, as well as newly discovered serology and fingerprint evidence excluding Allen as the perpetrator that was known to the police at the time of his trial but never disclosed to the defense.
 
Police arrested Allen for the 1982 rape and murder of a St. Louis court reporter by accident, mistaking him for a suspect in the case. Even though they eventually realized he was not the suspect, they decided to interrogate him anyway. Allen, who is a diagnosed schizophrenic and had been admitted to psychiatric wards several times, eventually ended up making a recorded confession, which one of the interrogating officers recently conceded was questionable. On the recording of the interrogation, Allen informs the officers that he is under the influence of alcohol, and throughout the interrogation an officer prompts Allen to give him answers to fit the crime, often asking Allen to change his answer to do so.
 
Allen is represented by the Innocence Project and Bryan Cave LLP.
 
Read more about the case.