Search Term(s):
Blog Tags:
Order by: Date Relevancy
Your search returned 3 entries.
Six years of freedom for Ohio man
Posted: October 15, 2007 10:40 am
Anthony Michael Green celebrates the sixth anniversary of his exoneration this Thursday. He was released from prison on October 18, 2001, having spent 13 years behind bars for a rape and robbery he did not commit.
Green’s wrongful conviction was based partly on false testimony from a Cleveland Police Department Forensic Lab expert. At Green’s trial, the expert testified that serological testing performed on a washcloth left at the scene proved that Green could have been the attacker. Further, the expert told the jury that only 16 percent of men could have left this stain. Because the victim and Green had the same blood type, this statistic was false.
In 2001, DNA testing conducted upon the request of the Innocence Project proved Green’s innocence beyond a doubt. Forensic science misconduct is one of the major causes of wrongful convictions.
Read more about Green’s case.
Other exoneration anniversaries this week:
Friday: James Ochoa, California (Served 10 months, Exonerated 10/19/2006)
Tags: Anthony Michael Green, James Ochoa
Seven years of freedom for Ohio man
Posted: October 17, 2008 4:40 pm
Tomorrow, Anthony Michael Green will mark the seventh anniversary of his exoneration in Ohio. Although he was freed in 2001, he and the Innocence Project had been working since 1997 to clear his name. In all, he spent 13 years in prison before DNA testing proved his innocence.In 1988, a Caucasian woman in a health clinic was raped at knifepoint. The attacker cleaned himself with a washcloth before fleeing the room, and threw it on the floor. The victim immediately rinsed herself off and called security. The police collected the washcloth and brought the victim to a medical center, where a rape kit was prepared. Green, who had previously worked for the clinic, became a suspect because a security officer said the victim's physical description of the attacker reminded him of Green.
The prosecutor's main evidence at trial relied on the victim's misidentification of Green and on misleading blood type testing from a state expert. The expert testified that Green could have contributed the semen found on the washcloth – along with only 16 percent of the male population. But the percentage of the population that could have contributed the sample was actually much higher. Based in part on this faulty testimony, Green was convicted and sentenced to 20-50 years in prison.
Green’s stepfather, Robert Mandell, investigated his case relentlessly in an attempt to overturn the wrongful conviction. It was not until Mandell located the washcloth in a courthouse storage room in 2001 that DNA testing could be conducted, proving Green’s innocence. After proving his innocence, Green said, "You can't get the lost years back. You just have to pick up the pieces and go on with your life."
The DNA testing in Green’s case didn’t only exonerate him, but also led to the identity of the real perpetrator. A man named Rodney Rhines confessed to the rape after reading an Ohio newspaper article that documented Green's ordeal. Also, the city of Cleveland agreed to compensate him and created the "Anthony Michael Green Forensic Laboratory Audit." The audit addresses the causes of faulty and falsified forensics, a factor that played a significant role in many wrongful convictions. Read more about unreliable and limited forensic science here.
Other Exoneree Anniversary This Week:
Thursday: Troy Webb, Virginia (Served 7.5 Years , Exonerated 10/16/1996 )
Tags: Anthony Michael Green, Troy Webb
Revisiting Injustice, Nine Years Later
Posted: October 22, 2010 4:10 pm
Nine years into his sentence, Green contacted The Innocence Project, which negotiated for the release of evidence for DNA testing. Tests were conducted on the spermatozoa left on a washcloth the rapist used to clean himself after ejaculating, and the DNA recovered from the samples excluded Green as the source.
Since Green's release in 2001, the true perpetrator - a former Cleveland Clinic Inn employee - confessed and was convicted. In June 2004, the city of Cleveland created the Anthony Michael Green Forensic Laboratory Audit in efforts to address the causes of faulty and falsified forensic evidence, which is a contributing cause in more than 50% of wrongful convictions later overturned through DNA testing. Green said at the time that he hoped the audit would prevent similar injustices from happening in the city.
Tags: Anthony Michael Green