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Friday Roundup: Innocence and Independence
Posted: July 3, 2009 2:06 pm
Happy Independence Day from all of us at the Innocence Project! While the United States celebrates its independence, 13 people exonerated by DNA testing so far in 2009 are celebrating their freedom and adjusting to life outside prison walls. Learn how you can help them build new lives after exoneration here.
News from around the country this week:
Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis called on Gov. Rick Perry this week to ensure that legislators consider a bill allowing for posthumous pardon in a special session this summer. Cole, who would have turned 49 on Wednesday, died in prison ten years ago while serving time for a crime DNA now proves he didn’t commit.
Editorials around the country continued to express dismay with the Supreme Court’s ruling in William Osborne’s case. Here are examples from the Philadelphia Inquirer the Daily Freeman (NY).
Dale Helmig, a client of the Midwestern Inncoence Project, was denied access to DNA testing this week by the Missouri Supreme Court. His attorneys said they will appeal to the circuit court.
The city of Boston paid a $3.8 million settlement to exoneree Anthony Powell in December, and the Boston Phoenix wrote this week that the city has paid more than $10 million to settle wrongful conviction lawsuits, with several other lawsuits pending.
And the budget crisis in California could lead officials to cut the state crime lab budget by half.
Tags: Timothy Cole, Anthony Powell
Massachusetts Man Celebrates Six Years of Freedom
Posted: March 5, 2010 5:30 pm
Six years ago this week, Anthony Powell was officially exonerated of the 1991 rape and kidnapping of a Massachusetts teenager. Powell was convicted in 1992 and served more than 12 years of his sentence before being cleared by DNA testing.
Having been convicted as a result of eyewitness misidentification, Powell maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration. His attorneys, however, could not obtain DNA testing on biological evidence held by police until in 2004, when Boston Police and Suffolk County prosecutors undertook an investigation to re-examine old sexual assault cases. An attorney from the Committee for Public Counsel Services was appointed on Powell’s behalf, and she managed to obtain DNA testing on the remaining biological evidence. The results excluded both Powell and the victim’s former boyfriend as the source of semen found in the rape victim.
At a hearing held after DNA testing excluded Powell, his defense attorney requested a new trial and the prosecutor agreed. Superior Court Judge Robert Mulligan, who presided at Powell’s original trial, overturned the conviction and closed the door on a re-trial, stating that the evidence “strongly supports the conclusion that Mr. Powell did not commit the rape in 1991.” That afternoon, for the first time since 1992, Powell walked out of the courthouse as a free man.
Moreover, the DNA profile extracted from the remaining biological evidence was forwarded to state and national databases, and matched a man who was charged in 2008 for the original rape. The city of Boston would later settle a civil suit brought by Powell in December 2008 for $3.8 million. Powell was also awarded an additional $500,000 under the state’s wrongful conviction compensation statute.
Most recently, in attempts to prevent wrongful convictions like those of Powell, the Boston Bar Association called attention to the state’s need for a comprehensive statute that provides access to DNA testing. Massachusetts is one of only three states that lack post-conviction DNA access. Find out more here.
Other Exoneree Anniversaries This Week:
David Allen Jones, California (Served 9 years, Exonerated 3/4/04)
Roy Brown, New York (Served, 15 years, Exonerated 3/5/07)
Tags: Massachusetts, Anthony Powell, Eyewitness Misidentification
Real Perpetrator to Plead Guilty in Wrongful Conviction Case
Posted: July 20, 2011 3:54 pm
The DNA test that cleared Powell led police to the real perpetrator, Jerry Dixon who is expected to plead guilty to aggravated rape soon.
Although Powell maintained his innocence throughout his trial and while behind bars, it was difficult to prove his innocence with DNA.
Massachusetts and Oklahoma are the only states without laws to provide post-conviction access to DNA testing and Massachusetts is the only state that does not require preservation of DNA evidence for future testing.
There is legislation pending in Massachusetts that would require the state to maintain DNA evidence and provide easier access to post-conviction DNA testing that could prove innocence.
Executive director of the New England Innocence Project, Gretchen Bennett, who served as Powell’s attorney thinks the bill has a good chance of passing because it was written by the Boston Bar Association with input from a task force of retired judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, scientists, and law enforcement officials.
Post-conviction DNA testing lead to Powell’s release from prison, and also to finding the real perpetrator. A law that will allow any imprisoned person the right to post-conviction DNA testing wherever it can establish innocence can limit future wrongful convictions.
Read an article in today’s Boston Globe announcing the plea deal.
Read more about Powell’s case.
Read more about access to DNA testing.
Tags: Anthony Powell