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Northwestern Blog: Police should open closed cases when new arrests are made
Posted: September 10, 2007 2:24 pm
Claude McCollum is serving life in a Michigan prison for a 2005 murder he has always said he didn’t commit. McCollum may have a chance to prove his innocence in the months ahead, however, as another man, named Matthew Macon, was arrested in late August in connection with five other murders, which resemble the murder for which McCollum is serving time. In McCollum’s case, he was convicted despite evidence that biological material at the crime scene matched an unknown male and did not match McCollum. He was convicted partly based on admissions he made to police, involving how he could have committed the crime while sleepwalking. His relatives, and relatives of the victim, called this week for police in Lansing, Michigan, to reopen his case.
Lee Kronenberg, who was married to Carolyn Kronenberg (the victim in the murder for which McCollum was convicted), said … he wants to make sure the right person is held responsible for the killing, but until new information is brought to light, he supports the jury's decision.Steven Drizin, the Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, writes today on his blog that McCollum’s case has the hallmarks of a wrongful conviction. He goes on to say that police should reopen some closed conviction cases when they have evidence in a string of crimes, such as serial murders. A number of DNA exonerations – including those of Jerry Frank Townsend and David Vasquez – have come after police arrested serial killers.
"In the interest of justice, more information should be sought from Mr. Macon," he said. "The jury found (McCollum) guilty and I support the jury's decision. But I want justice."
Read the full story here. (Detroit Free Press, 09/04/07)
Read Drizin's full post.
Tags: Jerry Frank Townsend, David Vasquez
David Vasquez marks 19 years of freedom
Posted: January 4, 2008 4:15 pm
David Vasquez, a Virginia man who served four years in prison for a 1984 murder he didn’t commit, was exonerated on January 4, 1989. Today marks the 19th anniversary of the day of his release from prison after DNA proved that another man had committed the murder. The Virginia Governor pardoned Vasquez based on his innocence, making him one of the first people to be exonerated by DNA testing in the United States.
Vasquez, who has limited mental capacity, allegedly confessed to the murder before pleading guilty, in order to avoid the death penalty. The DNA tests that proved his innocence led to the conviction of another man, who was executed for the murders in 1994.
Read more about Vasquez’s case and the nine other Virginia exonerees here.
Tags: David Vasquez
Virginia Man Celebrates Almost 20 Years Since Exoneration
Posted: January 9, 2009 4:00 pm
After supposedly confessing to a crime he did not commit and serving four years in prison, David Vasquez was exonerated 19 years ago when DNA testing proved he could not have been responsible for other similar murders.
Officially exonerated in 1989, Vasquez previously pled guilty to the murder of a woman in Arlington County, Virginia, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Vasquez made “dream statements” about the crime, which officers turned into a confession even though he was considered to be borderline mentally impaired. Prosecutors depended heavily on forensic evidence found on the victim that supposedly matched Vasquez, and told Vasquez they had two eyewitnesses that placed him at the scene of the crime.
It was only after multiple DNA tests that police linked the murder for which Vasquez was convicted to another string of crimes. The tests eventually concluded that there was no match between Vasquez and the evidence found at the scene of the crime, at which time the prosecution secured a pardon for Vasquez and pursued a case against the actual perpetrator.
Other exoneree anniversaries this week:
Sunday: Larry Holdren West Virginia (Served 15 Years, Exonerated, 2000)
Tuesday: Mark Diaz Bravo California (Served 3 Years, Exonerated, 1994)
Tags: California, Virginia, West Virginia, Mark Diaz Bravo, Larry Holdren, David Vasquez