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Investigation of Boston exoneration raises questions of police misconduct

Posted: February 7, 2008 12:51 pm

Stephan Cowans’ short life was marred by terrible injustice. He spent seven of his 37 years behind bars for the shooting of a Boston police officer – a crime he didn’t commit. And less than four years after DNA testing proved his innocence and led to his release from prison, he was shot and killed in his home. Family members have said that they believe the killer was trying to rob him because of his well-known $3.2 million wrongful conviction settlement.

Cowans was convicted based partly on trial testimony from a fingerprint examiner who said that a print from the crime scene matched Cowans’ print. After DNA tests exonerated Cowans, experts reexamined the print and determined that the “match” was in error. And a major Boston Phoenix investigation published yesterday uncovers evidence that the police and forensic misconduct may go deeper than a fingerprint error. The Phoenix reports that forged documents in the case show an attempt to cover up gross negligence or misconduct by police officers, and a reluctance to pursue the actual perpetrator in the case.

Cowans never learned how, or why, he came to be blamed for the non-fatal shooting of Boston police officer Gregory Gallagher in 1997. Now, the Boston Phoenix has uncovered substantial new information about the Cowans case. These revelations are troubling, as they suggest that key members of the Boston Police Department (BPD) knew that Cowans was innocent, even as they forged the case to prosecute him.

The Phoenix has reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, including contents of the original investigative file, and interviewed many sources close to the case. For a variety of reasons, certain case materials, physical evidence, and potential witnesses were not available. Nonetheless, the picture that has emerged is one in which some BPD officers appear to have perjured themselves, and/or concealed evidence, hidden what they knew, and even falsified documents. Officers may have been aware of Cowans’s innocence — some of them may even have known who the real shooter was, and for whatever reason, worked to protect him.

Read the full story here, along with an editorial and more coverage in the Boston Phoenix. (02/06/08)

Two Connecticut Men Seek New Trial Based on DNA and Other Evidence

Posted: January 7, 2009

Ronald Taylor and George Gould are currently serving 80 years for the 1993 murder of a local shop owner. Both men have always maintained that they did not commit the crime, and new DNA evidence secured by an unlikely source may help them get a new trial.

Taylor and Gould were both found guilty of murdering Eugenio Vega DeLeon 15 years ago. They were convicted largely based on eyewitness testimony and other circumstantial evidence. The men are currently waiting for a judge to decide whether they should get a new trial.

A private investigator hired by the public defender's office says that DNA found on an electrical cord used to tie the victim's hands together matches neither Taylor nor Gould. Despite the fact that this testing was done in 2006, New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington's office has yet to run the DNA profile from the cord in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) databank – which could identify who actually committed the murder. In nearly 40% of DNA exoneration cases nationwide, the actual perpetrator was later identified, often through DNA database searches.

The man who helped secure the DNA testing on the cord, Gerald O'Donnell, is a former Cheshire police officer who previously did work for Dearington's office. Over the course of three years, O'Donnell has compiled a thorough report that supports Taylor's and Gould's case; among his findings:

fingerprints found on the door handle of a safe in the victim’s store (where he was killed) are not Gould’s or Taylor’s, and police are now either unable or unwilling to locate the fingerprints for new analysis,
the state's main witness now admits in a taped interview that she lied at trial because police were threatening to send her to jail, and
another witness recanted her testimony, now saying that she was pressured by police to say she saw two black men in the victim's store.

Gould and Taylor served time on the same cellblock as Miguel Roman, who was released from prison a couple of weeks ago when DNA testing supported his claim of innocence.

Read the full story here. (Hartford Courant, 1/4/09)

Read more about Miguel Roman’s case.

Read more about James Tillman, who was exonerated through DNA testing in Connecticut in 2006.

Tags: Connecticut, James Tillman, Eyewitness Misidentification, DNA Databases, Fingerprints

Crime Lab Problems Continue to Plague Houston

Posted: June 28, 2010 6:19 pm

Defense attorney Patrick F. McCann wrote in an op-ed this weekend that the problem in Houston’s lab makes clear the need for forensic oversight:

Our leaders should create a regional crime lab, actually run by scientists, perhaps under a university, and not under any elected sheriff or appointed law enforcement officer, that can run actual, neutral and competent forensic testing untainted by pressure and uncorrupted by malfeasance or negligence. The people accused of crimes are owed that much. We as taxpayers are owed that much.

The Innocence Project is a member of the Just Science coalition, which supports federal and state support, research and oversight of forensic disciplines in the United States to ensure public safety and prevent wrongful convictions. Learn more about federal forensic reform efforts here.

Tags: Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics, Fingerprints

Fingerprint Could Clear Dallas Man

Posted: July 15, 2010 3:39 pm

The Richardson, Texas, police knew about an unknown fingerprint from the crime scene at the time, but still focused their investigation on Brodie. While Brodie was in prison, Richardson police discovered that the fingerprint on the victim’s window (the perpetrator’s point of entry), matched a man suspected in a string of similar sexual assaults. Brodie fought the conviction on the grounds of the fingerprint, but a judge denied his appeal in 1994, saying the confession outweighed the print.

If Brodie is freed, he would be the second person cleared in Richardson in two years based on evidence of innocence. Innocence Project client Thomas McGowan was wrongfully convicted in Richardson in 1986. He served 23 years before DNA tests on crime scene evidence proved his innocence and led to his exoneration. His wrongful conviction rested largely on the victim’s identification, given after a suggestive identification procedure.

Tags: Thomas McGowan, Fingerprints