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This week in history: exoneree anniversaries
Posted: July 16, 2007 1:41 pm
Eleven years ago today, Steven Toney walked out of a Missouri prison after serving 13 years for a rape he didn’t commit. A major factor in Toney’s wrongful conviction – and in 75 percent of wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA testing – was eyewitness misidentification. In Toney’s case, both the victim and an eyewitness identified him in lineup procedures.
Fifteen years ago today, Steven Linscott of Illinois was exonerated after serving three years in prison – and seven on bond while facing pending charges – for a crime he didn’t commit.
Others celebrating the anniversary of their exoneration this week:
Joe Jones, Kansas (Exonerated 07/17/1992)
Johnny Briscoe, Missouri (Exonerated 7/19/2006)
Perry Mitchell, South Carolina (Exonerated 7/20/98)
Tags: Johnny Briscoe, Joe Jones, Steven Linscott, Perry Mitchell, Steven Toney
Two years of freedom, after 23 years behind bars
Posted: July 16, 2008 5:10 pm
After serving 23 years in Missouri prison for a rape he didn’t commit, Johnny Briscoe was exonerated on July 19, 2006. Saturday marks the second anniversary of his exoneration.
Briscoe’s case highlights the unreliability of eyewitness identification. When a line-up was arranged for the victim back in the early 1980s, Briscoe was the only man (out of four) wearing an orange jumpsuit – “Halloween orange,” he would later tell The Denver Post. Possibly influenced by the jumpsuit, the victim misidentified Briscoe as her assailant — despite having spent an hour with the perpetrator in a well-lit room.
Eyewitness identification is the leading cause of wrongful conviction, and there are convictions everyday in the U.S. based only on identification. There are ways to reduce inaccuracy and prevent injustices from occurring today. Click here to learn about the Innocence Project’s recommended reforms.
Briscoe was represented by pro bono attorneys affiliated with Centurion Ministries, a non-profit legal organization based in New Jersey. Centurion and the Innocence Project are two of four organizations accepting wrongful conviction cases from across the country. View a list of innocence organizations here.
Other exoneration anniversaries this week:
Tuesday: Steven Linscott, Illinois (Served 3 years, Exonerated 7/16/92)
Today: Steven Toney, Missouri (Served 13 years, Exonerated 7/16/96)
Thursday: Joe Jones, Kansas (Served 6.5 years, Exonerated 7/17/92)
Tags: Johnny Briscoe, Joe Jones, Steven Linscott, Steven Toney
Struggling to Be Free
Posted: January 28, 2009 5:50 pm
A story on the front page of today’s USA Today examines the lives of exonerees after release, when not even conclusive proof of innocence can completely wash away the stigma of being in prison for decades.
Charles Chatman, 48, a Dallas-area man freed last year after 26 years in prison, tells of his "shame" in dealing with family members, many of them women, after his wrongful conviction — and even his exoneration — for aggravated rape.Learn more about the issues exonerees face after release here.
Other exonerees, such as Jerry Miller, 50, of suburban Chicago, carry court papers as commonly as driver's licenses to prove to potential employers and others that their convictions were overturned. Miller was convicted in the 1981 rape and kidnapping of a Chicago woman and spent 24 years in prison. He finished his sentence before being exonerated. In 2007, a year after his parole, he was cleared by DNA testing of the victim's clothes.
Illinois officials required him to register as a sex offender and attend counseling after his release but before his exoneration.
"My picture was on the Internet," he says of the required photo on the public sex offender registry. "I thought prison was bad. But (outside) I was like the scum of the earth." Illinois officials have since removed him from the state's database.
Read the full story here – and join the conversation going on in USA Today’s comments section.
Tags: Johnny Briscoe, Charles Chatman, Jerry Miller