CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

False Allegations of Rape, Convictions Based Exclusively on Uncorroborated Testimony

By: Houston Criminal Defense Attorney John Floyd and Senior Paralegal Billy Sinclair

18 years ago Robert McClendon, then 34 years of age, was convicted and sentenced to 15 years to life in Franklin County, Ohio for allegedly raping a 10-year-old girl. Prosecutors charged that McClendon took a 10-year-old relative from her backyard and drove her to another house where he raped her. There was no physical evidence linking him to the alleged rape. The prosecution relied almost exclusively on the testimony of the child victim. The prosecution’s belief that it had the “right man” was influenced by the fact that McClendon, when he was 19 years of age, had been convicted of “corruption of a minor” involving consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl.

McClendon would have spent the rest of his life in prison. He had already been denied parole release in 2007. Parole release is nearly impossible for an inmate who refuses to acknowledge his guilt for the crime for which he stands convicted. But then in 2007 two law students, Dan O’Brien and Mike Harrington, who were working with the Ohio Innocence Project based with the University of Cincinnati Law School, were assigned McClendon’s case. They called the prosecutor’s office and learned that a pair of underpants worn by the victim had been sitting around the prosecutor’s office for years.

The Ohio Innocence Project, joined by the Columbus Dispatch newspaper, started applying pressure to have McClendon’s DNA compared to samples found in the victim’s underwear. Testing ultimately demonstrated that McClendon’s DNA did not match the DNA in the victim’s underpants.

Earlier this year two other UC law students, Megan Tonner and Courtney Cunningham, took over the case for the Innocence Project. They filed a motion for a new trial. On August 11, 2008 state District Court Judge Charles Schneider granted the motion and ordered McClendon freed from prison.

“You know, you go through times where you feel it might not happen, but you never, ever give up hope,” McClendon was quoted by Associated Press after his release. “You don’t ever use the word, ‘never happen.’ It’s not healthy.” (more…)