CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Criminal Law Blog by Defense Lawyer John Floyd and Mr. Billy Sinclair

October 29, 2011

ANOTHER INNOCENT MAN FREED AFTER MISTAKEN IDENTIFICATION

Filed under: Sexual Assault Crime Attorney — Tags: , , , — johntfloyd @ 2:15 pm

Innocence Project Strikes Again: Henry James Freed After 30 Years

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

Thanks to the efforts of the New York-based Innocence Project, Henry James became the 273rd inmate in this country to be exonerated by DNA evidence. The first inmate exonerated by DNA came in 1989, and according to the Innocence Project, there have been 206 DNA exonerations since 2000. James, who was 20 years of age when arrested for the aggravated rape of a neighbor, served one month sigh of 30 years in the Louisiana prison system for that wrongful conviction. The average amount of time served by all the DNA exonerees is 13 years.

That Henry James is a free man today is nothing short of a miracle. James Trigg, director of the New Orleans chapter of the Innocence Project, spearheaded the release effort of James. It was a difficult effort, as Trigg told the AP, because it was believed that all the original evidence in the case was lost. Then in May 2010 a Jefferson Parish crime lab technician named Milton Dureau, who was working on another case, stumbled upon a “slide of evidence” which had been used in the James case. DNA testing of that evidence clearly established James’ innocence. Vanessa Potkin, a Senior Staff attorney with the Innocence Project, said after James’ exoneration:

“Far too often searches for DNA evidence in old cases come up empty handed, which is why the federal government set up the Bloodsworth grant program to help police crime labs catalogue evidence. New Orleans Parish has already taken advantage of this program, but as this case so clearly demonstrates, jurisdictions everywhere must do a better job of cataloguing evidence to help correct injustice.”

After exhausting all his legal appeals, James seemed destined to spend the rest of his life at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Then the Innocence Project and the law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP believed his longstanding pleas of innocence and took up his freedom cause. This legal team filed a motion seeking DNA testing of the original “rape kit,” and while the Jefferson Parish crime lab was “cooperative,” the initial search for this evidence produced no results. A follow up search in February 2010 produced the same disheartening result. But then Dureau came across the “slide” evidence and the DNA test results released in September 2011 revealed James was, in fact, innocent as he had claimed all along.

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August 1, 2010

MISTAKEN IDENTIFICATIONS SENT TWO INNOCENT MEN TO PRISON

Filed under: Houston Criminal Lawyer — Tags: , , , , , — johntfloyd @ 5:01 pm

Suggestive Police Procedures and Mistaken Identification Resulted in Two More Wrongful Convictions and Incarcerations, One for 27 Years

By: Houston Criminal Attorney John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

Our criminal justice system is flawed. Its imperfections can be found in the 255 DNA exonerations of innocent offenders and the 138 people released from death row since 1973 in this country. But, paradoxically, its perfection lies in its willingness and ability to correct the imperfections brought about by human mistake. According to the New York-based Innocence Project, mistaken identification is the “greatest cause for wrongful convictions,” playing a role in 75 percent of the nation’s DNA exonerations. Twice this year we have posted pieces dealing with the dangers, and, yes, tragedies caused by, the mistaken pointed finger (here and here).

Two recent Harris County cases involving wrongful convictions of innocent men brought about because of mistaken identification illustrate not only the tragedy but just how easy it for an innocent man to be sent to prison, especially with emotionally charged crimes such as sexual assault. The first case brought to the public’s attention by the Houston Chronicle (here, here, here, and here) was Allen Wayne Porter who was convicted of rape and robbery in 1991. The case from the outset had some strange twists and turns.

In June 1990, three armed masked men invaded a Houston apartment where they terrorized and robbed its four occupants, and also raped its two female occupants. The apartment reportedly was the residence of a known drug dealer and the armed intruders were looking for $30,000 in cash. The leader of the trio was Porter’s nephew, a man named Jimmy Hatton. Another man, though never charged with the crime, named Perry Harrison would later admit to being one of the other two men who accompanied Hatton. The robbers were driven to the drug dealer’s apartment by Hatton’s former wife, Stephanie Wallace-Venters.

Hatton was arrested shortly after the home invasion. He was put on trial in December 1990. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Porter attended the trial and was seen by one of the rape victims who immediately identified him as one of her attackers. Porter was arrested, put to trial in 1991, and, like his nephew, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

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May 18, 2010

TWO MORE DNA EXONERATIONS

Filed under: Houston Criminal Lawyer — Tags: , , , , , , — johntfloyd @ 3:41 pm

Criminal Defense Lawyers Must Never Give up, Never Lose Faith That Justice Will Ultimately Prevail

By: Houston Criminal Attorney John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

There have been at least 254 DNA exonerations in this country, according to the Innocence Project of New York. Each new DNA exoneration cast a dark shadow over the nation’s criminal justice system, particularly its judicial system. These exonerations are not only a barometer for measuring the imperfections of our system of justice but the failings of its adversarial nature either through law enforcement misconduct or “tunnel vision,” prosecutorial zeal or ineffective defense representation. It is a shame each of us involved the justice system must endure, a constant reminder that we can all do better; that we must do better.

The latest two DNA exonerations—one in New York, the other in Ohio—really underscore that point. In November 1988, Viola Manville, a 74-year-old grandmother, was bludgeoned to death in Monroe County, New York. The elderly woman was attacked as she walked near her home in Hilton, a Rochester suburb.

In July 1991 Frank Sterling, a truck driver, was questioned about the Manville murder. After an all-night interrogation session (which had been preceded by a 36-hour work shift), Sterling confessed to the brutal murder. He later recanted the confession, claiming he slipped into a “hypnotic state” and simply recounted details about the crime given to him by the police. He was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in the New York prison system.

In 1994 Mark Christie was imprisoned for the strangulation death of a four year old neighbor, Kali Ann Poulton. It would prove to be a significant development in the Sterling case.

Sterling’s attorney, Donald Thompson, had worked since the mid-1990s to establish his client’s innocence. In 2004 he managed to enlist the support of the Innocence Project to help him. The project obtained DNA evidence from Manville’s clothes, and while it was not a definitive match, the match was sufficient to identify Mark Christie as the potential murderer. After two interview sessions with John G. Reid & Associates, a private investigation firm that specializes in interrogation techniques and hired by the Innocence Project, Christie confessed, providing details only the killer would know.

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April 29, 2010

THE DANGERS OF CRIMINAL IDENTIFICATIONS

Filed under: Houston Criminal Lawyer — Tags: , , , , — johntfloyd @ 1:14 am

Legislatively Mandated Innocence Commission to Review Claims of Wrongful Convictions and Bring Accountability for Wrongful Convictions Needed

By: Houston Criminal Attorney John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

There have been 252 DNA exonerations in this country through April 2010. Seventy-five percent of those were the result of mistaken identification. KHOU television in Houston reported recently 85% of Texas’ DNA exonerations—the most in the nation—involved mistaken identification.

Two-thirds of all the DNA exonerations involving mistaken identifications were against black men. The KHOU report highlighted that Texas leads the nation in wrongful convictions. Television reporter Brad Woodard cited the Harris County case of Anthony Robinson. Twenty-three years ago a young, articulate, and pretty woman whom prosecutors described as a “dream witness” identified Robinson as the black man who raped her at the University of Houston. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison, and served nine years and 11 months before his innocence was established.

“Being placed into a very violent, primitive, evil situation where every morning you wake up and ask yourself, ‘Is this the day I’m going to die?’ or ‘Is this the day I’m going to have to kill someone so I can make it back to my cell, so I can sleep?’” Robinson told Woodard.

Since his exoneration, Robinson has worked closely with Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, to increase compensation from the state for those wrongly convicted.

“We ought to do everything we can to make sure another human doesn’t have to go through what Anthony Robinson went through,” Ellis told Woodard. “It’s not just that individual – it’s their family. It’s their children.”

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February 26, 2010

PROBLEMS WITH POSITIVE IDENTIFICATIONS

Filed under: Houston Criminal Lawyer — Tags: , , , , , — johntfloyd @ 3:57 pm

Leading Cause of Wrongful Convictions: Mistaken Identification by Eyewitnesses

By: Houston Criminal Attorney John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

There have been 251 innocent people exonerated in this country by DNA evidence over the last two decades. The most disturbing aspect of this phenomenon of “convicting the innocent” is that more than 75 percent of those convictions involved mistaken identifications (according to the New York-based Innocence Project)—one or more witnesses pointing a finger of guilt at the wrong person. What is even more disturbing is that at least one-third of these mistaken identification cases involved two or more witnesses.

The lesson in these shocking figures is that what people see, or believe they saw, is not always reliable. This is especially true when the witness identification procedure is corrupted by rogue cops deliberately trying to frame innocent individuals. That’s what happened to Donald Wayne Good who, on June 18, 1983, was arrested, charged, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment in Irving, Texas for an aggravated rape, aggravated robbery, and burglary of a habitation for which he did not commit.

Beyond a doubt someone did break into the home of “Jane Doe,” bound her and her eight-year-old daughter, and forced Doe into a bedroom in the home where he raped the mother. The local Irving Police Department arrived after and processed the crime scene. The rape victim was taken to a local hospital where a “rape kit” examination was performed. After this examination was conducted, the victim met with investigators at which time she described her attacker as a white male in his mid-20s, six feet tall, weighing 190 pounds, clean shaven, with a dark tanned medium or large build, and blondish-brown hair. Based on this description, a police sketched artist prepared a “composite sketch” which was distributed throughout the Irving Police Department.

This is where Irving police detective Fred Curtis came into the picture. One of the detectives assigned to the Doe rape investigation, Curtis had been investigating a number of other “unsolved daytime burglaries” in the area. Curtis believed Good, who had been arrested three days (and subsequently released) before the Doe rape for bond forfeiture of a previous DWI arrest, was involved in the daytime burglaries. The detective called Good into his office to interview him about the string of burglaries. The interrogation didn’t go well for Curtis because Good refused to cooperate with the investigation. At this point in the interrogation the detective snatched up the composite sketch of the Doe rapist he had just received and told Good he looked “somewhat similar” to the rapist. And the detective then threatened Good by telling the suspect that he could “fix it” to make sure Good looked just like the Doe rapist if he didn’t cooperate. Good still refused to cooperate.

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