Chris Conover spent 18 years in prison for a murder he did not commit before DNA evidence led to his release. 

In the late hours of October 20, 1984, three men broke into the Baltimore home of noted drug dealer Charles "Squeaky" Jordan.  Jordan, his wife and stepdaughter were all shot execution style.  The wife, Linda Jordan, survived the attack and described her assailants as two black men and a white man. She later identified African-American and fellow drug dealer Gregory Jones, as the trigger man in the murders.  Still lacking a white suspect, police zeroed in on Conover because of his history of drug-related arrests.  When shown his picture in a photo array, Linda Jordan stated that he "resembled" the white man she had seen.  She later selected him out of a lineup.

At trial, Conover presented numerous witnesses who testified that they had seen him at a birthday party at the time of the killings. In response, the prosecution presented the testimony of an FBI agent, who stated that microscopic examination of hairs found on victim Lisa Lynn Brown's body came from Conover. 

Chris Conover was convicted on May 23, 1985 and sentenced to life imprisonment. In prison, Conover tutored other inmates and was elected to the "Inmate Advisory Council." 

After ten years in prison, the New York City-based Innocence Project accepted his case. In 2001, DNA testing conclusively proved that the hairs found at the crime scene belonged to two white men, neither of whom was Conover.  Nevertheless, prosecutors continued to insist that Conover was guilty and threatened to retry him.  In 2003, Conover came to an agreement with prosecutors, whereby he was released from prison in return for an Alford plea.  By the terms of this plea, Conover maintained his innocence, but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. Thus, despite the physical evidence indicating his innocence, Conover has not been formally exonerated.  While the deal was not ideal for Conover, he chose accepted it in order to spare for their pain for his elderly mother and alleviate the recurrent panic attacks he suffered in prison.

Upon his release in 2003, Conover lived with his mother in her Towson apartment and acquired a job as a title researcher from a childhood friend.  His girlfriend has remained faithful to him since his 1984 arrest and they have reunited since his release. In an interview after his release, he told the Baltimore Sun that he simply wants to be a "regular old person."

Unfortunately, prosecutors maintain that they did not make a mistake in charging Chris Conover with murder.  They attribute the DNA results to a lucky break and steadfastly maintain their belief in his guilt.  As such, the hairs used to exclude Conover through DNA testing, have not been run through the state's database of DNA profiles.  Furthermore, DNA found in one of the victim’s underpants has not been tested, despite the Innocence Project’s stated willingness to pay all fees associated with the testing.  As of 2009, no one else has been charged with the Jordan and Brown murders.

Seven years after Henry Myron Roberts died in prison while serving time for a murder he did not commit, prosecutors acknowledged that they convicted the wrong man.

According to Roberts, an armed man broke into his home in the middle of the night on May 11, 1991, and attempted to steal his television. The two men got into an argument and Roberts was shot in the chest. His nephew Henry Robert Harrison, who was staying with him at the time, was mistakenly shot at by the assailant and killed.

After suffering serious wounds, Roberts passed out. Upon regaining consciousness, Roberts found his nephew dead. While hospitalized for his wounds and recovering from surgery, Roberts gave several inconsistent descriptions of his attacker.  Furthermore, prosecutors identified the murder weapon as a .22 caliber handgun registered to Roberts and found buried in a nearby creek handgun. Roberts claimed that it had been stolen in a previous robbery. Prosecutors contended that Roberts was the killer and had purposely shot himself to cover up the crime.

The 63 year old Roberts steadfastly maintained his innocence, but initially sought to avoid jail time by agreeing to a plea bargain that would have resulted in a suspended sentence for manslaughter. However, Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Johnson rejected the plea deal as unduly lenient. Roberts went to trial and was convicted of second degree murder in January 1992. Throughout his prison sentence, Roberts proclaimed his innocence.

Shortly after Roberts had been sentenced, an anonymous female caller told police that 18 year old Robert James Tomczewski had committed the crime. This tip was filed away and Henry Roberts languished in prison. In 2000, a new witness came forward and implicated Tomczewski. Richard D. Stone told police that he witnessed Tomczewski break into Roberts’ home on the night in question and heard the subsequent gun shots. Stone was seventeen at the time of the murder and came forward nine years later after being racked with guilt. Tomczewski was interviewed while incarcerated on an unrelated assault charge. He initially denied any knowledge of the murder. However, his cellmate told police that Tomczewski had previously confessed that “a long time ago, he had killed a guy in an old man’s house.” Tomczewski pleaded guilty to the murder in 2002 and was given a ten year sentence.

When prosecutors sought Henry Roberts’ release from prison, they learned that he had died of heart failure on December 22, 1995, after collapsing outside of his cell at the Maryland House of Corrections. He was 65. Roberts maintained his innocence until the very end, but did not live to see his vindication.

Aaron Michael Howard, who was released from prison in 2008 after serving 18 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, joined community members at a church in Southeast Washington D.C. for the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project’s first ever legal clinic last week.  

Residents of the Southeast and Southwestern quadrants of the District of Columbia, as well as Prince George’s County, Maryland, attended the clinic at Matthews Memorial Baptist Church. Those in attendance learned more about MAIP’s work to correct wrongful convictions and had the opportunity to tell MAIP staff members and law students from the Innocence Project at Catholic University of America about their loved ones’ cases.

After the intake, Howard spoke to the crowd. He discussed his conviction, his time in prison, the work that his legal team did to prove his innocence, and his time since his release.  He then fielded questions from those in attendance.

The clinic was part of MAIP’s efforts to expand awareness of its work in the District of Columbia.  Because people convicted in Washington DC are sent around the country to facilities managed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, it is more difficult for them to learn about and reach MAIP to investigate their wrongful convictions claims.

In the months leading up to the clinic, MAIP Board Member Gina Harps and Program Assistant Daniel Satin attended meetings of various Ward 7 and Ward 8 civic associations and meetings over the Advisory Neighborhood Council.  Harps and Satin plan on continuing their outreach and hope to have its next clinic in March.    

Click here to see more pictures of the event on MAIP’s Facebook page.

Thanks to the work of a legal team led by MAIP Board Member Barry Pollack, a New York man who spent seventeen years behind bars for a murder he did not commit was exonerated last week.

Despite the lack of any forensic evidence, Fernando Bermudez was convicted of the 1991 shooting of then sixteen-year-old Raymond Blount outside a New York City nightclub.  Blount was shot on the street shortly after punching another teenager, Efraim Lopez, in the Marc Ballroom near Manhattan’s Union Square.  Lopez testified at trial as a cooperating witness, implicating Bermudez as the shooter.

In the years after Bermudez was convicted, all five eyewitnesses against him, Lopez and four eyewitnesses who had testified at trial identifying Bermudez as the shooter, recanted their testimony.  Three of those witnesses reiterated that their trial testimony was inaccurate in a hearing this September.  Other eyewitnesses at that hearing also testified that Bermudez was not the person who shot Mr. Blount.  At the hearing, significant evidence was also presented implicating another individual, a drug dealer who was a friend of Lopez, as the murderer.
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Edward Green became the first person in the District of Columbia to be exonerated by DNA evidence. On July 3, 1987, a woman was raped on a footbridge in Southeast DC. On August 5, 1987, a second victim managed to escape a similar rape attempt and alert the police. After being arrested near the scene of the crimes, Green was charged with rape and assault with intent to rape.

At trial, the prosecution’s case hinged upon the testimony of the two victims, both of whom positively identified Green in court. One of the victims also selected Greene out of a photo array and lineup, while the other identified him in a “show-up” conducted on the street. Green’s blood type also matched that of the assailant. After three hours of deliberation, a jury convicted Greene of rape, while acquitting him on charges of assault with intent to rape.

Even after his conviction, Edward Green steadfastly maintained his innocence. Prior to sentencing, the defense conducted DNA testing on fluids found on the victim’s clothes, comparing them with blood samples provided by Green and the victim. Despite several objections by the prosecution, the trial judge postponed sentencing proceedings, pending the results of the DNA testing.  In February of 1990, world renowned laboratory, Cellmark Diagnostics, issued a report excluding Edward Green as the source of the semen found on the victim’s clothes.

Based upon this conclusive evidence, the DC Superior Court granted a defense motion for a new trial on March 19, 1990. Subsequently, the US Attorney dropped all charges against him and Green soon became a free man.

Edward Green continues to use his experiences as a platform to speak out against the perils of wrongful conviction and was prominently featured in a 2006 Washington City News article about the promise of DNA testing and the challenges faced by those seeking to use it to establish innocence. To date, Edward Green has not been compensated for his nine months of imprisonment on the false rape charges, nor has the true rapist ever been found.