After serving more than 18 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, D.C. native Edward Bell has been released from prison after MAIP and co-counsel at Venable LLP uncovered evidence of his innocence and negotiated a deal with prosecutors to set him free.

Mr. Bell was convicted of being one of four assailants in a 1991 murder and armed robbery. By all accounts, four men got out of a red Jeep Cherokee in Northeast D.C. Two entered a building where the crimes were committed. The other two men served as look-out and getaway driver.  The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) quickly arrested the two shooters and one of the accomplices after each was identified by multiple eyewitnesses at the scene.  However, no one could identify the second accomplice.

Several months after the murder was committed, one of the eyewitnesses changed his initial version of the story, naming Mr. Bell as the fourth assailant.  This man, the government’s star witness against Mr. Bell, was facing 30 years behind bars for a pair of drug distribution charges.  In exchange for his testimony against Mr. Bell, one of those charges was dropped, and the other charge was reduced to seven months. This single eyewitness testimony was the only evidence against Mr. Bell.  There was no physical evidence and nothing else linking Mr. Bell to the crime.  Nevertheless, Mr. Bell was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years to life.

Mr. Bell adamantly maintained his innocence and continued fighting for his freedom since the time of his arrest.  A few years after his conviction, the government eyewitness recanted his testimony and maintained that he was pressured into naming Mr. Bell.  Unfortunately, that recantation was not enough to gain Mr. Bell a new trial.

A new witness ultimately came forward and named the fourth assailant in the crime.  This new witness’s testimony closely matched the testimony provided by the government’s other eyewitnesses in the case (those who did not name Mr. Bell).  Based on this new witness, Mr. Bell filed a pro se petition (i.e. on his own) under the D.C. Innocence Protection Act. Judge A. Franklin Burgess granted Mr. Bell a hearing and appointed both an attorney, Patricia Newton, and an investigator, Ronetta Johnson.  Ms. Johnson, who knew of MAIP because of her work on the Aaron Michael Howard case, contacted MAIP Executive Director Shawn Armbrust and asked MAIP to get involved in the case.  MAIP became persuaded of Mr. Bell’s innocence and, with the help of MAIP Board member Seth Rosenthal, recruited Paul Kemp and Sig Libowitz from his firm, Venable LLP, to serve as co-counsel.

Libowitz jumped at the opportunity to work with Kemp, and became even more convinced of their efforts when they began delving deeper into Mr. Bell’s case.  Reading the trial transcript, Libowitz thought that one could “drive a train through all the reasonable doubt” that surrounded the case.  After meeting Mr. Bell, Kemp and Libowitz were sure that “something did not match up,” and they were committed to representing him to the best of their abilities.

Additional evidence came to light, which added even greater depth to the team’s efforts. For many years, Mr. Bell had attempted to attain a copy of the police file relating to his case through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. His persistence eventually paid off when, 15 years after his incarceration, he was finally granted the records and obtained information about yet another witness at the scene whose testimony also contradicted that of the government’s star witness.  The legal team followed this lead and recognized that this newly discovered witness statement severely damaged the government’s case, as it sharply contradicted the testimony of the government’s star eyewitness (who had, as mentioned, later recanted).  Equally important, this newly discovered witness statement matched far more closely with both the other witnesses accounts from the evening and the crime scene findings.

Digging further, Mr. Bell and his new legal team petitioned the judge for permission to review the grand jury transcripts. Following an evidentiary hearing, came the discovery that the government had brought this newly discovered witness before the grand jury where he again provided exculpatory evidence of Mr. Bell’s involvement in the crime. Sadly, this information was never shared with Mr. Bell or any of his original or appellate counsel.

 “This new witness statement contradicted the prosecution’s star witness’ statements almost point-by-point,” Libowitz said.  “The two men stood in almost exactly the same place again and again throughout the crime, yet these same two men reported seeing a different number of assailants, a different number of guns, different getaway cars and they differed over other significant details. Additionally, it was striking that this new eyewitness’ testimony remained consistent over seven months (from the date of the crime when the newly discovered  eyewitness was first questioned by police until the time he was brought before the grand jury) because the  government’s star witness had already changed his story multiple times.”

Shortly before the D.C. Innocence Protect Act hearing was scheduled, the United States Attorney’s Office initiated conversation with the legal team about a plea deal.  They offered to release Mr. Bell and drop all the charges with no parole or probation. In exchange, Mr. Bell would plead to a lesser sentence of voluntary manslaughter while armed (while still being allowed to maintain his innocence of all charges on the record) and a sentence of time served.

“It was a really difficult decision to make obviously, and we told Mr. Bell that it was ultimately his choice,” Libowitz said. While the legal team was confident they could prevail at trial, the prosecution had presented Bell with “an offer he couldn’t refuse; after 19-years in prison, it’s hard to bet against a sure thing,” Libowitz said.

Presented with the opportunity to win his freedom and return to his family after nearly two decades behind bars, Mr. Bell agreed to accept the deal.  

“It was a difficult decision to make because I felt I was accepting a level of guilt that wasn’t rightfully mine,” Bell said. “As much as I wanted to prove my innocence, I had to think about who I had the chance to come back home to, and in the bigger picture it was the right decision.”

On February 2, 2010, Judge Burgess accepted the plea agreement and Mr. Bell was released from jail in March 2010.

Bell describes his relief as “a huge weight being lifted. I can’t explain how it feels having the pressure of fighting my case disappear.”

Since leaving prison, Bell has reunited with friends and family members, including his daughter and 4-year-old grandson, who he recently met for the first time. Mr. Bell is currently devotedly looking for work and plans to enroll in college next year.

MAIP wishes Mr. Bell the best and is grateful for the hard work that Kemp, Libowitz and Johnson put in to working with us to help Mr. Bell win his much deserved freedom.

Tags: MAIP,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, Edward, Bell,, Wrongfully, Convicted

The panel was moderated by MAIP Executive Director Shawn Armbrust and hosted by the Washington College of Law.

You can watch the panel here.

Tags: MAIP,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, Wrongfully, Convicted,, Aaron, Michael, Howard,, Washington, College, of, Law,, Venable, LLP

In November 1974, the three men were leaving a birthday party at a bar in Washington D.C. with other guests when an altercation started with three other men.  Minutes later, as the men headed back to their vehicles, two of the three other men returned and one of them shot a member of Damien, Sousa and Eastridge’s group.

Upon hearing gunshots, Sousa got into his car and drove away while Damien and Eastridge attempted to leave the scene on foot. Four members of the men’s group chased after the shooter, Johnnie Battle, and stabbed him to death in retaliation for shooting their friend.  All of the men fled the scene before police could arrive.

Sousa eventually saw Damien and Eastridge and picked them up, also picking up Steve Jones, who had been a member of their party.  What the three men did not know was that Jones was one of the four men to chase and stab Battle.  Sousa also did not know the area of Washington D.C. and eventually ended up back at the bar they had just hastily left.

Back at the scene of the crime, all four men were questioned by police.  Because Jones had blood on his clothes, all four men were immediately identified as suspects. The police searched Sousa’s car and uncovered a couple of old knives.

Still, police did not have enough evidence to convict the men until seven months later, when Sousa’s ex-girlfriend Dorothy Willetts told police that Both Sousa and Eastridge had confessed to committing the crime on multiple occasions. She never said anything about Damien allegedly confessing, but he was also charged and convicted for the murder.

In 1989, Centurion Ministries Investigator Kate Germond began reinvestigating the case.  For the next fifteen years Germond tracked down and interviewed a large number of people with knowledge about the night.  Germond discovered that Willetts had made up the story after a bitter breakup with Sousa.  Germond received statement’s from nearly all of the witnesses that were allegedly present during these confessions and they each confirmed that Willetts had made them up.

Steve Jones, who had also maintained his innocence all along, eventually confessed to his involvement in the crime and named the three other men who had actually chased down and killed Battle.  Using this information, Germond spoke with other people who were there that night, each of whom confirmed Jones’ statement.

Centurion turned the case over to a legal team which included lawyers from Wilmer Hale.  In 2005, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer vacated their sentences and prosecutors agreed not to retry the men. Sadly Damien, who had been released on parole in 1995, passed away after suffering a heart attack months before his name was cleared.
   

Estes and a 13-year-old boy were found near the scene where 33-year-old Donna Turner was robbed of her purse and stabbed in the chest by two other young men. Estes and his co-defendant were interrogated for 11 hours without being read their Miranda rights and had no attorneys present before the younger boy confessed to the crimes. False confessions are one of the lead causes of wrongful convictions. The boy later alleged that his confession was a repetition of what police officers told him to say.

The two boys lived together at a group home. They were registered as leaving the home 25 minutes before the crime was committed, though it would have taken them nearly an hour to get there by foot and they had no access to cars.

Despite the questionable confession and circumstantial evidence, Estes was convicted of murder and armed robbery and sentenced to life in prison.

A year after Estes was convicted, two other young men were arrested in suspicion of committing two other similar murders. While being interrogated, police discovered that Lawrence Johnson, 18 and Dwayne Mayers, 20, had actually murdered Turner. The two confessed to the murder and Estes was released in March 1980.

Four years after being exonerated, Estes was compensated $16,500 for his wrongful conviction. Both Mayers and Johnson are still incarcerated for their multiple murders.

Tags: MAIP,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, Innocence, Project,, Cornell, Estes,, Exoneration,, False, Confessions,, Wrongful, Convictions

In the early morning of December 30, 1984, a 37-year-old woman was abducted, beaten, raped and strangled by an unknown African-American man while she was waiting at a bus stop in Alexandria, VA.

Shortly after the victim told police her assailant was tall, think and wearing a green jacket, Thurman was found near the crime scene matching the description the victim gave.  The victim and another witness later identified Thurman as the assailant.  Mistaken witness identification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions.

Mary Jane Burton, an analyst at a Virginia state crime lab, analyzed biological evidence found on the victim’s underwear.  Under the limited forensic technology available at the time, all Burton was able to confirm was that the assailant had Type B blood type.  Though Thurman does have Type B blood, it is a type shared by 20 percent of African-American men.

Thurman was convicted and sentenced to 31 years in prison.  He served 20 years before being released on parole, at age 50, on November 17, 2004.  Throughout his prison stay, he maintained his innocence and wrote to lawyers, judges, lawmakers and organizations asking for help.  When he was released, he was forced to register in Virginia as a sex offender.

After Burton died in 1999, it was discovered that she kept samples of many of the cases she analyzed.  In 2001, 2003 and 2004, tests using her samples proved that Marvin Anderson , Julius Earl Ruffin and Arthur Whitfield were all innocent of the crimes they were convicted of.

Thanks in part to the urging of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, then Gov. Warner decided to test a random sample of the evidence left behind by Burton.  On December 14, 2005, Gov. Warner announced that of the 31 samples tested, two indicated that the wrong man was convicted of the crime: Phillip Thurman and Willie Davidson.

The testing used the same sample Burton analyzed from the victim’s underwear.  On December 14, 2005, Gov. Warner announced that not only did the testing exclude Mr. Thurman, but it also produced a cold hit from a known rapist in Virginia’s DNA database.  

On December 22, 2005, Gov. Warner issued a pardon for both Thurman and Davidson.  Thurman was eventually given an undisclosed amount in compensation for his wrongful conviction.

The results of these experimental tests proved that a number of wrongfully convicted people could prove their innocence through the DNA samples that Mary Jane Burton kept.  As a result, Gov. Warner fully authorized the Old Case Testing Project, which MAIP is helping to coordinate to guarantee that every case sample Burton maintained could be tested.

On November 27, 1980, Thanksgiving Day, a 66-year-old Norfolk woman woke up in the middle of the night to find a masked man wearing gloves, a cap and a coat sexually assaulting her. 

While being interviewed by police, the victim did not give any indication of knowing her attacker.  However, after police informants led police to Willie Davidson, the victim picked him out of a photo lineup, saying he had been at her house the day before her attack.  Days later, Davidson was brought to the jail wearing a stocking over his head, where the victim stated that he looked like her attacker.  Mistaken witness identification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions.

At trial, a lab analyst testified that semen was found on tissues that the perpetrator used to clean himself after the rape.  Serology testing revealed Type O blood on the tissue, the same blood type as the victim.  Because Davidson is a nonsecretor, semen and other bodily fluids cannot determine his blood type.  The analyst testified that the perpetrator could have only had Type O blood or have been a nonsecretor.  This testimony contradicted with known serological truths.  In fact, because the victim’s blood could have masked the semen of any perpetrator, no blood type could have been excluded by the tests.  This testimony was highly misleading to the jury.

Furthermore, the analyst testified that one pubic hair found on the crime scene was “consistent” with Mr. Davidson’s public hair.  Hair examination is not considered a science and is completely based on the physical observations of the analyst.

The victim also testified at trial that she had known Mr. Davidson and his family all his life.  Davidson’s family had moved away for many years and she had not seen him again until his family visited the victim’s house the day before the attack.

Despite the weak evidence against him, Davidson was convicted of rape, sodomy and robbery and convicted to 20 years in prison.  He was released on parole in 1993 after serving 12 years.  As part of his parole, Davidson was forced to register as a sex offender and spend over a decade outside of prison as a convicted rapist.

After Virginia Department of Forensic Science analyst Mary Jane Burton died in 1999, it was discovered that she kept samples of many of the cases she analyzed.  In 2001, 2003 and 2004, tests using her samples proved that Marvin Anderson , Julius Earl Ruffin and Arthur Whitfield were all innocent of the crimes they were convicted of.

Thanks in part to the urging of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, then Gov. Warner decided to test a random sample of the evidence left behind by Burton.  On December 14, 2005, Gov. Warner announced that of the 31 samples tested, two indicated that the wrong man was convicted of the crime: Phillip Thurman and Willie Davidson.

On December 22, 2005, Gov. Warner issued a pardon for both Thurman and Davidson.  Davidson was eventually given an undisclosed amount in compensation for his wrongful conviction.

The results of these experimental tests proved that a number of wrongfully convicted people could prove their innocence through the DNA samples that Mary Jane Burton kept.  As a result, Gov. Warner began the Old Case Testing Project, which MAIP is helping to coordinate to guarantee that every case sample Burton maintained could be tested.

Mr. Gates has always maintained his innocence.  Now, thanks to the hard work of Parisa Dehghani-Tafti and others from the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, he finally has regained his freedom. 
     
Gates was convicted for the June 1981 murder of Catherine Schilling in Rock Creek Park. Prosecutors claimed that the 21-year-old Schilling was on her way home from work when Gates attempted to rob her. When she resisted, they said, he raped her and then shot her in the head.

FBI Special Agent Michael Malone told jurors that two pubic hairs found on Schilling’s body were microscopically identical to a sample taken from Gates.  A woman also testified that Gates tried to rob her in the same park less than three weeks earlier. A convicted felon also testified that Gates confessed the crime to him shortly after it occurred.

Gates has always maintained his innocence on these charges and claims to have never met the informant Gerald Mack Smith, who was paid over $1000 to provide his testimony.  Four other cases that Smith had been paid to testify in eventually were dismissed. Incentivized snitch testimony is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions.

It later surfaced that Malone had given false testimony in a series of murder cases across the country. Malone was singled out in a report by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, and his record was the subject of a Wall Street Journal investigation. Malone later admitted to lying on the stand in a death penalty case in Florida, the defense wrote.  Lab fraud is another leading contributor of wrongful convictions.

In 2008, PDS filed a motion to have further DNA testing done on Schillings's remains. Those and subsequent tests showed that Gates didn't commit the crime and also DNA of a man who tests say cannot have been Gates.

During a review of Malone’s work, the Justice Department asked the District’s U.S. Attorney’s Office to look at the Gates’ case. In 2003, a forensic scientist found that Malone’s lab report was not supported by his notes. Defense lawyers claim those findings were passed on to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, but never were revealed to Gates’ counsel.
       
"This is outrageous," Judge Ugast said in regards to Malone’s faulty analysis. He ordered a review of all convictions in the District in which Malone testified. "We are trying to right a wrong," he said.

Gates, now 58, was released from prison with $75 and a bus ticket to Ohio.  Since his exoneration, Gates has moved to Knox County, TN to be with family.  He has not yet been compensated for his wrongful conviction.

Click here to watch MAIP Executive Director Shawn Armbrust discuss the case with DC's Fox 5 News.

Among its extensive coverage of the case, the Washington Post wrote this editorial of the Gates case, and also caught up with him a few weeks after his exoneration to see how he was settling to his new life.       

Tags: Donald, Gates,, DNA,, Lab, Fraud,, Exoneration,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, MAIP,, PDS

Click here to watch the video.

Tags: MAIP,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, DNA,, Donald, Gates

Mr. Gates has always maintained his innocence.  Now, thanks to the hard work of Parisa Deghani-Tafti and others from the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, he finally has regained his freedom.  

Judge Fred Ugast’s ruling frees Gates, but it does not exonerate him.  Prosecutors requested additional testing to verify the results, and a separate hearing next week to make a final determination.
       
Gates was convicted for the June 1981 murder of Catherine Schilling in Rock Creek Park. Prosecutors claimed that the 21-year-old Schilling was on her way home from work when Gates attempted to rob her. When she resisted, they said, he raped her and then shot her in the head.

FBI Special Agent Michael Malone told jurors that two pubic hairs found on Schilling’s body were microscopically identical to a sample taken from Gates.  A woman also testified that Gates tried to rob her in the same park less than three weeks earlier. A convicted felon also testified that Gates confessed the crime to him shortly after it occurred.

Gates has always maintained his innocence on these charges and claims to have never met the informant, who was paid to provide his testimony.  Incentivized snitch testimony is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions.

According to Gates’ attorneys from the District of Columbia Public Defender Service, it later surfaced that Malone had given false testimony in a series of murder cases across the country. Malone was singled out in a report by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, and his record was the subject of a Wall Street Journal investigation. Malone later admitted to lying on the stand in a death penalty case in Florida, the defense wrote.

Last year, PDS filed a motion to have further DNA testing done on Schillings's remains. Those and subsequent tests showed that Gates didn't commit the crime and also discovered another man's DNA, attorneys said in court.

It was unclear Tuesday whether authorities know whose DNA they have, but no new arrests have been made. To make a link to a specific person's DNA, officials would have to submit the genetic material to national databases and get a match. Only convicted criminals are in the databases.

During a review of Malone’s work, the Justice Department asked the District’s U.S. Attorney’s Office to look at the Gates’ case. In 2003, a forensic scientist found that Malone’s lab report was not supported by his notes. Defense lawyers claim those findings were passed on to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, but never were revealed to Gates’ counsel.
        
"This is outrageous," Judge Ugast said in regards to Malone’s faulty analysis. He ordered a review of all convictions in the District in which Malone testified. "We are trying to right a wrong," he said.

Another hearing was scheduled for Dec. 23, at which prosecutors will review all the DNA testing to determine whether Gates should be exonerated for the crimes and not have to register as a sex offender.

"Mr. Gates has been fighting to prove that he is innocent of this crime," said Sandra Levick, one of Gates’ PDS attorneys. "On behalf of my client, we are thankful he is now being released," Levick said.

MAIP would like to congratulate Tafti, who worked tirelessly to locate the evidence and obtain DNA testing, Levick, and the rest of the PDS team.  We also want to commend the work of Metropolitan Police Department Detective Jim Trainum, whose efforts to locate the evidence in this case were critical.

We wish Mr. Gates the best of luck.

Click here to watch MAIP Executive Director Shawn Armbrust discuss the case with DC's Fox 5 News.

Click here to read a Washington Post Editorial about the Gates case.

Click here to watch Armbrust and two exonerees discuss the Gates case and give Mr. Gates advice for his future.

Tags: Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, MAIP,, DNA,, Donald, Gates

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.

Tags: MAIP,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, Wrongfully, Convicted,, Chris, Conover,, DNA