The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project is happy to announce that Aaron Michael Howard was released from prison on Tuesday evening after new evidence, uncovered by Howard’s attorneys nearly 20 years after his conviction, proved that he had not committed a murder for which he was serving a sentence of 21 years to life.  At a hearing last week, the newly discovered evidence had prompted led the lead prosecutor to withdraw from the case, stating that he could no longer defend the jury’s verdict against Howard.  The parties subsequently reached an agreement by which Howard would accept a manslaughter conviction in exchange for immediate release from prison.   

"The agreement … is not perfect," Howard said in a written statement. "It is not perfect because, although it allows me to maintain my innocence, it requires me to accept a conviction for a crime I did not commit. That is not something I have done lightly, especially with all the evidence of my innocence that now exists. But I feel like I have little choice, because after 20 years in prison, the agreement gives me my freedom immediately." 

Mr. Howard was represented by D.C. criminal defense attorney Zack Rosenburg, who was appointed by the court, and by partner Seth Rosenthal and his team at the law firm of Venable LLP.  Rosenthal entered the case after Rosenburg asked the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project for assistance. By referring the case to Rosenthal, the Project ensured that Howard would have the resources needed to fully investigate a 20-year-old crime. “By connecting me with Seth, the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project played a vital role in securing Mike’s freedom," Rosenburg said. "It is exceedingly difficult to build the kind of case we built for Howard without the help of a firm like Venable, which has proven itself to be a role model for others."

Click on the following links to read the joint MAIP/Venable press release issued August 7, 2008; a written statement by Mr. Howard and to see a picture of Mr. Howard with his legal team.  We have also posted a fact sheet outlining the evidence of Mr. Howard's innocence and the Amended Motion to Vacate and supporting Memorandum of Law filed in D.C. Superior Court by Mr. Howard's legal team. 

An in-depth story about the case appeared in Washington's Legal Times.  The story was also covered by the Washington Times.  You can read that article here: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/18/innocence-project-wins-again/.

The story appeared on Fox 5 News and on NBC4 news at 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 7.  You can see the clips here:  Fox 5 video and NBC 4 video.

NBC 4 also covered the story on its web site.  You can read their story, along with comments from the community, here: http://www.nbc4.com/news/17121996/detail.html.

The New York Times on Sunday published interviews and profiles of more than 130 of the nation’s 200 DNA exonerees.  Each profile contains a short description of the details of each exoneree’s conviction, the amount of time spent in prison, and the compensation received.  Some include a short written synopsis of the interview and some offer audio clips.  The audio clips provide a powerful recollection of the victim’s experiences, in their own voices, of their time in prison and after their release.

The exonerees share many common experiences.  Issues of blame and strained relations with family members seem prevalent.  Take, for example, the story of Jeffrey Deskovic, wrongfully convicted at age 17 for rape and murder.  Now, 34 years old, he describes his tenuous relationship with his mother, who he felt was too passive in assisting him with his appeals.  “Too much time has passed; we have no connection,” Mr. Deskovic said. “My relatives don’t know who I am.”  Some actually lose the chance to ever reconnect with their relatives.  Alan Crotzer, who spent 24 years in prison for rape, recalls. “My mother died in late August 2001, about a couple weeks before 9/11.  She was basically all I had.  That bothered me real bad.”  

Others have faced challenges with health.  Post-traumatic stress disorder is a common ailment.  William Gregory recalls the paranoia he still feels.  “I just get real depressed, and start crying, and can’t control it.  I just feel all alone.”  Mr. Deskovic details trying to balance school as a 34-year-old with his therapy sessions.  Richard Danziger, meanwhile, was severely beaten during his first year in prison and is now permanently disabled. 

Several exonerees detail their struggle to win just compensation for their time spent in prison.  Kevin Byrd received a woeful $30,190 from the state of Texas for spending 12 years in prison for rape.  His summary recounts how the money was divided up.  “About half went to his lawyers.  He gave $8,000 to a lifelong friend who had spent years trying to vindicate him, and $2,500 to a brother to pay back taxes on the family home.  Mr. Byrd put $4,500 down on a used truck.  The rest went to rent an apartment.  His compensation was gone.”  Ronald Cotton received only $110,000 for 11 years in prison.  If an exoneree receives anything at all, it is not uncommon to receive only thousands of dollars for decades of prison time, usually during the prime of their lives when their peers are attending school and starting families and careers.  Many received nothing. Financially, it is the little things that seem to take the biggest toll upon release.  Leo Waters explains how he had to have his father sign the loan to buy a car because he had no credit history.  “It’s like being a teenager and starting your life all over again,” he said. 

According to the article, approximately one third of exonerees are able to go on to live successful lives after prison.  Mr. Deskovic, for example, states that he plans to take law school entrance exams and aspires to one day practice as an attorney.  Christopher Ochoa, who spent 11 and a half years in prison, has passed the bar and started a legal career.  Kevin Green, who spent 16 years in Soledad prison for murder, has found success by gradually obtaining better and better jobs.  “I encourage everybody who’s getting out to establish themselves by having these transitional jobs that are going for upward mobility,” he says on his profile.  “Each job was for more money.”  For many, though, their time in prison continues to haunt them even with an exoneration.  As Douglas Echols, a former staff sergeant in the Army who spent 5 years in prison for rape, observes, “It’s mighty hard to find a job being a convicted felon – whether you’re exonerated or not.  It’s been since 2002, and we’re still being carried as kidnappers and rapists.” 

However, it is the continued optimism and hope of these men that is most striking.  Brandon Moon advises others wrongfully convicted that “It’s not going to do you any good running around being angry.  You will get more done if you’re not angry.”  Willie Raines concurs.  “Why go walking around angry?  People always ask me that.  ‘Aren’t you angry, Willie?’  No.  I can’t go around just mad.”

To read the New York Times articles and listen to the interviews, click the following links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/25jeffrey.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/25dna.html

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/11/25/nyregion/20071125_DNAI_FEATURE.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/25dna_method.html

We are very excited to report that a Virginia man was finally freed after spending six years in prison for a robbery that he did not commit.  Teddy Thompson, 24, walked out of prison as a free man on September 10.  Under his sentence, he would have served 11 more years before being released.  

Mr. Thompson had been convicted of the robbery based on an eyewitness identification by the victim.  He was convicted despite the fact that (1) he had an alibi for time of the robbery, and (2) a second victim believed that he was not the perpetrator.  "A year or two" ago, according to Mr. Thompson's attorney, the first victim came to realize that he had implicated the wrong person.  However, he did not act on that information immediately.  More recently, he learned that someone else had actually been talking about having robbed him.  He confronted that person, who confessed to the robbery and apologized.  At that point, the victim alerted law enforcement personnel, who interviewed him and believed that he was telling the truth.  In light of this evidence, the Commonwealth's Attorney did not oppose Mr. Thompson's release.

We are thrilled that justice has been done in this case.  We are also thrilled that the Virginia court system worked successfully to produce an exoneration, particularly in a case where the defendant's proof of innocence was a witness recantation rather than DNA evidence.  We hope to be able to report more such Virginia exonerations soon.    

To read a news account of Mr. Thompson's case, click here. 

On August 28, Dwayne Allen Dail of North Carolina became the 207th man to be exonerated by DNA.  His 1978 rape conviction was the product of both a mistaken eyewitness identification by a 12-year-old girl and of hair analysis that was given more credibility than the science deserved.  The responsible prosecutor has now called Mr. Dail's conviction "a nightmare."  

To read a news account about this case, click here. 

To read the prosecutor's comments, click here. 

April 23, 2007, saw this country's 200th exoneration of a wrongfully convicted person freed by DNA testing.  Jerry Miller, 48, of Chicago, was convicted of rape in Cook County, Illinois, in 1981.  His conviction was based on the eyewitness identification testimony of both the victim and two parking lot attendants who saw the attacker at the time of the offense.  Descriptions given by these three individuals immediately after the rape were used to create a composite sketch of the attacker.  Police arrested Mr. Miller because they believed that he resembled the composite sketch.  They brought him in for a lineup, at which time both attendants idenitified him.  They then testified at his trial.  At the trial, the victim testified that she thought Mr. Miller looked like her attacker, even though the attacker was described as having a few days' growth of facial hair and Mr. Miller had a full goatee.  Mr. Miller was convicted and served 25 years in prison.  Finally, in 2006, the case came to the attention of the Innocence Project in New York, which reached out to the Cook County state's attorney's office DNA Review Unit, seeking testing of the evidence in the case.  That office located the evidence in the case, including the victim's slip, which contained the attacker's DNA.  The DNA not only proved that Mr. Miller did not commit the offense, but it also pointed to the man who did — a man who had committed at least one other rape while Mr. Miller sat in prison.  To read the Chicago Tribune's recent series of articles on the case and to view a video of the news conference at which he spoke following the court hearing, go to www.chicagotribune.com/news/local and search for "Jerry Miller."   

Walter Lomax was freed on December 13, 2006, after spending 39 years in prison for a murder that he did not commit.  Hours earlier, Baltimore Circuit judge Gale E. Rasin had granted Mr. Lomax's motion to reopen his long-closed case.  She then overturned his life prison term and resentenced him to time served.  The Baltimore state's attorney's office did not oppose the motion to reopen or the decision to release Mr. Lomax. 

Mr. Lomax was convicted of a convenience store robbery and killing that he could not have committed because his right arm was in a thick cast at the time.  He was convicted based solely on the testimony of five white witnesses who identified him as the killer, though none said anything about a cast.  As Judge Rasin acknolwedged at the Dec. 13 hearing, such cross-racial identification can be extremely unreliable. 

During his 39 years in prison, Mr. Lomax educated himself, became a writer and editor of a prison newsletter, and amassed dozens of certiricates of achievement and letters of support, some from politicians.  He was recommended for parole four times but kept behind bars by former Governor Parris N. Glendening's decision in 1995 not to parole any prisoners serving life sentences except those who were dying.  Judge Rasin's decision allowed for Mr. Lomax's release, but it did not exonerate him, and he remains a convicted murderer.  He will have to seek a pardon from the governor in order to clear his name and be eligible for compensation from the state.

Mr. Lomax's case was identified and investigated by Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey non-profit organziation that helps people it believes have been wrongly convicted.  Mr. Lomax is the 40th person that Centurion has helped free.  In Maryland, Mr. Lomax was represented by attorneys Larry Nathans and Booth Ripke.  The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project congratulates everyone involved in this wonderful victory.

To read the Baltimore Sun article on Mr. Lomax's release, click here.