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

A Richmond Circuit Court judge ordered the testing of DNA evidence found in the 1984 case, which remains unsolved.  Haynesworth was arrested in connection with a series of five rapes that occurred in Richmond during that time and was ultimately convicted of three and sentenced to 74-years in prison.  Haynesworth has always maintained his innocence in all five crimes, and suggested that notorious local serial rapist Leon Davis actually committed them.

Under the Virginia Old Case Testing Project, DNA evidence was found in one of the rapes Haynesworth was convicted of and one in which he was acquitted.  Testing was conducted on the first rape last year and both excluded Haynesworth amd  implicated Davis.  Davis, who called himself the "Black Ninja," was a neighbor of Haynesworth, has a striking physical resemblance to him, and is serving seven life terms for sexually charged crimes he has been convicted of.  In September 2009, a judge threw out that conviction, which reduced Haynesworth's sentence by ten years.

MAIP, working with Hogan and Hartson and the Innocence Project in New York, moved to have DNA tested in the case Haynesworth was acquitted of.  In its brief to request the testing, the legal team argued that a test that excluded Haynesworth and implicated Davis "would provide further evidence to support Mr. Haynesworth's claim of innocence …because it would demonstrate once again that Mr. Haynesworth bore a sufficiently striking resemblance to Leon Davis."

They added that in addition to their similar appearance, "the court records of Leon Davis' convictions reveal that his modus operandi bears several similarities to the other crimes for which Mr. Haynesworth was tried."

Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring supported the testing request.  DNA is not available in any of the other cases Haynesworth was implicated in.  All of the convictions were based solely on witness identification, which is the leading cause of wrongful convictions. The Judge acknowledged that even though Haynesworth was acquitted of the rape that will soon be tested, the evidence "may prove the convicted person's actual innocence" in the cases that he is currently serving a sentence for.

The testing is a part of the Old Case Testing Program, an effort that is being coordinated by MAIP to retest preserved evidence from Virginia cases that took place from 1973 to 1988.

MAIP is grateful that both the judge and Commonwealth's Attorney have been cooperative to finding the truth in this case, and looks forward to finding out the results.

Click here to read an article in the Richmond Times Dispatch about the decision.

To read the article, click here

Tags: Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, MAIP,

Peacock, 60, was convicted in Rochester, New York of a 1976 of a rape he did not commit.  Though he was released on parole in 1982, it has taken 28 years since his release to have the crime taken off his record, longer than any other exoneree who proved his innocence based on DNA testing.

Peacock was implicated based on a questionable identification by the victim, who lived in his apartment building.  After a long interrogation, Peacock, who suffers from mental illness, gave a confession that strongly conflicted with the facts of the case. Witness mis-identifications and false confessions are two of the leading causes of wrongful convictions.

In 2002, Mr. Peacock contacted the Innocence Project who began investigating his case.  After recovering the victim’s underwear, which contained bodily fluids, the Innocence Project secured testing that compared the sample to Mr. Peacock and the victim’s ex-boyfriend’s DNA.  Both samples were negative, meaning a third unknown person was the actual perpetrator.  

Mr. Peacock’s exoneration is the first DNA exoneration of 2010.  It comes nearly 21 years after Gary Dotson and David Vasquez became the first men exonerated based on DNA evidence.  
                                                
"These DNA exonerations show us how the criminal justice system is flawed and how it can be fixed," said Peter Neufeld, Co-Director of the Innocence Project. "DNA exonerations have helped transform the criminal justice system, leading to reforms in virtually every state, but there is still a great deal of work to do to make our system of justice more fair, accurate and reliable."

In preparation of the exoneration, the Innocence Project is releasing a report entitled: “250 Exonerated: Too Many Wrongfully Convicted .”  Click here to read the Innocence Project’s press release and some of the highlights of the report.

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project congratulates Mr. Peacock on clearing his name and our colleagues at the Innocence Project on a job well done.  We would also like to congratulate and give thanks to everyone who has contributed to the 250 DNA exonerations over the last 21 years.  We look forward to having a part in many more exoneration milestones in the years to come.

Tags: MAIP,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, Innocence, Project,, Exoneration,, DNA,, Freddie, Peacock

Not only did Bain become the 248th person exonerated thanks to DNA testing, but he also spent more time in prison than any of the other DNA exonerees.  It took Bain eight years to have his DNA tested by the state.  As soon as the results were fully analyzed, Polk County prosecutors and the judge agreed that the conviction should be vacated.

In 1974, Bain was accused of kidnapping and raping a 9-year-old boy, who later picked him out of a photo lineup. The boy later admitted in a deposition that he had been asked “to pick out Jimmie Bain,” who the victim's uncle knew and thought looked like the description the boy gave of his attacker. Witness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions.  

In 2001, Florida passed a statute allowing cases to be reopened for DNA testing.  Bain filed motions himself four times requesting such testing but was denied each time.  On the fifth attempt, an appeals court decided he was entitled to a hearing to determine his right to receive testing.

The Innocence Project of Florida represented him in the hearing and secured the testing of sperm found on the victim's underwear. The results, which were received last week, confirmed that Bain could not have been involved in the crime. Prosecutors now plan on running the sample through a database of known offenders, hoping to find a "cold hit" and discover the real assailant.

Bain, who is now 54, said he was not angry about his miscarriage of justice.  Instead, he said, “I kind of feel like when they first landed on the moon. We have touchdown!”

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project congratulates Seth Miller and the Florida Innocence Project on a job well done and wished Mr. Bain all the best.

Click here to read a CNN article on the exoneration and watch Mr. Bain in a press conference shortly after his release.

Tags: Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, MAIP,, DNA,, Florida, Innocence, Project,, , James, Bain,, Exoneration

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

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.

Tags: MAIP,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, Legal, Clinic,, Aaron, Michael, Howard

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.

In his decision, Justice John Cataldo of the State Supreme Court overturned Bermudez’s conviction, stating that Bermudez had proven his innocence.  Justice Cataldo agreed with Pollack, a Washington based attorney at Miller & Chevalier, that the ability of the four eyewitnesses to identify Bermudez was prejudiced when they viewed his mug shot as a group and discussed his resemblance to the real perpetrator and that the trial prosecution should have discovered before sentencing that the government’s star witness, Lopez, had perjured himself at trial.

“I find no credible evidence connects Fernando Bermudez to the homicide of Mr. Blount,” Justice Cataldo wrote. “All of the people’s trial evidence has been discredited: the false testimony of Efraim Lopez and the recanted identifications of strangers. I find, by clear and convincing evidence, that Fernando Bermudez has demonstrated he is innocent of this crime.”  Justice Cataldo apologized to Mr. Bermudez for all he has endured over the past eighteen years.

Justice Cataldo’s ruling, a rare finding of actual innocence in a non-DNA case, means that prosecutors cannot retry Mr. Bermudez unless the ruling is reversed on appeal. Additionally, it makes Bermudez eligible for state compensation for his wrongful conviction.

Bermudez still faces a 27-month federal drug sentence on an unrelated charge.  At Pollack’s request, Justice Cataldo recommended that the federal sentence be considered discharged in light of the time Bermudez has served in the state system on his wrongful murder conviction. 

Bermudez is the second pro bono exoneration won by Pollack in a little over a year.  In July 2008, a special prosecutor moved to dismiss murder charges against Pollack’s client Marty Tankleff, who had served seventeen years in prison for the murder of his parents. 

MAIP wishes the best of luck to Fernando Bermudez and congratulates Barry Pollack and the rest of the legal team on a job well done!

Click here to watch news coverage of Mr. Bermudez's exoneration on NY1, which includes interviews with Pollack and Bermudez's family

Tags: MAIP,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, Wrongfully, Convicted,, Fernando, Bermudez,, Barry, Pollack,, Exoneration,, Wrongful, Identification

Mr. Boyce was convicted largely based on the testimony of a jailhouse informant Herman Preston Elkins, a self-confessed mentally ill repeat offender.  In 2004, Mr. Elkins called Mr. Boyce’s counsel and recanted his trial testimony against Mr. Boyce.  He claimed he was coerced by the Newport News Police prior to Mr. Boyce’s trial.  Also in 2004, DNA evidence positively excluded Mr. Boyce from the physical evidence found at the crime scene.

MAIP attorneys and investigators have been working on Mr. Boyce’s case with lawyers from Howrey LLP and Hunton & Williams LLP since 2005, when they filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in response to Mr. Elkins’ unsolicited phone call.  The petition has not yet been decided but is expected to move forward with the recent appointment of a new judge – Norfolk Circuit Court Judge John R. Doyle III.

In addition to asserting his innocence, Mr. Boyce’s team contends that the police and prosecutors violated the Constitution by withholding potentially crucial evidence from his counsel prior to trial, including: 1) Mr. Elkins’ history of mental illness and long-standing relationship with the police department, 2) a memo showing that another person had confessed to the crime, 3) reports that exclude Mr. Boyce’s fingerprints from those found at the crime scene, and 4) a photograph of Mr. Boyce taken the day of the murder that contradicts an alleged identification of the murderer.

Mr. Boyce’s team believes that this withheld evidence would have changed the outcome of Mr. Boyce’s trial.  Mr. Boyce’s attorneys are hopeful that the judge will find that the prosecution had a duty to turn over this evidence prior to trial, grant the petition for habeas corpus and order a new trial for Mr. Boyce after 19 years in prison.          

Click here to read a story in the Newport News Daily Press about the Boyce case.   

Click here to learn more about how "snitch" testimony can lead to wrongful convictions.

Tags: MAIP,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, Wrongfully, Convicted,, David, Boyce