Cunningham’s DNA sample neither matches the sperm nor the non-sperm secretions found on both the victim’s nightgown and vaginal swabs, providing conclusive evidence that Cunningham is not responsible for the rape in Newport News, Virginia, that left him incarcerated for more than seven years. Further testing excluded the victim’s husband as the source of the semen, making it apparent that an unknown third party committed the rape.

Cunningham’s DNA was tested as part of an ongoing project—known as the Old Case Testing Project—to perform DNA testing in hundreds of 1973 to 1988 cases in which biological evidence was found to have been unexpectedly saved by analysts in the Virginia Department of Forensic Science. Ordered by then-Governor Mark Warner in early 2006, the project has also led to the exoneration of two other men. The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP) became aware of Cunningham’s case in 2009, after the Virginia General Assembly required the Virginia Forensic Science Board to notify these individuals that DNA testing was being performed in their cases.

"This case demonstrates why both the Old Case Testing Project and the notification of defendants about this project are so important," said Shawn Armbrust, MAIP’s Executive Director. "Without this test, Mr. Cunningham would have had to live the rest of his life as a registered sex offender. Without the notification, he never would have contacted MAIP and might have missed a valuable opportunity to clear his name."

Cunningham’s defense counsel—pro bono lawyers from the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP—have filed a Writ of Actual Innocence Petition with the Virginia Supreme Court.

"We are confident that the Attorney General, the Commonwealth's Attorney, and the Virginia Supreme Court will act quickly to right this wrong," Armbrust said. "The semen in this case can only belong to the attacker, and it does not belong to our client."

Cunningham has professed his innocence since the moment he was arrested and has continued to do so after he was convicted of burglary with intent to commit rape and rape on June 19, 1981. The victim was Cunningham’s neighbor in an apartment complex, and her identification of Cunningham as the perpetrator was the primary evidence against him at trial. He was sentenced to spend 15 years in the penitentiary for rape and five for burglary, but has spent over 29 years as a convicted rapist and sex offender in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mr. Cunningham has sought scientific testing that could prove his innocence since before DNA testing existed. In a letter to the Honorable Judge Warren Stevens received on March 9, 1982, Cunningham called for the exact type of DNA testing that has finally excluded him nearly three decades later:

"If I were able to afford to have my semen analyze with the semen that the doctors suppose to have gotten from the victim, I know it would prove my innocents," Cunningham wrote. "The way technology is today it should be able to be done. Don’t you think?"

Innocence Project praises the House of Representatives’ leadership and urges the Senate to enact this legislation as soon as possible

(Washington, D.C.: Wednesday, July 28, 2010) – Late yesterday, the House of Representatives passed critical bipartisan legislation, “The National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2010” (H.R. 5143), to improve the fairness and reliability of the nation’s criminal justice system.  Lead cosponsors of the bill include Representatives William Delahunt (D-MA), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Tom Rooney (R-FL), and Bobby Scott (D-VA).  This historic legislation, originally championed in the Senate by Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), would create a national commission to examine and reshape the criminal justice system.

Barry Scheck, Co-Director of the Innocence Project, a national organization affiliated with Cardozo School of Law that uses DNA testing to exonerate innocent prisoners and pursues reforms to prevent wrongful convictions, praises House leaders for championing this badly needed legislation and urges immediate Senate action.

“The Innocence Project congratulates the House of Representatives today for passing this historic and crucial legislation.  Thanks to the leadership of bipartisan cosponsors, including Representatives Delahunt, Issa, Fudge, Rooney and Scott, this critical commission would improve the underlying fairness and reliability of the criminal justice system.  We urge the Senate to pass this legislation quickly so that comprehensive review and reform of the system can begin in earnest.”

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project is excited to announce that our Third Annual Awards Luncheon will be held at the Ritz Carlton in Washington D.C. on July 14, 2010.

We will be presenting our Defender of Innocence award to the team of attorneys who earned the release of the Norfolk Four, led by Desmond Hogan, George Kendall, Steve Northup, Donald Salzman and Tony Troy.  Hogan, a partner at Hogan Lovells, Kendall, Of Counsel at Squire Sanders and previously Holland and Knight, Northup and Troy, partners at Troutman Sanders, and Salzman, Pro Bono Counsel at Skadden Arps represent Derek Tice, Joe Dick, Eric Wilson and Danial Williams, respectively, members of the Norfolk Four.  Dick, Tice and Williams spent 11 years in prison for a brutal rape and murder they did not commit; Wilson served 8 ½ years for the rape, which he did not commit.  Thanks to the work of these five attorneys and their extended legal teams and firms, Dick, Tice and Williams received a conditional pardon from Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine on August 6, 2009. 

We are hoping to have Dick, Tice, Williams and Wilson join other men and women who have been released after being convicted of crimes they did not commit onstage to share their stories.

We invite you to join us in sponsoring this exciting event.        

Individual tickets are $100 and are good for one seat at this exciting event.

 If you have any questions or would like to attend as an individual or group,

contact Rachel Cicurel

(202)895-4519

RCicurel@exonerate.org

or click here 

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

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.

In July 1986, Charles Gray and another man went to the Richmond home of another man whom they had been recently quarreling with.  As the tension between the groups of men heightened, Gray’s friend fired shots at the third man’s house, hitting his stepfather in the neck.  Eight days later, the stepfather passed away due to his wounds.

Both the stepson and his mother told police that Charles Gray’s brother Russell was the shooter.  The stepson picked out Russell Gray’s mug shot in a photo book as the trigger man, and the widow, who did not see the shots fired, identified Gray as someone who was at the crime scene just before and shortly after her husband was killed.  Witness misidentification is the lead cause of wrongful convictions.  The stepson also said that the shooter was wearing shorts. 

In Gray’s one day trial, his attorney Carey Bowen attempted to prove that he was not there.  Gray showed a disfiguring scar on his leg that kept him from ever wearing shorts. A number of people in the neighborhood testified that they had never seen him wear shorts. Bowen also called a number of alibi witnesses who placed Gray at another place at the time of the shooting.  Although the jury expressed skepticism over the stepson’s testimony, the judge denied their request to review the transcript of his testimony.  Gray was eventually convicted and sentenced to 52 years.

Despite the conviction, Bowen continued his investigation, interviewing more potential witnesses.  All of his investigation led pointed to a third man, Michael Harvey, who was an alibi witness in Gray’s defense at trial.  Harvey eventually confessed to a Richmond detective that he was the shooter and that Gray was not involved.  Bowen also found a new witness who testified seeing Harvey at the scene and that he was wearing the same shorts described by the stepson.

In spite of the overwhelming evidence of his innocence, Gray’s exoneration was held up by legal red tape.  Because Harvey was a defense witness, his testimony could not be held against the prosecution.  Gray was left with no judicial options.  With the help of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, then-Governor L. Douglas Wilder issued a pardon in April 1990.

Harvey eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case and served eight years in prison.

Tags: MAIP,, Mid-Atlantic, Innocence, Project,, Innocence, Project,, Russell, Gray,, Exoneration,, Witness, Mis-identification,, Wrongful, Convictions

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

To read the article, click here

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