DNA testing of the evidence: this was the only lead that might indisputably prove Barry Gibbs’s innocence. ibid.
An unexpected lead appeared hitting the headlines in the news: Officer Louis Eppolito and his colleague Stephen Caracappa were prosecuted for links to the Mafia. ibid.
‘The eyewitness who had identified Barry … broke down and confessed and said that Eppolito had coerced him into identifying Barry in a lineup.’ ibid.
‘They raided Eppolito’s home … they found the original police file.’ ibid.
On September 27 2005 after 19 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit Barry Gibbs was officially exonerated and released. ibid.
‘Plucked off the streets and framed for a murder out of nowhere.’ ibid. Scheck
‘A 15-year-old girl had been raped and murdered.’ ibid. Innocence Project
Lewis Jim Fogle claims to be a victim of a miscarriage of justice … The crime at the centre of this case took place in Pennsylvania on July 30th 1976 [Kathy Long]. ibid.
As Karen [Innocence Project] discovered in the file – at the beginning of the investigation the police did not mention Jim at all. Indeed, the first witness accounts describing the driver in the car led to a very different suspect – a patient at a mental institution. ibid.
On March 18th 1981 Lewis Jim Fogle was arrested with three other men Earl Elderkin [mental patient] while under hypnosis at the mental institution in what seemed like yet another version of the story … ‘They dropped the charges against everybody except Mr Fogle … convicted on the testimony of what we call snitches … the only evidence that was used to convict him.’
If these final tests were negative the Innocence Project would no longer be able to help … At that time Jim had been in prison for 34 years … ‘Lewis Fogle is excluded from the pubic hair combings’ … 13th August 2015: Jim is finally outside. ibid.
Alan Newton claims to be a victim of a miscarriage of justice. Vanessa Podkin works at the Innocence Project in New York; she agreed to defend him. ibid.
June 23rd 1984: ‘A woman in the Bronx was sexually assaulted; in the middle of the night she had gone to the neighbourhood store … A man grabbed her, pulled her into a car, took her to two different locations where he raped her, and it was a very brutal crime; he also cut her eye and blinded her in one eye during the attack.’ ibid. Vanessa
‘His photograph was kept by the police … Any encounter with the police no matter how small then puts you at great risk for a wrongful conviction.’
‘None of us knew how to drive at the time.’ ibid. friend
The charges were based solely on two eyewitness accounts – the victim and the employee of the store in front of which the victim was abducted. ibid.
We get flooded with letters from all over the country … We are the court of last resort … We can only take on about 1% of the cases. The Innocence Files I: The Evidence: Indeed and Without Doubt, Netflix 2020
Because of these unreliable methods, innocent people are going to prison. ibid.
The crime scene was less than a hundred yards from her residence. She was about ten feet out there [pond]. She actually was found partially clothed … ibid. rozzer
Some of the wounds on Courtney Smith’s body were made from bite marks. ibid. forensics guy
Bite-mark evidence was new at the time. ibid.
I said I was in the club that night. ibid. Levon Brooks, suspect
I just held my head down in disbelief … I didn’t do this. ibid.
Christine Jackson: They said that the little girl had bite marks exactly the same as in my case. ibid.
I knew they got me wrong. They got this all wrong. I didn’t commit no crime like this. ibid. Kennedy Brewer
This is so outrageous. You’ve got to be kidding me. ibid. expert dentologist
I was in prison in Parchman on death row for killing a three-year-old girl. The Innocence Files s1e2: The Evidence: The Truth Will Defend Me, Kennedy Brewer
Forensic dentology really began in the 1970s … The first really big case that put bite marks on the map nationally was the Bundy case. ibid. expert dentology
2001: Christine Jackson’ DNA testing: Kennedy Brewer had not contributed to the DNA. ibid. defence
We went to the house where Christine Jackson was abducted … Any adult male could have easily lifted Christine Jackson through the window and into the darkness. It was that easy. ibid.
Crawfish could have caused the marks on Christine’s Jackson’s body. ibid.
Courtney Smith: 1990; Christine Jackson 1992: a couple of miles away in the same community: both are abductions of three-year-old girls, both are abductions in the middle of the night from their beds, both of them are sexually assaulted, and both of them are deposited in bodies of water. ibid.
If not Levon then who? … Justin Albert Johnston, 35-year-old black male, who was brought in and arrested and samples were collected; he had already been convicted of one home invasion/sexual assault … ibid.
I was out of control. I went to the house … Them demons in my head … to hurt the little girl … I reached through the window and got her … I throwed her in that creek … ibid. Johnston’s confession
Justin Albert Johnston confessed to both murders. ibid. legal dude
The much more pressing question to answer is, How did they get in prison in the first place? The Innocence Files s1e3: The Evidence: The Duty to Correct, Innocence Project dude
Part of my job is to highlight the areas where forensics have never been established as reliable evidence. ibid.
National Academy of Science: Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States. ibid.
We decided to start there: with bite-mark cases. ibid. Innocence Project
Just after sunset there were a bunch of teenagers hanging out on the sidewalk out in front of the house. The Innocence Files s1e4: The Witness I: The Murder of Donald Sarpy, man
Someone leaned out of the passenger seat and fired two shots. ibid. woman
It was a normal day and then my life changed for ever. I had a few guys come to my house … A shot rang out … ibid.
There’s a reference to a group of Linwood area deputies who are members of a neo-Nazi white-supremacist gang, the Vikings. ibid. Brief in court to Craig Ditsch, LA County Sheriff’s Department
Preliminary hearing July 9th 1991, five months after Franky’s [Carrillo] arrest. ibid. caption
They all said this man shot and killed Donald Sarpy. ibid. legal lady
I just think conditions of my life were used against me. ibid. Franky
Franky Carrillo was tried twice for the murder of Donald Sarpy. In each case the only evidence was eyewitness testimony. The Innocence Files s1e5: The Witness II: The Trials of Franky Carrillo
I told the Innocent Project I’m so concerned about this case. ibid. Franky’s brief
Four of the six [witnesses] had given declarations that what they said at trial was untrue. ibid. deputy district-attorney
Sloppy corrupt police work. ibid. Franky’s brief
Los Angeles Country Sheriff’s department … The Vikings: a gang within the sheriff’s office… The Vikings: They were staunch defenders of their bad practices and their conviction they had obtained. ibid. legal lady
Ron Kaye represented Franky Carrillo in a civil rights case against the County of Los Angeles and Craig Ditsch. In 2016 Franky received a $10.1 million settlement. ibid. captions
Memory has always been the cornerstone of the criminal justice system. The Innocence Files s1e6: The Witness III: Making Memory, legal lady
Between 1982 and 1983 Richmond would see a spike in violent crime; between 1983 and 1984 the murder rate in Richmond rises by 22%. ibid. historian
I parked in the back parking lot behind the church, entered in a door that went down a long hallway, turned on the lights … I heard a sound … I saw a black male walking down the hallway with a knife in his hand … He began to take my clothes off and he attacked me … ibid. rape victim
There is a pattern of five separate crimes. ibid. legal lady
Five women identified Thomas [Haynesworth] as the attacker. ibid.
I was more convinced that ever that he was an innocent man. ibid. brief
He was convicted of three rapes and he was sentenced to a total of 74 years. ibid.
What are the odds of five women being wrong? ibid. Thomas
After Thomas was arrested there was another series of rapes. ibid. journalist
Leon Davis was convicted of rape, robbery and malicious wounding. He was sentenced to four life terms plus 100 years in prison. ibid. captions
Mistaken eyewitness identifications are the leading cause of wrongful convictions proven by DNA evidence. ibid.
Chester Hollman III is serving a life sentence without parole. The Innocence Files s1e7: The Prosecution: Wrong Place, Wrong Time
28 years of my life; that’s more than half my life. ibid. Hollman
Clearly innocent, who has clearly been a victim of some of the worst parts of the criminal justice process. ibid. Alan Tauber, pro bono brief
The only other evidence against Chester Hollman is his being in a vehicle that matched the description of the getaway car. ibid. man
There were abusive tactics by police. ibid.
In 2005 Alfred Dewayne Brown was convicted of capital murder for the killing of Houston police officer Charles Clarke. The Innocence Files s1e8: The Prosecution: Hidden Alibi
Dewayne was picked on purpose because he was not hard, because he was an easy guy to set up. ibid.
No DNA, no fingerprints, no gunshot residue … ibid.