After a quarter century behind bars, Jimmy Dennis is one step closer to freedom, now that an appellate court has affirmed his petition for habeas relief. The state of Pennsylvania now has 90 days to decide whether they want to put Dennis back on trial or set him free. Dennis’s supporters are hopeful that the State will move quickly to release Dennis in light of this week’s decisive ruling.

Dennis was convicted and sentenced to death in 1992 for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old high school student Chedell Ray Williams in North Philadelphia, in 1991. The shooting took place at a bus stop over an apparent theft of a pair of earrings. Dennis’s conviction was secured by questionable eyewitness testimony. Three eyewitnesses claiming to see Dennis, described a perpetrator that was 5’10” or taller, weighing between 170 and 190 pounds. Jimmy is 5’4″ and weighed 130 pounds at the time of the murder.

Evidence shows that Dennis was deprived of a fair trial, due to egregious misconduct by the prosecution. The prosecution committed multiple Brady violations by withholding evidence from the defense which was highly favorable to Dennis. The evidence included a receipt corroborating Dennis’s alibi, an inconsistent statement by the State’s key eyewitness, and documents suggesting that another person committed the murder. This suppressed evidence shatters the prosecution’s case against Dennis, leaving little doubt that the outcome of the trial would have gone much differently if the prosecution had acted in accordance of the law. Read more >>

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/pamela-hupp-charged-with-murder-in-alleged-frame-up-tied/article_916845ac-de2f-5d1e-ae5d-2b11a25b7287.html

O’FALLON, Mo. • Pamela Hupp thought she found the “patsy” who could help get “some heat off her” related to a 2011 murder near Troy, Mo., officials said Tuesday.

She somehow lured a gullible, brain-damaged man into her car last week and took him to her home in O’Fallon, then called 911 and emptied a revolver into his body as an operator listened, they said.

Officials speculate that Hupp told Louis R. Gumpenberger, 33, that she was a producer for NBC’s “Dateline” program, and was willing to pay $900 to $1,000 for him to help her re-enact a 911 call.

When police arrived at her house to find Gumpenberger dead, Hupp told police that he had jumped into her vehicle and held a knife to her neck, demanding that she take him to her bank to get “Russ’ money.”

She claimed she broke away and ran into her house, grabbed a gun from her nightstand, and shot him when he entered the room.

Investigators later found a note in Gumpenberger’s pocket purporting to be instructions on how to kidnap Hupp to get “Russ’ money,” in exchange for $10,000. He also had $900 in cash in his pocket, but police don’t believe he put those things in his pockets himself.

“The evidence seems to indicate she hatched a plot to find an innocent victim and murder this innocent victim in an apparent effort to frame someone else,” St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar said at a news conference. Read more >>

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2016/08/19/with-bombshell-testimony-calusinski-dares-to-dream-of-freedom/

Attorneys on Friday continued sparring in court over whether Melissa Calusinski deserves a new trial in the 2011 death of a toddler at a daycare center.

CBS 2’s Roseanne Tellez reports from Lake County Court.

Calusinski isn’t just sad. She is angry, she says.

In a “48 Hours” interview this week, she reacted to word that a key prosecution witness may have lied during her murder trial.

“I just can’t believe people like that could get away with something like what he did,” she says.

Dr. Manuel Montez testified that he’d examined and felt the skull fracture. But a deputy coroner testified Montez never examined the body, and experts say enhanced X-rays show there was no skull fracture.

The bombshell offered hope. Calusinski dares to imagine freedom.

“I would be the happiest person,” she says. “I’d just cry.” Read more >>

A petition launched by Brendan Dassey’s mother, Barbara Tydych, has been given a boost by the recent news of her son’s conviction being overturned. Barbara’s Change.org petition asking the state of Wisconsin to pass legislation designed to protect juveniles during interrogations, is now trending and the signatures are on the rise. In her petition, titled: “Please Pass Juvenile Interrogation Protection Law in Wisconsin”, Barbara details why her son’s case highlights the need for legislation requiring that an attorney be present during a custodial interrogation of a minor.

Brendan Dassey was wrongfully convicted of murder in the state of Wisconsin in 2007, on the basis of a coerced false confession to the rape and murder of Teresa Halbach. No other evidence supports his conviction, and physical evidence flatly contradicts the statements in which he incriminated himself.

The Netflix series “Making a Murderer” has brought renewed attention to Brendan’s case. The 10-part documentary details the murder of Teresa Halbach and the controversy surrounding her death. Video clips of Brendan’s interrogation, which are presented in the documentary, have left many viewers wondering how Brendan’s confession was ever deemed admissible at trial.

Audio and video recordings show how interrogators adopted a friendly, solicitous manner and quickly brought Brendan under their control. Video footage shows that Brendan was willing to go along with any story line they suggested, but he volunteered almost no information other than reciting back what his interrogators were feeding him. Two seasoned interrogators went to work on a 16-year-old kid and they got to his head. What they didn’t get was the truth.

Steve Drizin and Laura Nirider, attorneys for Northwestern’s Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, and attorney Robert Dvorak, are co-counsel for Brendan Dassey’s post-conviction litigation. In October of 2014, Dassey’s defense filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus. On Friday, August 12, a federal judge in Milwaukee granted their petition and overturned Brendan’s murder conviction, giving the state 90 days to decide whether to retry him or release him.

Injustice Anywhere, an organization of which I am a part of, is working with Barbara Tadych on this petition. Brendan is not a free man yet, but the recent ruling is a significant step in the process to secure his freedom. Please take two minutes to sign this petition so that other minors do not suffer like Brendan has. All we are asking is that a minor be provided an attorney before being interrogated by police. No matter what your opinion is on Brendan’s case, can’t we all agree that minors should have an attorney present before being subjected to an interrogation?

You can view the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/wisconsin-state-house-please-pass-juvenile-interrogation-protection-law-in-wisconsin. Please sign and share today. Thank you

You can learn more about Brendan’s case here by visiting these resources:

FreeBrendan.org

Free Brendan Facebook Page

Justice for Brendan Dassey Facebook Group

http://www.wisn.com/news/brendan-dasseys-conviction-overturned/41178138

Brendan Dassey, Steven Avery’s nephew, was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 41 years after he was convicted in 2007 of first-degree intentional homicide, second-degree sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse in the killing of Halbach in Manitowoc County.

Read the court ruling

The federal ruling says the state has 90 days to appeal the federal order or Dassey must be released from prison. He is being held at Columbia Correctional Institution.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin said “misconduct” by Dassey’s lawyer, Len Kachinsky, in defending Dassey was “indefensible.”

The court ruled Dassey’s confession was “involuntary” and was based on “false promises” by interrogators, “Dassey’s age and intellectual deficits.”

Avery remains convicted of murder, but continues to appeal that conviction.

WISN 12 News contacted the state Attorney General’s Office for reaction and received this comment, “As we are currently reviewing Magistrate Judge Duffin’s order, we have no comment to offer at this time.”

The case was recently brought into the spotlight in the documentary, “Making a Murderer.”

The Committee to Free Jamie Snow is hosting their sixth annual Postcards in the Park in Bloomington, Illinois, on July 30, 2016. The annual event is designed to bring more attention to the wrongful conviction of Jamie Snow.

Jamie Snow was wrongfully convicted in 2001 for the 1991 murder of William Little, a gas station attendant in Bloomington, Illinois. Jamie is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in Stateville prison in Joliet, Illinois.

Jamie Snow has proclaimed his innocence from day one. In the years following his conviction, new information has come to light clearly showing that police misconduct and bad lawyering sent the wrong man to prison for William Little’s murder. Jamie Snow is innocent.

The Committee to Free Jamie Snow has worked diligently to keep the spotlight on Jamie’s case. The postcard event has successfully drawn the attention of the media each year. This year’s postcards will be sent to Aphrodite Jones, thanking her for looking into Jamie’s case for an upcoming episode of Crime Watch Daily.

The committee is asking supporters to gather at Miller Park in Bloomington, Illinois, on Saturday from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm to show their support for Jamie’s innocence. All supplies needed to send the postcards will be provided at the park.

You can view the Postcards in the Park Facebook event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1090373717667869/

You can learn more about Jamie’s case, along with information on his pending appeal as well as his request for DNA testing, by visiting FreeJamieSnow.com.

http://reason.com/blog/2016/07/06/just-five-prosecutors-account-for-one-in

Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project released a new report late last month titled “America’s Top Five Deadliest Prosecutors.” In it, the authors describe the U.S.’ use of the death penalty as a “personality-driven system” where “only a tiny handful of prosecutors are responsible for a vastly disproportionate number of death sentences.”

Or as Ed Pilkington put it in The Guardian, “of the 8,038 death sentences handed down since the death penalty was restarted in the modern era 40 years ago this week, some one in 20 of them have been the responsibility” of the five district attorneys who give the report its title.

All but one of these prosecutors — Johnny Holmes of Harris County (Tx.) — have seen their cases revisited because of allegations of misconduct, although Holmes did preside over the conviction of one person who ended up being exonerated. The assistant prosectuors overseen by Holmes put 201 people on death row — averaging 12 per year — before he retired in 2000. Since then, his successors have averaged about one death penalty conviction per year. Read More >>

http://dksale.net/2016/06/21/lincoln-appeal-denied-by-green-koster-disgusting-failure-by-those-who-should-truly-be-behind-bars/

The Rodney Lincoln appeal denied by Judge Green at the hand of Attorney General Koster is a disgusting failure by those who should truly be behind bars.

Starting with sitting governor Jay Nixon, who as the Attorney General of Missouri in 1993 walked into the Livingston County Courthouse with some twisted mission to advance his and others careers. A plan that included the most faked and manufactured evidence possible — all to frame a special ed farm boy named Mark Woodworth for murder on the pretext the real killer might step forward – and a deeper political objective I bet they thought went un-noticed.

The world needs to step back and see what Nixon did with his college mate Brent Elliot – whom he later appointed chief justice of the same circuit – no doubt reward for his part to play in this most despicable acts. Read more >>