The story of Steven Avery — sent to prison for 18 years for a rape he didn’t commit, following an investigation so shoddy you’d be forgiven for thinking sheriff’s deputies in Manitowoc County, Wis. railroaded him; then exonerated and released thanks to DNA evidence, before he was again arrested, convicted, and sent to prison two years later, this time for life, following an even more questionable murder investigation — is illuminating and outrageous, and helps explain why the 10-part documentary about his trials became a sensation.
But scarier still than a criminal justice system with investigators who, without lawyers present, can coerce a mentally infirm 15-year-old boy into a false confession — as sheriff’s investigators from the same Manitowoc County did with Avery’s cousin, Brendan Dassey — is how many more Steve Averys are in the world, and how close the story came to not being told at all. Read more >>
Judge Daniel Green has repeatedly shown malice when ruling on appeal cases. Rodney Lincoln is his latest victim. Judge Green didn’t just reject Rodney Lincoln’s appeal, he intentionally released his decision on the day of Rodney’s granddaughter’s funeral. Just one day prior, Green denied Rodney’s request for a furlough to attend the funeral, so the judge was well aware of the date he chose.
Was Green’s decision to release his ruling on that specific date a mere coincidence? His past history makes that prospect highly unlikely. Green is the same judge who denied Ryan Ferguson’s appeal on October 31, 2012. Green chose to hold onto his decision until that day, because it was the day that the crime had occurred. It is quite clear that Judge Green goes out of his way to show his disdain for those who are appealing their convictions.
Thankfully Green’s ridiculous ruling against Ferguson was overturned by a state appeals court panel, and Ferguson was released in November of 2013. According to St Louis Today, Lincoln’s attorneys stated that they are already working on their appeal. If our justice system has any hope at all, Green’s ruling against Lincoln will be overturned just as his ruling against Ferguson was.
Here is the latest new article on Rodney’s case:
Judge rejects appeal of Rodney Lincoln in 1982 St. Louis murder
A judge on Thursday rejected the appeal of a man who claims that he is innocent of the 1982 murder of a St. Louis woman and the attack on her two young daughters.
Rodney Lincoln, 71, had cited the recantation of testimony by one of the daughters of JoAnn Tate, questions about hair analysis, claims about prosecutorial misconduct and his own lawyer’s ineffectiveness.
But Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green wrote that Lincoln had to make “a clear and convincing showing of actual innocence that undermines confidence in the correctness of the judgment.” He had to do so, Green wrote, with evidence that “instantly tilts the scales” and leaves the fact-finder’s mind “with an abiding conviction that the evidence is true,” quoting a 1996 appeals court opinion.
A spokeswoman for the Missouri Attorney General’s office declined to comment.
Tricia Bushnell, legal director of the Midwest Innocence Project, said, “We are working on the appeal as we speak,” in a phone interview Friday.
Bushnell pointed out that Green’s opinion is an “exact duplicate” of a filing by the Missouri Attorney General’s office in January opposing Lincoln’s bid for freedom, with the exception of a short concluding section. She said that it includes none of the evidence brought out in a hearing in March, including the recantation by Tate daughter Melissa DeBoer and claims that DeBoer was coached and pressured into making the original identification of Lincoln as the attacker. Read more >>
NATCHEZ — After more than 13 years on death row, an Adams County man has been granted a 2017 court date to argue that new evidence should warrant a new trial.
Judge Forrest “Al” Johnson, who oversaw Jeffrey Havard’s first trial, issued an order setting an evidentiary hearing for Aug. 14 to Aug. 16, 2017, for Havard, citing the defendant’s call for the hearing “on the issues of newly discovered evidence presented in his application for leave.”
If the evidence is compelling enough, the court could order a new trial for the case.
Melissa Calusinski was convicted of murder in 2011 and was sentenced to 31 years in prison. Calusinski was accused of throwing a child to the floor, causing fatal injuries, while working as a teacher’s aide at a day care center.
Evidence shows that Calusinski was wrongfully convicted based on false medical testimony and a false coerced confession. The State’s key expert witness has now admitted that he overlooked forensic evidence showing that the victim had a pre-existing injury, leading supporters to call for an independent review of Calusinski’s case by medical experts.
New evidence may exonerate Melissa Calusinski, incarcerated since 2009 for murdering a toddler. She is shown here at Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Ill. Kristen Schmid/For Sun-Times Media
Melissa Calusinski
Nearly five years after a Chicago-area day care worker was found guilty of murder in the death of a toddler, a Lake County judge ruled Monday that he will allow new testimony to be heard in the case — a turn the woman’s lawyers hope will lead to a reversal of her conviction.
The legal victory for Melissa Calusinski, whose case has attracted national attention, gives her lawyers the chance to offer what they say is new evidence showing that the boy in Calusinski’s care died not by her hand but of a previous injury — a claim prosecutors dispute.
“This is not a small feat. This is very rare,” Calusinski’s high-profile lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, said of the court victory.
The ruling to allow a so-called evidentiary hearing in the case was made by the same judge, Daniel Shanes, who oversaw Calusinski’s 2011 trial and sentenced her in 2012 to 31 years in prison. Read more >>
Nearly five years after a suburban day care worker was found guilty of murder in the death of a toddler, a Lake County judge is expected to rule Monday on whether to allow new testimony to be heard in the case — a turn the woman’s lawyers hope will lead to a reversal of her conviction.
A victory for Melissa Calusinski, whose case has attracted national attention, would give her legal team the chance to offer up what they say is new evidence showing that the boy in Calusinski’s care died not by her hand but from a previous injury — a claim prosecutors dispute.
A victory for Melissa Calusinski, whose case has attracted national attention, would give her legal team the chance to offer up what they say is new evidence showing that the boy in Calusinski’s care died not by her hand but from a previous injury — a claim prosecutors dispute.
Calusinski, a Carpentersville woman who worked at the now-closed Minee Subee in the Park day care center in Lincolnshire, confessed to killing 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan of Deerfield by slamming his head to the floor. But her lawyers have maintained the admission was coerced following a lengthy interrogation by investigators.
Nonetheless, a jury rejected the possibility of a lesser offense and found her guilty of first-degree murder. Calusinski, now 29, was sentenced to 31 years in prison. Read more >>
Even though the judge ordered photos of the crime scene, it seems when it “came down to the wire” the state objected to a series of photos being scanned.
The big question is “Why?”
I get it. It’s a lawyer thing. The State Representative is there to protect the State. But I can’t help but think it goes a little deeper than that. We must wonder why they will not open the file. What do they have to hide? What are they protecting the State “from?” And if Jamie Snow is guilty, why not just open all of the discovery?
Instead, they take it to the judge because that’s what lawyers have to do.
So here we are.
The Exoneration Project necessarily filed a motion to scan the photos. McLean County filed a response that Jamie Snow does not have a right to those photos under the current order.
Why doesn’t Jamie Snow have the right to his entire file? All photos, all police reports, EVERYTHING. Why are they so defensive? Ironic, isn’t it? Read more >>
Dwayne Dail is one of millions who has sat down to binge watch the Netflix series “Making a Murderer” since the documentary’s debut in December 2015. The series details the murder investigation of Teresa Halbach and the convictions of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey for her murder. For many, the documentary has caused outrage, as it makes a strong argument for the innocence of the accused.
Dwayne’s emotions ran much deeper than most while watching the story play out on his television. Dwayne lived through a similar experience that continues to haunt him to this day. Thoughts of his own struggles ran through his head as he watched what appeared to be the railroading of two innocent people. There is no way to properly comprehend the pain and despair one goes through when wrongly accused of a crime, unless you have lived through a similar ordeal yourself. Dwayne has experienced the nightmare firsthand, and has come out the other side as a survivor.
Dwayne Dail was wrongfully convicted in 1989 for the 1987 rape of a 12-year-old girl in North Carolina. He was sentenced to two life sentences plus 18 years. Dwayne suffered greatly in prison for 18 years before being cleared by DNA evidence in 2007.
Dwayne received a pardon and was declared actually innocent by the state of North Carolina. The DNA evidence that cleared Dwayne, also led to the actual perpetrator. Read More >>
According to the National Registry of Exonerations at the University of Michigan, 1,569 men and women in the United States, most of them African American, have been completely exonerated after being wrongfully convicted and sent to prison. The number of people exonerated for wrongful convictions actually broke a record high in 2014 with 125 exonerations, including six people who were actually on death row awaiting execution.
Less than every three days in our country, some man or woman is released back into society after spending a tragic portion of their life behind bars for a crime they never committed. Few injustices can compare to the horror of spending one hour in prison for something you didn’t do.
Ricky Jackson of Ohio spent 341,640 hours, or 39 years, behind bars before he was exonerated. Just a teenager when he was convicted, he was nearly a senior citizen when he was released.
Jonathan Fleming was serving the 25th year of a 25-year sentence when he was finally exonerated after a wrongful conviction.
One study determined that nearly 10,000 people are likely to be wrongfully convicted for serious crimes annually. Another study estimates that as many as 340 people are likely to have been executed in the United States before they were properly exonerated.
This is a travesty. Anyone who says otherwise is sick. Read More >>
Nearly five years after a suburban day care worker was found guilty of murder in the death of a toddler, a Lake County judge is expected to rule Monday on whether to allow new testimony to be heard in the case — a turn the woman’s lawyers hope will lead to a reversal of her conviction.
