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Mathers associated with Teddy Washington and Fred Robinson.  The three lived in Banning, a small town in Southern California.  Robinson was in a volatile relationship with his common-law wife, Susan Hill.  With Robinson’s permission, Hill went to visit her father and stepmother, Ralph and Sterleen Hill.  The couple lived in Yuma, Arizona.  Susan then refused to return, and got a protection order to prevent Robinson from visiting her there.  She then left without telling Robinson and visited her grandmother in California.  Ralph and Sterleen then were shot during a home invasion.  Sterleen died.

The invasion appeared to be a robbery as the intruders stated they were narcotics agents and said, “We want the dope and money.”  The house was also ransacked.  There was some circumstantial evidence linking Robinson and Washington to the crime.  However, there was little evidence linking Mathers.  Nevertheless, the three were arrested and tried together.  At trial, Mathers’ attorney moved for a judgment of acquittal on the grounds of insufficient evidence.  The motion was denied.  All three defendants were convicted and sentenced to death.

In 1990, the Arizona Supreme Court reviewed Mather’s case, and “viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution” found a “complete absence of probative facts.”  It noted that the evidence presented at trial had “nothing to do with Mathers.”  The court vacated Mather’s conviction and entered a judgment of acquittal.  (TWM)  [3/07]

On Aug 2, 1942, a teenager named Jose Diaz was found murdered near the Sleepy Lagoon reservoir in southeast Los Angeles.  The reservoir was frequented by Chicanos (Mexican Americans) who were excluded from public pools.  As a result of apparent prejudice and press hysteria, police arrested 600 Latinos in connection with the murders.  Twenty-two Latinos (mostly Chicanos) were indicted for the murders and tried before an all white jury.  The defendants were not allowed to sit near or speak with their attorneys during trial.

Three of the defendants were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison; nine were convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to five years-to-life, five were convicted of assault and released for time served, and five were acquitted.  In October, 1944, the Court of Appeal of the State of California unanimously reversed the convictions, finding that there was no evidence linking the defendants with the crime.  (Wikipedia) (Google)  [4/08]

Mikes was convicted of beating to death 76-year-old Harold Hansen.  Hansen was found dead on March 10, 1980 in the basement of his Long Beach fix-it shop.  The pockets of his clothing had been turned inside out.  The shop, which was located on the main floor of the building, had been burglarized.

Near Hansen's body,  investigators found three chrome posts--a three-foot post, a six-foot post, and a "turnstile" post--all of which constituted portions of a disassembled turnstile unit.  Hansen had purchased the turnstile at a hardware store's going out-of-business sale, approximately four months prior to his death. The investigators determined that the assailant used the three-foot post to murder Hansen.

The government's case against Mikes rested exclusively upon the fact that his fingerprints were among those found on the posts that lay adjacent to the victim's body.  Mikes' counsel failed to present alibi witnesses. His conviction was vacated due to insufficient evidence.  Mikes' release was delayed four months waiting for the DA's unsuccessful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Mikes served 7 years of a 25 years to life sentence.  (Google)  [4/08]

Dana was convicted of murdering his friend Herschel "Gene" Koller and his friend's girlfriend, Elaine Matte.  There was no confession, no blood evidence, no witnesses, inconclusive ballistics, and inconclusive gun shot residue testing.  The case is one of insufficient evidence.  (JD27)  [9/05]

Ten years after the crime, Bradley P. Scott was convicted of the murder of Linda Pikuritz, 12, and sentenced to death.  In the immediate aftermath of the murder, the police ruled out Scott as a suspect because he had a sound alibi.  He was with his girlfriend shopping at the Sarasota Mall some 50 miles away at the time.  Seven years later, a new sheriff reopened the investigation and found some witnesses to testify that they saw Scott in the area of the convenience store from which the victim had been abducted.  Some of these witnesses knew Scott but had never before claimed to have seen him there that day.

Scott's girlfriend at the time of the murder was now his ex-wife and she testified that she had no memory of whether Scott was with her that day.  Evidence police developed to confirm Scott's alibi was now mysteriously missing from their files.  The prosecution argued that a dove shell found in Scott's car was similar to a shell on the victim's necklace and that a hair found in his car was compatible to the victim's hair.  Because of such evidence, Scott was convicted in 1988.

On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court overturned his conviction for insufficient evidence and ordered his acquittal.  It ruled, "Suspicions cannot be the basis for a criminal conviction."  Scott was released in 1991.  (PC) (NL)  [7/05]

Smith was convicted murdering Virdeen Willis Jr. outside a tavern.  He was sentenced to death.  Willis was an assistant warden at the Pontiac Correctional Center.  Smith was convicted due to the testimony of Debrah Caraway, which was dubious for several reasons.  First, Caraway had been smoking crack cocaine.  Second, she claimed Willis was alone when the killer stepped out of shadows and fired the fatal shot, but two other witnesses said they were standing beside Willis when he was murdered.  Third, Caraway’s boyfriend, Pervis (Pepper) Bell, was an alternative suspect in the murder.  Finally, Caraway, according to her account, was across the street when the crime occurred and, while she positively identified Smith, the two persons who were standing beside Willis were within only two or three feet of the killer and could not identify Smith.

In 1999, the Illinois Supreme Court threw out the conviction due to insufficient evidence and it barred a retrial.  It ruled that Caraway's testimony was less reliable than the contradictory testimony of the other witnesses.  Leonard Cavise, a DePaul University law professor, said he believes the state's evidence in the case was so weak that the prosecution should not have even brought charges against Smith, much less pursued the death penalty.  (NL)  [1/06]

Dowaliby was convicted of murdering his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Jaclyn.  Police initially assumed that the window, through which an intruder had allegedly entered to abduct Jaclyn, had been broken from the inside of their home.  There was more broken glass on the outside than on the inside but forensic analysis established that it had been broken from the outside.  During the investigation, Dowaliby and his wife, Cynthia, had followed police advice not to talk to the press, but such refusal had made them appear guilty.

At trial, for which both Dowaliby and his wife were charged with first-degree murder, the prosecution presented a witness, with a history of mental illness, who stated that he saw someone with a nose structure resembling Dowaliby on the night the victim had disappeared and near where her body was found five days later.  This witness, Everett Mann, made this identification from an unlighted parking lot 75 yards away on a moonless night.  The prosecution also presented 17 gruesome autopsy photos that are disallowed in many jurisdictions because they serve to prejudice a jury.  The trial judge gave Dowaliby's wife a directed verdict of acquittal, but the jury convicted Dowaliby.

Afterwards, in an interview, the jury forewoman said that fist marks on the door of a bedroom were critical to the jury’s decision to convict Dowaliby.  These marks appeared in one of the evidence photos, but were never mentioned by either side.  The jury concluded from these marks that Dowaliby had a terrible temper.  In fact, they had no bearing on the case, as they had been present years earlier, before the Dowalibys had moved into their home.  The jury forewoman also said, that if given the chance, the jury would have convicted Dowalibly's wife as well.

An appeals court reversed Dowaliby's conviction in 1991, on the grounds of insufficient evidence.  The case came to a legal end in 1992 when the Illinois Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the prosecution.  The case is the subject of a book, Gone in the Night: The Dowaliby Family's Encounter With Murder and the Law by Protess and Warden (1993) (NL)  [12/06]

Beaman was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Lockmiller, an ISU student.  On Aug. 28, 1993, Lockmiller was found in her Normal apartment strangled by a clock radio cord and stabbed in the chest with a pair of scissors.  The state established sexual jealousy as a possible motive for Beaman committing the murder, but given the number of Lockmiller's boyfriends, the motive appeared hardly unique to him.  Beyond this possible motive, the state's evidence was essentially non-existent.  Even if the evidence, by itself, were sufficient to convict, Beaman's alibi raises some measure of doubt, as does the evidence against an alternative suspect.

An appellate court affirmed Beaman's conviction with one justice dissenting.  The dissenting justice found the evidence insufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  In May 2008, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned Beaman's conviction, ruling that he should have been allowed to introduce evidence of another viable suspect.  The state had withheld much of this evidence prior to trial.  This suspect, identified as John Doe, was a steroid using, physically abusive boyfriend of Lockmiller to whom she owed money.  The suspect had agreed to take a polygraph test but then failed to take it because he would not follow the instructions of the polygraphist.  The Court also agreed that Beaman's lawyers never properly investigated and presented evidence about his alibi.  (Illinois v. Beaman)  [6/08]

Michael M. O’Laughlin was convicted of the assault and attempted murder of Annmarie Kotowski, a woman who lived in his apartment building.  The victim was severely beaten to the extent that, except for her jaw, all the bones in her face were broken.  In addition one of her ears was almost completely severed.  At trial the state presented “evidence of motive, means, opportunity, and consciousness of guilt” on the part of O’Laughlin.  However, such evidence only indicated that O’Laughlin could have committed the crime.  It contained no necessary inferences that he did commit the crime.

The victim had lived with her husband, David Kotowski, for 26 years, but had separated from him just 2 months before the assault to pursue a relationship with another man, James Finn.  She had mentioned divorce to her husband just one week before the assault.  She had amnesia resulting from the assault and could not identify her assailant.  The brutality of the assault suggested the assailant knew her enough to harbor rage towards her.  O’Laughlin’s alleged motive of robbery did not require such brutality and did not make much sense as nothing was stolen from the victim’s apartment.

The trial judge refused to allow into evidence a note found in the victim’s apartment.  The note called its recipient “a whore,” used four-letter words to describe her having oral and regular sex with “him,” and contained the words, “threat to kill him,” suggesting murderous rage.  The victim’s relationships highly suggest that her husband had written the note to her and that the “him” mentioned in the note was her boyfriend, James Finn.  Police had not used comparisons of handwriting to prove who wrote the note, and one reason citied for its inadmissibility was that allowing it into evidence “would have required the jury to speculate as to its meaning and genesis.”

The victim’s husband was known to have blisters on his hands when questioned after the assault.  He had two towels reeking of bleach in the trunk of his car.  These suggested that he engaged in a cleanup.  He also had no alibi for the hours surrounding the 2 a.m. assault, claiming to be home asleep at the time.

On appeal, the Massachusetts Appellate Court ruled in 2005 that the state’s evidence was insufficient to establish guilt.  It then vacated O’Laughlin’s conviction and entered a verdict of acquittal.  The prosecution appealed the decision to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which in 2006 reversed the appellate court’s decision that the state’s evidence was insufficient.  The Court did indicate the decision was a close one, but it reinstated O’Laughlin’s conviction.  (www.freemichaelnow.com)  [3/08]

Proulx was convicted in 1991 of murdering his ex-girlfriend, 19-year-old France Alain.  Alain, a University of Laval student, was shot in the hip near the CHRC radio station in Sainte-Foy.  She died a short time later.  Proulx was a reporter at the station and had been working the night of the murder.  In 1986 the case file was closed as the coroner was unable to establish any contact between Proulx and Alain on the night of the murder.

Subsequently, Proulx launched a defamation suit against a radio station and a retired police investigator for comments they made concerning his guilt.  In 1991, in the midst of this suit, the suit defendants advised the prosecution of a potential new witness.  The witness claimed that after seeing Proulx's photo in the newspaper, he recognized Proulx's eyes as being the eyes of a bearded man he saw near the crime scene on the night of the murder.  The witness could not at first formally identify Proulx.  Nevertheless he identified Proulx at trial and Proulx was convicted.  In 1992, the Quebec Court of Appeal quashed the conviction due to serious trial irregularities.  It also noted that the presented evidence was insufficient to support the conviction.  The court entered a verdict of acquittal.

Following his acquittal, Proulx sued the Attorney General of Quebec for malicious prosecution and won a judgment of $1.15 million.  However, the judgment was reversed on appeal.  Proulx was awarded $1.6 million for his wrongful imprisonment.  (InjusticeBusters) (Canadian S.C. Opinions)  [4/08]