Kevin Brian Dowling

York County, PA

Kevin Brian Dowling

Oct 20, 1997

Kevin Brian Dowling was sentenced to death for the murder of 44-year-old Jennifer Lynn Myers. Myers had been robbed at her frame shop and art gallery 14 months prior to her murder. At the time of the robbery, Dowling was a General Manager for a restaurant company. To attend training he had driven past the scene of the robbery 45 minutes before it occurred, and again 15 minutes after it occurred. Myers said the assailant wore a dark cap and aviator style sunglasses. Myers also said the assailant was left-handed and had a military or police demeanor. The assailant told her that he had just gotten out of prison and did not want to go back. Dowling is right-handed, had no military or police training, had no prior convictions, had never been imprisoned, and did not own any clothing that matched the assailant's. He was also 10 years younger, 5 inches taller, and 20 pounds heavier than Myers' description of her assailant. However, he did have a pair of aviator style sunglasses at his home.

Four months after the robbery, Myers identified Dowling as her assailant. The day before Dowling's arrest, Myers suddenly remembered she had been sexually assaulted as well as robbed. Following the robbery, the assailant reportedly crossed a road right in front of a police car and got into his car. Although an Officer Haines would later testify that he looked right at the purported assailant, he could not identify Dowling as the man he saw, nor his car. An elderly couple also saw the purported assailant. After undergoing hypnosis, they would later identify Dowling and his car.

Eight months after Dowling's arrest, while he was out on bail, Myers was shot to death at a her new framing gallery miles away from her previous shop. Her murder occurred only two weeks before Dowling's trial was set to begin. Dowling was re-arrested and accused of killing Myers to prevent her testimony. Following the murder, Dowling twice filed motions to dismiss the robbery case against him on the grounds that he would not be able to cross-examine his accuser. The trial judge delayed ruling on the motions, giving police and prosecutors two months to meet with other witnesses and coach new statements from them about what Myers allegedly told them. These statements were ruled admissible as "excited utterance" exceptions to the hearsay rule.

Following Dowling's robbery conviction, the prosecution then used this conviction to argue motive for the murder, and following his murder conviction, they used it to as an aggravating factor to justify Dowling's death sentence.

In 2001, three years after his convictions, Dowling got photocopies of two boxes of withheld discovery material from both of his trials. In it was proof that the prosecutor coached and tampered with witnesses in both trials. It also contained proof that Dowling's alibi for the murder had been verified a week after his arrest. Police verified that Dowling had been in Harrisburg at the time of the murder.

There are other suspects in the murder. Myers had been shot with a .357 caliber gun, a weapon that her husband owned. Lab tests matching the husband's gun to the crime scene bullets were purportedly inconclusive. The defense has not been allowed to have its own expert make an independent determination.

The only hard evidence against Dowling is the timing of Myers murder, two weeks before Dowling's robbery trial. If one ignores exculpatory facts, this evidence would presumably be sufficient to convict, as it is highly unlikely that a complete stranger would happen to murder Myers shortly before Dowling's trial. However, some facts raise reasonable doubt: (1) If Myers' husband or someone she knew wanted to murder her, the date of her murder was an excellent time to do so and throw suspicion on someone else. Similar circumstantial evidence led to the murder conviction of Roy Brown in Cayuga County, NY, but DNA evidence later proved that the victim was killed by her ex-brother-in-law who apparently timed the murder to throw suspicion on Brown.

(2) It is rare that robbery defendants murder their accusers. While it is a possible motive, it is hardly a compelling one. A spouse or an aggrieved acquaintance may have a more compelling motive. (3) Dowling had no prior convictions and his conviction for robbing Myers is simply not believable. Before convicting him of murder, one would prefer to see some direct evidence against him, or evidence sufficient to rule out alternative suspects. (4) Dowling has an alibi in Harrisburg, which, unless disproven, has to be taken at face value.

Legally, if Dowling gets exonerated of his wrongful robbery conviction, his murder conviction would have to be overturned. In retrying Dowling for murder, legal rules against unfair prejudice might inhibit of prevent the state from introducing Dowling's arrest for robbery. If so, the state might be unable to establish motive, upon which its case relies. Even if the state develops sufficient evidence against Dowling, he could not be guilty of first-degree murder as Myers intended to do him serious harm with her false or careless testimony. In 2007, Governor Ed Rendell signed a death warrant for Dowling. Dowling's execution has since been stayed. (Case Narrative) (Case Reports) (IIPPI) [6/08]