Location |
Defendant(s) |
Date of Alleged Crime |
Maricopa
County, AZ |
Robert Charles Cruz |
Dec 31, 1980 (Phoenix) |
Robert Charles
Cruz was
sentenced to death for the contract murders of two people.
Patrick Redmond, 46, and his mother-in-law, Helen G. Phelps, 70, had been shot to
death by three men in Redmond's home. The assailants also shot
Redmond's wife, Marilyn, but she survived. Cruz had allegedly hired
three men to kill Redmond because he wished to take over Redmond's print
shop, Graphic Dimensions. Prosecutors said Cruz wanted to use the firm
to launder money from connections in Las Vegas.
The evidence against
Cruz
came from a felon who received immunity from prosecution in return for his
testimony. On appeal, the Arizona Supreme Court held that the trial court
had demonstrated actual prejudice against Cruz, and that the conviction
could not stand. Two subsequent retrials ended in hung juries, but a fourth
trial ended again in a conviction and a death sentence. Once again,
however, the Arizona Supreme Court found the conviction to be faulty and
sent the case back for a fifth trial. At this new trial, new evidence
emerged about the prosecutors' pressuring of witnesses and offering deals.
The fifth trial jury heard the whole story and acquitted Cruz of all
charges. (State
v. Cruz) [7/05] |
Los Angeles County,
CA |
Tony Cooks |
Jan 19, 1980 (Paramount) |
In 1980,
eighteen-year-old Tony Cooks was accused of murdering John Franklin Gould. Gould,
42, had been accosted by three black teenagers one evening while he and his
wife walked down a street near their Paramount apartment. Gould was beaten, stabbed, and
shot. Gould's wife told police that the assailant was �a light-skinned
black.� Police showed her a photo-lineup in which Cooks was the only
light-skinned black, and she told police, �I can't be positive, but I think
that's him.� However, at trial, Gould's wife would positively identify
Cooks.
Another witness,
Helen Foster, who said she saw the nighttime crime 177 feet from her
apartment window, identified Cooks as one of the assailants. Two days after
Cooks' arrest, a 14-year-old youth was also arrested after he confessed to
his involvement in the crime; the youth then accused Cooks as also being a
participant in the crime. Based on these identifications, Cooks was
indicted for murder.
Cooks' first
trial ended up in a hung jury; his second trial ended in a mistrial; his
third trial ended in a hung jury. Finally, at his fourth trial, in 1981,
Cooks was convicted of Gould's murder. However, the trial judge expressed
skepticism about the eyewitness identifications and overturned the
conviction. The prosecutor appealed the judge's decision and an appellate
court reinstated the conviction. The judge, forced to pronounce sentence,
ordered Cooks to prison for sixteen years to life, but freed him on $5,000
bond pending appeal. On appeal Cooks won the right to a fifth trial.
In 1986, at
Cooks' fifth trial, it was revealed that the 14 year-old eyewitness against
Cooks had told his probation officer that his testimony was a �lie� he made
up in order to satisfy a persistent detective who would not take �no� for an
answer. The fifth trial jury voted to acquit Cooks. (Ramsey
Dissertation) [10/07] |
Cook County,
IL |
Cobb & Tillis |
Nov 13, 1977 (North Side) |
Perry Cobb and Darby Tillis
(aka Darby Williams) were sentenced to death for the murders of Melvin Kanter and
Charles Gucciona. The murders occurred during a robbery of the victims' hot dog stand. The prosecution's key witness was a woman named Phyllis
Santini, who claimed that she had driven the getaway car for the two men.
The defense argued that Santini and her boyfriend, Johnny Brown, had
committed the crimes, and that she was framing Cobb and Tillis. The first
trial ended in a hung jury, as did a second trial.
At the third
trial, a witness who had earlier testified that he could not identify the
defendants as the men he saw, suddenly changed his story and now claimed
that he saw Cobb and Tillis enter the store. This third trial in 1979 ended
in convictions and death sentences. Judge Thomas J. Maloney presided over
the three trials and has since been convicted of taking bribes to fix murder
cases. He was accused of being tough on defendants like Cobb and Tillis who
did not offer bribes. Maloney refused to allow two defense witnesses to
testify. The two claimed Santini had admitted committing the murders with
Brown. The two also said she expected a reward for her testimony against
Cobb and Tillis. (She was in fact paid $1200.) The Illinois Supreme Court
reversed the convictions based on limitations that were put on the defense's
ability to argue that Santini and her boyfriend were the true culprits.
While the
parties were preparing for a fourth trial, Michael Falconer, a recent law
school graduate, happened to read an account of the case in Chicago
Lawyer. Falconer recognized Santini's name because he had worked
with her in a factory before going to law school. At that time,
Santini had confided in him that she and her boyfriend had committed a
double homicide and that she was working with prosecutors in return for a
deal that would keep her from being charged. Falconer, who had then
become a Lake County prosecutor, testified about this conversation at the
fourth trial, which again ended in a hung jury. Finally, at a fifth
trial in 1987, both Cobb and Tillis were acquitted of all charges. (CWC1)
(CWC2) (JP) (PC) [12/06] |
Orleans
Parish, LA |
Curtis Kyles |
Sept 20, 1984 (New Orleans) |
Curtis
Kyles was
sentenced to death for murdering Dolores Dye during a car theft in the
parking lot of a
Schwegmann's Giant Supermarket. A man named Joseph �Beanie� Wallace claimed that he purchased
Dye's stolen car from Kyles after he was found driving around in it.
Several witnesses also testified that they saw Kyles at the crime scene.
The defense called this testimony into question and the jury in
Kyles' first trial was hung. Upon retrial, Kyles was convicted, but this
conviction was ultimately reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which held
that the prosecution had hidden exculpatory evidence about changes in the
witnesses' accounts and about the corruption of the investigation. Had
this material been disclosed to the defense, it would validate Kyles' claim
that Wallace and the New Orleans authorities were framing him. The case was
remanded for a third trial, which ended in a hung jury, as did fourth and
fifth trials. The DA then conceded defeat and Kyles was freed in 1998. The
case is profiled in the book,
Desire Street by Jed Horne (2005)
(TWM) [7/05] |
Kings County, NY |
Vincent Rivers |
Sept 16, 1978 |
�Vincent Rivers was convicted of murder in the second degree in a Kings
County retrial in [Nov. 1979], following [a hung jury mistrial]. He
was sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison. [The victim,
Dutch Reid, was shot and killed at 2080 Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn.] A
third trial ended in a mistrial. A fourth trial [in 1983], at which
Rivers was again convicted of murder, was reversed because of numerous
prejudicial errors by the trial court. On July 17, 1986, following a
fifth trial, Rivers was acquitted on all counts.� �
Inevitable Error (1981
Reversal) (1985
Reversal) (91)
(94) |
Dillon County,
SC |
Warren Douglas Manning |
Oct 29, 1988 |
Warren Douglas
Manning was
convicted of pistol whipping and shooting to death George T. Radford, a
state highway trooper. Manning was sentenced to death. The trooper was
shot at close range with his own revolver. The defense argued that although
the trooper arrested Manning for driving with a suspended license, Manning
escaped when the officer stopped another car. The defense also claimed that
if Manning had shot the officer, he would have been covered in blood.
Witnesses who saw Manning minutes after the shooting noticed no blood on
him. A retrial resulted in a hung jury, but Manning was reconvicted at a
third trial. This reconviction was overturned and a fourth trial resulted
in a mistrial. At Manning's fifth trial, his new lawyer told the jury, �The
law requires the state prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Without
that, the law says you cannot find him guilty.� The fifth trial jury
acquitted Manning of all charges. [9/05] |
|