Location |
Defendant(s) |
Date of Alleged Crime |
Palm Beach
County, FL |
Gilbert Stokes |
Aug 15, 2000 (Belle Glade) |
Gilbert Stokes was convicted of
murdering 18-year-old Jyron Seider during the robbery of a Belle Glade,
Florida street dice game. Stokes was a member of the �Dogs Under Fire� gang
while Seider was not. An appeals court overturned Stokes's conviction
because the prosecutor repeatedly tried to create the impression that Stokes
was motivated to kill Seider because he was a non-gang member. No evidence
supported that assertion and it was clear that Stokes socialized with
non-gang members. The court stated, �Here, the State lacked strong evidence
and it is questionable, under the facts of this case, whether the jury would
have found Stokes guilty without hearing evidence of his DUF membership.�
The appeals court also overturned the conviction because the trial judge
improperly allowed a detective to give hearsay testimony that alleged
witnesses who did not come to court to testify had implicated Stokes in the
murder.
DNA evidence
and two eyewitnesses linked the state's star witness, Leon Harrell, to the murder. The two
witnesses said that Stokes was not involved. Police originally
arrested Harrell for the murder, but they were unable to make a case against
him before his constitutional right to a speedy trial ran out. At
Stokes's second trial in 2006, Harrell refused to testify against Stokes
unless prosecutors promised him leniency on unrelated drug charges.
Prosecutors then offered Stokes a plea deal which he accepted on advice of
his attorney. Though he maintained his innocence, Stokes pled guilty
to manslaughter and aggravated assault in exchange for a 12-year sentence.
He had already served five years and could be released before he served
another five. According to Stokes's attorney, it is �better to be 32
and walking the streets than 65 and making license plates.� (JD30
p14) (Sun
Sentinel) [2/07] |
Suffolk
County, MA |
Christian Amado |
Feb 4, 1980 |
Christian Amado was
convicted of the shooting murder of 28-year-old George Sneed. The
conviction was due to testimony that an eyewitness, Frederick
Johnson, had selected a photo of Amado, had identified the assailant as �Bugsy,� and had associated the name
�Bugsy� with Amado.
When called to testify, Johnson readily answered a series of question on the
sequence of events leading up to the murder. However, his testimony
became evasive and confusing when asked about his previous identification of
Amado. The prosecutor had to repeatedly refresh Johnson's �recollection of events,� by showing him what purported to be a transcript
of statements he had given to police. Johnson appeared to deny
identifying Amado and claimed that he had selected Amado's picture because
it �looked familiar.� The prosecutor never asked Johnson if Amado was
the killer. On cross-examination by defense counsel, Johnson denied that Amado
was the killer or was present at the scene of the killing. Three
detectives were called as witnesses and testified to Johnson's previous
identification of Amado.
According to Amado's attorney,
�The eyewitness in the
case identified a photo that looked like Amado, but when he came into court
and saw my client he said he knew Amado wasn't the killer.� In 1982, an appeals court ruled that the trial court
erred in presenting contrary testimony to prove identification. It
reversed Amado's conviction and directed a verdict of acquittal.
(CIPM) (Com
v. Amado)
[4/08] |
Wilkinson County, MS |
Leon Chambers |
June 14, 1969 (Woodville) |
Leon Chambers was convicted of the
murder of Sonny Liberty, a police officer. Two Woodville police officers,
James Forman and Aaron �Sonny� Liberty, tried to arrest a local youth named
C. C. Jackson at Hayes' Caf�, a bar and pool hall on First West St.
However, a crowd of 50 to 60 people gathered who frustrated their arrest
attempt. Forman radioed for backup and Liberty removed his riot gun, a
12-gauge sawed-off shotgun, from his patrol car.
Read More
by Clicking Here
|
Eddy County, NM |
Ralph Rodney Earnest |
Feb 12, 1982 |
Ralph Rodney Earnest
was convicted of murdering 31-year-old David Eastman, an oil field worker
who was killed near Carlsbad, NM. Eastman's body was found on Feb. 12,
1982 in a ditch beside N.M. 31. At Earnest's trial, his two
co-defendants, Perry Conner and Phillip Boeglin, were called to testify.
Conner testified that while he and Boeglin committed the crime, Earnest was
not involved. Boeglin refused to testify, even though he was given
immunity from the use of his testimony and was held in contempt of court for
his refusal to testify. The prosecution then introduced into evidence
a taped recoding and a transcript of a unsworn statement made by Boeglin to
police on the day of his arrest. In the statement Boeglin admitted
that he attempted to cut Eastman's throat, but he implicated both Conner and
Earnest, stating Earnest shot Eastman in the head.
In 2007, the New Mexico Supreme Court overturned Earnest's conviction
because he was denied the opportunity to cross-examine Boeglin regarding the
taped statement and was thereby deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to confront
an accuser. The prosecution had to drop charges against Eastman because Boeglin again refused to testify.
(Albuquerque
Journal) (AJ2) (85)
(86) (96)
(05) [2/10] |
Grady
County, OK |
Richard Jones |
Jan 23, 1983 |
Richard Neal Jones was
convicted of murdering Charles Keene. Keene was abducted from his home
in Amber and murdered near Chickasha. Jones maintained that he was passed
out while his three co-defendants beat up Keene, shot him, and threw his
weighted body into the Washita River. Keene had apparently been
abusing his ex-wife who was the sister of two of the defendants. The trial court allowed into evidence
incriminating post-offense statements by Jones's co-defendants, none of whom
testified at Jones' trial. An appeals court granted him a retrial, holding
that the jury was prejudiced by the admission of hearsay testimony and
inflammatory photographs. It also held that the case was not one in which
Jones's guilt was �overwhelming� and that Jones's involvement was disputed by
the evidence. Jones was acquitted on retrial in 1988. (Google) [10/05] |
Seminole County, OK |
Paul Goodwin |
July 4, 1936 |
Paul Goodwin was convicted of the murder of Officer Christopher C. Whitson
of the Seminole Police Department. Another man, Horace Lindsay, gave a
statement in which he confessed to shooting Whitson. Lindsay also led
police to the location where he had hidden Whitson's gun. Some time
later Lindsay gave a second statement in which he implicated Goodwin as the
shooter, but he refused to testify against Goodwin at his trial. At Goodwin's trial,
Lindsay's second statement was read into evidence
before the jury by the Chief of Police of Seminole County. Goodwin was permitted no opportunity to
cross-examine Lindsay, nor was he permitted to introduce Lindsay's earlier
statement which contradicted the presented statement. Although paroled
in 1961, Goodwin was reincarcerated in 1962 on a parole violation. In
1969 Goodwin was released from prison after the 10th Circuit Federal Court
ruled that he was denied due process. (Goodwin
v. Page) (Seminole
PD) (ISI)
[10/09] |
Dauphin County, PA |
Jay Smith |
June 24, 1979 |
Dr. Jay Charles Smith was
sentenced to death in 1985 for the 1979 murders of Susan Gallagher Reinert and her two
children. Smith was the principal of Upper Merion Senior High School
(in Montgomery County) from 1966 until 1978 and Reinert was a
teacher there. He had a PhD and was also an Army Reserve colonel.
In 1978, he was promoted from his principal's position to work directly for the Upper Merion Area School
District.
Read More by
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|
Sullivan
County, TN |
Jeffrey Dicks |
Feb 15, 1978 (Kingsport) |
Jeffrey Stewart Dicks and another
man, Donald Wayne Strouth, were convicted of the capital felony murder of
James Keegan. Keegan was killed during the robbery of a Kingsport clothing store.
At Strouth's
trial, the state presented hearsay evidence that Strouth had committed the
murder. Different people related that Strouth had said to them that he hit
the victim in the head with a rock, that he had to hurt the victim, and that
he had to slit his throat. The state vouchsafed this evidence as trustworthy
as it was inculpatory of Strouth. However, at Dicks's trial the same evidence
was deemed untrustworthy and prohibited, as it was exculpatory of Dicks. One
would think the reverse situation might apply, as the
evidence might be trustworthy enough to prove reasonable doubt, but not
absolute guilt. Other witnesses offering evidence of Dick's innocence were
also prohibited from testifying. Dicks was prevented from presenting a full
defense as allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Chambers v. Mississippi.
Read More by
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|
McLennan
County, TX |
Muneer Deeb |
July 14, 1982 (Waco) |
Muneer Deeb, a convenience store owner,
had allegedly hired three men to kill a female employee on whom he had a
$20,000 accident policy. However, Deeb had such policies on all his
employees as a hedge against worker compensation claims. The prosecution
alleged that the three men then mistakenly killed a woman who was not an
employee. The murdered woman did not seem to be the victim of a contractual
killing as she was raped and tortured, as were two of her friends. None of
his three alleged co-conspirators testified against Deeb even though they
were charged with capital murder like Deeb and were in a position to
negotiate for a reduced sentence. One trial witness testified that Deeb had
acknowledged he would receive insurance money if one of his employees ever
was murdered. Deeb was convicted and sentenced to death.
Deeb's
conviction was overturned because the judge allowed a jailhouse informant to
give hearsay testimony about statements allegedly made by one of Deeb's
alleged co-conspirators. This informant described a murder for hire scheme
in detail. Deeb was acquitted at retrial in 1993. (CWC) |
Runnels County, TX |
Luis Ramirez |
Apr 8, 1998 |
Luis Ramirez was executed for the murder of Nemicio Nandin
who was reportedly dating Ramirez' ex-wife. Ramirez's conviction was based on
the testimony of police informant Tim Hoogstra, a self-admitted �daily drug
abuser,� who was paid $500 for his
testimony. Hoogstra was also granted leniency on a shoplifting charge
and other pending charges. In addition he was promised �Crime Stopper�
money upon Ramirez's conviction. Hoogstra gave testimony that when he
was getting high with another man named Edward Bell, Bell told him Ramirez paid him $1000 to
kill Nandin. Bell was never called to testify nor had he ever given a
statement to corroborate Hoogstra�s testimony. Ramirez' was denied his
Sixth Amendment right to dispute Hoogstra's testimony by cross-examining
Bell.
Ramirez told his
court-appointed attorney, Gonzalo Rios, to call an alibi witness, Patricia
Raby, but Rios refused to even talk to her. Ramirez thought Rios was
prejudiced against him because he found out later that Rios' brother and
cousin had been murdered two decades before and another cousin shot.
Ramirez said he never met Nandin, Hoogstra, or Bell, and has no knowledge of
whether or not Nandin dated his ex-wife. Ramirez was executed by lethal injection on Oct. 20, 2005.
(IIPPI) (Statement
of LR) |
Whitley County,
KY |
Larry Osborne |
Dec 14, 1997 |
Larry Osborne was convicted of
murdering Sam Davenport, 82, and his wife Lillian, 76. He was sentenced to
death. The victims were hit over the head and their house was set on fire.
They died of smoke inhalation. Osborne, 17, and his friend, Joe Reid, 15,
said they heard breaking glass from the Davenport home when they passed it
while riding a motorbike on the night of the murders. Osborne phoned his
mother, who in turn phoned the police. When the police arrived at the
scene, the house was in flames.
After repeated
interrogations, police got 15-year-old Reid to state that Osborne committed
the murders while he waited outside. In a police videotape of Reid's
statements, Reid is seen asking �Is this going to get me out of all this
stuff?� Reid also stated that after Osborne set fire to the
house, he left it
through the back door. However the back door had a dead bolt lock,
with a double key. It is not believed that anyone one went through it
that night.
Before Reid could testify at Osborne's
trial, he drowned while swimming in Jellico, Tennessee. His death was ruled
accidental. At Osborne's trial, the prosecutor read Reid's statement. The
defense objected, but the judge overruled the objection. On appeal, the
Kentucky Supreme Court overturned Osborne's conviction. Reid's testimony
was ruled inadmissible because a dead witness cannot be cross-examined.
Osborne was acquitted at retrial after spending three years on death row.
(Louisville
CJ) (TWM) (JD13) |
Genesee
County, MI |
Sharee Miller |
Nov 9, 1999 (Flint) |
While married to a different man,
Sharee Miller had an online romance with an ex-police detective, Jerry
Cassaday, from Reno, Nevada, whom she met on the Internet. Sharee had told
him numerous lies such as being wealthy. She had also traveled to Reno five
times and had a physical affair. In her emails, she said she was married to
a terminally ill husband, Jeff, who would die soon and that they could be
together soon. Then she told him her husband died, but she had to marry his
brother, Bruce, because of family pressure. She twice told Jerry she was
pregnant with his child.
Read More by
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|
Jefferson County, MO |
Hess & Craig |
Jan 7, 1929 |
Walter Hess and Alvin Craig were convicted of the murder of Virgil Romine,
an attendant at a restaurant associated with the Artesian Park filling
station near St. Louis. After being shot and prior to his death,
Romine mistakenly claimed that his assailants were the same fellows who put
slugs in a restaurant slot machine some weeks before. Upon being
visited by the police, Hess and Craig readily admitted they were the ones
who had slugged the restaurant's slot machine. However, they denied
any knowledge of the murder. Attempts at trial to ban hearsay
testimony regarding what Romine said about his assailants were denied on
the grounds that Romine gave a dying declaration. A year after the
defendants' convictions the real perpetrators were identified and convicted.
Missouri Governor Caulfield then pardoned Hess and Craig on the grounds that
they were innocent. (CTI)
[6/08] |
Douglas
County, NE |
Jeremy Sheets |
Sept 23, 1992 |
Jeremy
Sheets was
convicted in 1997 of the rape and murder of 17-year-old Kenyatta Bush. His
alleged accomplice, Adam Barnett, confessed to the crime and implicated
Sheets in exchange for a plea deal. Barnett later recanted his confession
and committed suicide prior to Sheets's trial. Barnett's taped confession
was the key evidence used against Sheets at trial. In 2000, the Nebraska
Supreme Court overturned the conviction because it deemed Barnett's
confession �highly suspect,� �inherently unreliable,� and hence inadmissible
without the opportunity for Sheets to cross-examine Barnett. Prosecutors
dropped charges against Sheets after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear
their appeal. [9/05] |
Harris County,
TX |
Robert Angleton |
Apr 16, 1997 |
Robert Angleton, also known as
Bob, was a bookie who took bets on sporting events. He was charged with
murdering his 46-year-old wife, Doris. Following the murder, Bob told
police that he suspected his brother Roger was the killer. Despite Roger's
checkered past, Bob had employed him in 1989. He fired him less than a year
later. After being fired, Roger felt Bob owed him $200,000 and even tried
to rob him of it at gunpoint. Roger then threatened to put Bob out of
business, by reporting him to the IRS. Bob ignored him, but Roger started
making phone calls to customers, posing as an IRS agent.
Read More
by Clicking Here
|
Harris County, TX |
Robert Fratta |
Nov 9, 1994 |
Robert Alan
Fratta was convicted in 1996 of arranging his wife's murder. He was
sentenced to death. Fratta had been in divorce proceedings with his wife.
To gain custody of their children, his wife had made allegations of sexual
perversion involving bathroom activities. The murder trial prosecutor used
these allegations in an attempt to prejudice the jury. Fratta had no
opportunity to confront the allegations, as he could not cross-examine the
person who made them. Even in regard to living witnesses, Fratta's trial
judge openly denied Fratta's Sixth Amendment right to confront his
accusers. The judge permitted hearsay testimony from a police officer that
an alleged co-conspirator had implicated himself and Fratta in the crime.
Another witness testified to incriminating statements made by the alleged
co-conspirator and a second alleged co-conspirator. Fratta's defense tried
to call these alleged co-conspirators to refute the hearsay testimony, but
the judge would not allow them to be called. (CCADP) (ODR)
[11/07] |
Jefferson County, AL |
Louis Griffin |
Sept 24, 1992 |
Louis Griffin was sentenced to
death for the gunshot murder of Christopher Lynn Davis. Following
Davis's death, two men were indicted for the murder, Anthony Embry and
Falanda Miles, based on eyewitness testimony and other evidence. Embry
pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment
while Miles was tried and acquitted of the charge. The Davis case was
then closed.
In April 1996,
Griffin pleaded guilty in New York City to federal RICO law (racketeering)
violations. Griffin was the �security man� for the 142nd Street Lynch
Mob Crew. The Crew supplied illegal drugs to various parts of the country,
including Alabama. As part of his plea Griffin entered into an
allocation that he had participated in the Alabama murder of Davis. As
a result of this allocation, Alabama authorities exonerated Embry of Davis's
murder and initiated proceedings against Griffin.
At trial,
Griffin stated that he lied in federal court. However, he was barred
from presenting any evidence that after the initial police investigation,
the state believed that Embry and Miles committed the murder, or that Embry
entered into a valid plea agreement admitting to the murder. This
evidence was excluded because it was hearsay. On appeal in 2000, the
Alabama Supreme Court reversed Griffin's conviction due to the excluded
evidence. In 2001, Griffin was acquitted at retrial. (Griffin
v. State) (Ex
parte Griffin) (Alabama's
Exonerated) [11/08] |
|