>From: "C. Clark Kissinger" <cck1@earthlink.net>
>Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 19:41:19 -0400
>
>Death Row's Living Alumni
>New York Times, August 22, 1999
>
>
>Death Row's Living Alumni
>By CAITLIN LOVINGER
>
>Since the United States Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in
>1976, 566 people have been executed. In that same period, 82 convicts
>awaiting execution have been exonerated -- a ratio of 1 freed for
>every 7 put to death.
>
>About half of them were exonerated in the 1990's, 6 so far this year.
>In many cases convictions were overturned when newly available
>testimony or physical evidence, including DNA testing, cast doubt on
>the guilt of the inmates.
>
>Capital punishment is on the books in 38 states, but 36 of them impose
>a deadline on evidence presented after conviction. Virginia's statute
>of limitations is only 21 days.
>
>In 1994 DNA testing arrived too late to free Earl Washington Jr.,
>whose sentence was subsequently commuted to life in prison. David
>Botkins, the spokesman for Virginia's Attorney General, Mark Earley,
>says, "The inmates who have been granted clemency and had their death
>sentences commuted show the system works."
>
>In Illinois, one of the two states without a statute of limitations
>(the other is New York), one inmate has been exonerated for every
>inmate executed over the last 12 years. Earlier this month Illinois
>passed the Capital Crimes Litigation Act, which increases state
>funding for defense lawyers, prosecutors and court-appointed counsel.
>
>In general, executions have been delayed by appeals. About 11 years
>elapse between conviction and execution, according to the Justice
>Department. Last week a conference organized by the United States
>Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit met outside Atlanta to discuss
>how to expedite capital punishment.
>
>The wrong people have landed on death row for a number of reasons.
>Some lawyers are ineffective, or outright incompetent. Others meet
>with their clients only hours before going to court. Prosecutorial
>missteps, from jury selection to misconduct, have also been factors.
>Judges, too, make mistakes, incorrectly ruling on cases or improperly
>defining guilt or innocence. When judicial errors occur, an inmate can
>be granted a new trial.
>
>Many death row cases attract the attention of lawyers who volunteer
>their time to dig up evidence and witnesses. Barry Scheck, a lawyer
>who is a DNA expert, helped found the Innocence Project at Cardozo
>School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York City, which has so far
>helped free several inmates.
>
>Students guided by David Protess, a journalism professor at
>Northwestern University, have also uncovered evidence leading to the
>exoneration of death row inmates in Illinois.
>
>A look at the people who have survived death row in this decade:
>
>LIFE AFTER DEATH ROW
>Since capital punishment was reinstated by the United States Supreme
>Court in 1976, 566 convicts have been executed. Eighty-two awaiting
>execution have been exonerated, about half of them during this decade.
>What follows are capsule accounts of death row’s living alumni of the
>1990’s.
>
>ERRORS IN COURT
>
>James Albert Robison
>CONVICTED 1977 Released 1993
>Crime: The contract murder of Don Bolles, a newspaper reporter who
>covered organized crime in Arizona. Prosecutors charged that Mr.
>Robison and another man, John Harvey Adamson, were hired by Max
>Dunlap, a land developer, who was also convicted. Mr. Adamson was
>given a 20-year sentence in exchange for testifying against Mr.
>Robison. But the state overturned the conviction in 1980 after finding
>that defense lawyers had been improperly denied the right to
>cross-examine Mr. Adamson. Mr. Robison was re-indicted for the Bolles
>murder. In the 1993 trial, he was acquitted of murdering Mr. Bolles,
>but later convicted of conspiring to kill Mr. Adamson. He is now in
>the witness protection program in Arizona.
>
>Patrick Croy
>CONVICTED 1979 Released 1990
>Crime: The shooting death of a policeman in California. The State
>Supreme Court overturned the conviction because of improper jury
>instructions made by the judge in his case. Mr. Croy was retried and
>acquitted after arguing self-defense.
>
>Troy Lee Jones
>CONVICTED 1982 Released 1996
>Crime: The murder of Carolyn Grayson in California in 1981. At his
>original trial, Mr. Jones’s defense lawyer failed to speak with
>possible witnesses, obtain a police report or conduct a pretrial
>investigation. The State Supreme Court said the Jones case merited a
>new trial, and the prosecution dropped all charges.
>
>Roberto Miranda
>CONVICTED 1982 Released 1996
>Crime: The stabbing death of Manuel Rodriguez Torres in Nevada in
>1981. Mr. Miranda, a Cuban, was offered a much milder sentence in
>exchange for a guilty plea, but refused it, insisting on his innocence
>and claiming that a man he knew had framed him. At trial he was
>represented by a lawyer with less than one year of experience.
>Overturning the conviction, the judge wrote that “the lack of pretrial
>preparation by trial counsel . . . cannot be justified.”
>
>Charles Smith
>CONVICTED 1983 Released 1991
>Crime: Murdering a woman during a robbery in Indiana. A companion, who
>claimed to be the getaway driver, testified against Mr. Smith in
>exchange for the dropping of all charges against him. The State
>Supreme Court overturned the conviction, citing ineffective counsel.
>Later evidence contradicted the companion’s testimony.
>
>Dale Johnston
>CONVICTED 1984 Released 1990
>Crime: Murdering his stepdaughter and her boyfriend in Ohio, allegedly
>to keep them from blackmailing him with accusations of incest. The
>court of appeals later ruled that statements by Mr. Johnston used in
>the first trial could not be introduced at a retrial because they were
>taken while he was under hypnosis.
>
>Federico Martinez Macias
>CONVICTED 1984 Released 1993
>Crime: The murder of a man during a burglary in Texas in 1983. Mr.
>Macias’s co-worker, who received immunity for testifying, said he
>drove him to the crime scene the night of the murder; a prison
>informant also said he heard Mr. Macias confess. In 1988, pro bono
>lawyers revealed evidence of inadequate trial counsel: two alibi
>witnesses had never been called to testify, an eyewitness had not been
>cross-examined and a 9-year-old girl’s testimony proved to be false.
>
>Benjamin Harris
>CONVICTED 1985 Released 1997
>Crime: The murder of Jimmy Lee Turner, an auto mechanic in Washington
>state. Mr. Harris’s lawyer consulted with him less than two hours and
>interviewed only 3 of 32 potential witnesses. After two unsuccessful
>appeals, Mr. Harris's conviction was overturned in 1994 because of
>inadequate counsel. The prosecution declined to retry Mr. Harris,
>instead saying that he was mentally ill and requesting that he be
>committed to a state hospital. On the condition that he pursue
>treatment, he was released.
>
>Gregory Wilhoit
>CONVICTED 1987 Released 1993
>Crime: Killing his estranged wife in her sleep in Oklahoma. An expert
>testified that Mr. Wilhoit’s teeth matched bite marks on the body. The
>state appeals court later said that Mr. Wilhoit’s counsel had failed
>to challenge that testimony, and was “suffering from alcohol
>dependence and abuse and brain damage during his representation of
>appellant.” At trial in 1993, 11 experts testified that the bite marks
>did not match, Wilhoit was acquitted.
>
>Carl Lawson
>CONVICTED 1990 Released 1996
>Crime: Killing 8-year-old Terrence Jones during a family dispute in
>Illinois. Although Mr. Lawson was found guilty, the defense lawyer
>assigned to him was later found to have been an assistant prosecutor
>at the time of his arrest. Another trial resulted in a hung jury;
>finally, Mr. Lawson was acquitted in 1996 and set free.
>
>Clarence Dexter
>CONVICTED 1991 Released 1999
>Crime: Murdering his wife in Missouri in 1991. Mr. Dexter’s conviction
>was overturned in 1998 because his defense had failed to investigate
>any of the evidence, much of which pointed to a botched robbery; blood
>left at the scene did not match Mr. Dexter’s.
>
>Shareef Cousin
>CONVICTED 1996 Released 1999
>Crime: The murder of MuAlfred Michael Gerardi during an armed robbery
>in Louisiana. Mr. Cousin, who was 16, said he was at a basketball
>game, and his coach testified that he was at the game. But his
>court-appointed lawyer advised him to plead guilty to four unrelated
>counts of armed robbery to gain the jury’s sympathy. Mr. Cousin was
>convicted of first-degree murder and the four robberies. The State
>Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction because of improper
>evidence, but he is still imprisoned for the other convictions.
>
>PROBLEMS WITH TESTIMONY
>
>Clarence Brandley
>CONVICTED 1981 Released 1990
>Crime: The rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in a Texas high
>school. Hair left at the crime scene implicated a white man, not Mr.
>Brandley, the only black custodian at the school. One of the two chief
>witnesses recanted his statements in a 1986 appeal hearing, saying the
>prosecution and the police had pressured him into implicating Mr.
>Brandley; the other witness confessed to the crime.
>
>Ricardo Aldape Guerra
>CONVICTED 1982 Released 1997
>Crime: Killing a police officer in Houston. After the state appeals
>were exhausted, the case went to a Federal district judge, who decided
>that the police and prosecutors had railroaded Mr. Guerra, a Mexican,
>onto death row.
>
>Anthony Porter
>CONVICTED 1983 Released 1999
>Crime: A double murder in Chicago witnessed by several people. His
>lawyer lost several appeals, but two days before his execution date
>last fall, Mr. Porter was granted a stay because of his limited mental
>capacity. When a journalism professor at Northwestern University,
>David Protess, assigned his students to investigate the case, several
>witnesses recanted and another man confessed.
>
>Muneer Deeb
>CONVICTED 1985 Released 1993
>Crime: Planning a 1982 triple murder in Texas carried out by three
>gunmen, who were later convicted. Mr. Deeb’s conviction was reversed
>in 1991 because testimony had been improperly admitted from an inmate
>who said he heard Mr. Deeb confess while awaiting trial.
>
>Robert Charles Cruz
>CONVICTED 1981 Released 1995
>Crime: Ordering the contract killing of two people in Arizona.
>Although physical evidence was scant, Mr. Cruz was convicted mainly on
>the testimony of a participant in the killings who was granted
>immunity for his testimony. At the last trial, the jury foreman said,
>“We all came to the conclusion that the state’s main witness was an
>unreliable witness, a proven liar.”
>
>Steven Smith
>CONVICTED 1985 Released 1999
>Crime: The murder of a jail warden, Virdeen Willis Jr., outside a
>Chicago tavern. Mr. Smith, whose criminal record already included two
>convictions for murder in 1964 and 1969, was convicted with the
>testimony of one eyewitness, who was later found to be closely tied to
>another suspect in the case. The State Supreme Court vacated Mr.
>Smith’s conviction and barred prosecutors from trying him again.
>
>Walter McMillian
>CONVICTED 1988 Released 1993
>Crime: Killing an 18-year-old woman, Ronda Morrison, during a robbery
>in Alabama. He was arrested with another man, Ralph Myers, who agreed
>to testify against him in exchange for leniency. Mr. McMillian was
>placed in a death row cell before his trial even began. The judge
>overruled the jury’s recommendation of life in prison and sentenced
>Mr. McMillian to die. An investigation by a lawyer revealed
>suppression of exculpatory information and perjury by all of the
>prosecution’s witnesses, who later recanted their testimony.
>
>Joseph Burrows
>CONVICTED 1989 Released 1994
>Crime: The murder of William Dulan, an 88-year-old man, in Illinois.
>Although no physical evidence implicated Mr. Burrows, two witnesses
>testified against him. One later recanted to a newspaper, claiming
>coercion by prosecutors and the police. The other witness confessed to
>the crime.
>
>Gary Gauger
>CONVICTED 1993 Released 1996
>Crime: The murder of his parents in Illinois. At his arrest Mr. Gauger
>was interrogated for more than 16 hours without a lawyer. Asked to
>describe how he might have committed the murders, Mr. Gauger complied;
>his answer was construed as a confession. The same judge who sentenced
>him to death later overturned the conviction, finding little evidence
>to arrest Mr. Gauger in the first place. Last year, a gang member, on
>trial for several unrelated crimes, confessed to murdering Mr.
>Gauger’s parents, with an accomplice.
>
>QUESTIONS OF EVIDENCE
>
>Gary Nelson
>CONVICTED 1980 Released 1991
>Crime: The rape and murder of a 6-year-old girl in Georgia. The
>prosecution presented an 8-year-old eyewitness and hair and semen
>samples. A volunteer group of lawyers later uncovered large amounts of
>suppressed evidence, including F.B.I. tests showing that the samples
>belonged to a white man (Mr. Nelson is black).
>
>John C. Skelton
>CONVICTED 1983 Released 1990
>Crime: Killing a former employee, Joe Neal, in Texas by rigging his
>pickup truck with dynamite. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said
>the prosecution had failed to link Mr. Skelton to the crime.
>
>Curtis Lee Kyles
>CONVICTED 1984 Released 1998
>Crime: The murder of Dolores Dye during a car theft in Louisiana. The
>United States Supreme Court, which overturned Mr. Kyles’s conviction,
>ruled that the prosecution had withheld material evidence regarding a
>paid informant who said Mr. Kyles, an acquaintance, was the murderer.
>The informant had previously been suspected of the murder.
>
>Adolph Munson
>CONVICTED 1985 Released 1995
>Crime: The kidnapping and murder of a store clerk in Oklahoma while
>Mr. Munson was on work release after serving time for a 1964 murder.
>After nine years of appeals and an investigative report by the
>American Bar Association, the state’s highest criminal appeals court
>overturned his conviction, finding that Oklahoma prosecutors had
>suppressed evidence that supported Mr. Munson’s innocence, including
>the testimony of eyewitnesses who claimed the murderer was white (Mr.
>Munson is black). He was acquitted in retrial.
>
>Jay C. Smith
>CONVICTED 1986 Released 1992
>Crime: The 1979 murder of a teacher and her two children in
>Pennsylvania; the prosecution charged that Mr. Smith, a principal,
>acted with the victim’s fiancé, who was later sentenced to three life
>terms. In 1989, the conviction was reversed because of hearsay
>evidence and because the prosecution was found to have suppressed
>evidence that strongly implicated the fiancé as the lone murderer. The
>Pennsylvania Supreme Court wrote that the prosecution had “violated
>all principles of justice and fairness.”
>
>Bradley P. Scott
>CONVICTED 1988 Released 1991
>Crime: Murdering a woman friend in 1978 in Florida. The document
>stating his whereabouts at the time of the crime had been misplaced;
>the police claimed to have an eyewitness who placed Mr. Scott at the
>crime scene. The Florida Supreme Court later ruled the evidence to be
>insufficient.
>
>Sabrina Butler
>CONVICTED 1990 Released 1995
>Crime: Killing her 9-month-old son, Walter, in Mississippi. Butler
>said the baby stopped breathing and she tried to resuscitate him
>before taking him to a hospital. She was later acquitted when a
>neighbor, who did not testify at the original trial, substantiated her
>story. Tests on the child’s exhumed body pointed to kidney disease as
>a cause of death.
>
>Andrew Golden
>CONVICTED 1991 Released 1994
>Crime: Drowning his wife in Florida. Though the death was initially
>ruled accidental, Mr. Golden was later tried and found guilty. On
>appeal, the Florida Supreme Court said “the state failed to prove
>beyond a reasonable doubt that Mrs. Golden’s death resulted from the
>criminal agency of another person rather than by accident.”
>
>Randall Padgett
>CONVICTED 1992 Released 1997
>Crime: The stabbing death of his estranged wife in Alabama. His
>conviction was based almost entirely on blood samples left at the
>scene, which were tested for DNA. It was later discovered that the
>F.B.I. crime lab had determined that the blood was not Padgett’s, but
>Alabama prosecutors had suppressed that fact. Padgett was acquitted at
>a retrial.
>
>WRONG DNA
>
>Rolando Cruz
>Alejandro Hernandez
>CONVICTED 1985 Released 1996
>Crime: The 1983 rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico in
>Illinois. The men, who knew one another, were jointly tried, convicted
>and sentenced to death. They won a new trial after the State Supreme
>Court ruled that they should have been tried separately. After the
>second trial they were convicted again, with Mr. Hernandez getting 80
>years. DNA tests in 1994 implicated a convicted sex offender, Brian
>Dugan, who, during a plea bargain, confessed to six murders, including
>Jeanine Nicarico’s.
>
>Kirk Bloodsworth
>CONVICTED 1984 Released 1993
>Crime: The 1984 rape and murder of 9-year-old girl in Maryland. Mr.
>Bloodsworth resembled the composite sketch of the suspect; police said
>he gave information about the crime. The first conviction was reversed
>because the prosecution withheld psychiatric evidence, but he was
>convicted again in 1986, all the while pleading his innocence. “If I’m
>dead, that’s it,” he told the judge at that time. “You can't bring me
>back.” In 1993 DNA from the scene was found not to match Mr.
>Bloodsworth’s.
>
>Verneal Jimerson
>CONVICTED 1985 Released 1996
>Dennis Williams
>CONVICTED 1979 Released 1996
>Crime: The 1978 abduction, torture and murder of a couple in a suburb
>of Chicago. The case against them and two others relied heavily on
>eyewitness testimony by one witness, Paula Gray, who changed her
>testimony several times, at one point admitting that she had
>implicated all four men in exchange for leniency in a different case
>against her. DNA samples failed to match the four men but implicated
>another man who later confessed to the crime.
>
>Ronald Williamson
>CONVICTED 1988 Released 1999
>Crime Raping, strangling and mutilating a 21-year-old waitress, Debra
>Sue Carter, in Oklahoma in 1982. The conviction was based largely on
>strands of hair left at the crime scene and the testimony of a
>witness, Glenn Gore. In 1997, DNA samples from semen found at the
>crime scene were tested and found to match Mr. Gore’s.
>
>Robert Lee Miller Jr.
>CONVICTED 1988 Released 1998
>Crime: The rape and asphyxiation of two women, Anne Laura Fowler, 83,
>and Zelma Cutler, 92, in Oklahoma in 1988. A judge dismissed the case
>after 10 years, saying the evidence was insufficient. DNA in a semen
>sample did not match Mr. Miller’s DNA, but did match that of an
>already-convicted rapist.
>
>Ronald Jones
>CONVICTED 1989
>CHARGES DROPPED 1999
>Crime: The 1985 rape and murder of Debra Smith in Illinois. Mr. Jones
>signed a confession that stated that Ms. Smith had agreed to have sex
>with him for $10, then attacked him with a knife when he refused to
>pay her and was killed in the struggle. In the first trial, it was
>shown that Ms. Smith had no history of prostitution; Mr. Jones later
>said the police had beaten him. But it was not until 1997 that DNA
>tests used on the semen sample recovered at the crime scene proved
>that Mr. Jones was the wrong man. The charges against him, however,
>weren’t dropped until May 1999 after prosecutors decided against a new
>trial. He remains in jail on unrelated charges.
>
>Robert Hayes
>CONVICTED 1991 RELEASED 1997
>Crime: The rape and murder of a co-worker in Florida. Mr. Hayes was
>convicted largely from DNA evidence that was taken from hair found in
>the victim’s hands. In 1995, the Florida Supreme Court overturned Mr.
>Hayes’s conviction when it was revealed that the hair was from a white
>man; Mr. Hayes is black.
>
>Sources: Death Penalty Information Center; National Coalition to
>Abolish the Death Penalty; American Bar Association; Amnesty
>International; The Center for Wrongful Convictions and the Death
>Penalty, Northwestern University; MacArthur Justice Center; National
>Institute of Justice; “Death Penalty Symposium: Prisoners Released
>From Death Rows Since 1970 Because of Doubts About Their Guilt,” by
>Michael L. Radelet, William S. Lofquist and Hugo Adam Bedau in the
>Thomas M. Cooley Law Review, vol. 13, 1996.
>
>
>