The Evidence Rules That Convict the Innocent
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Protecting the Innocent from False Confessions and Lost Confessions--And from Miranda Paul G
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 88 Article 2 Issue 2 Winter Winter 1998 Protecting the Innocent from False Confessions and Lost Confessions--And from Miranda Paul G. Cassell Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation Paul G. Cassell, Protecting the Innocent from False Confessions and Lost Confessions--And from Miranda, 88 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 497 (Winter 1998) This Criminal Law is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. 0091-4169/98/8802-0497 TI' JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW& CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 88, No. 2 Copyright 0 1998 by Northwestern Unh-rsity, School of Law PrinW in U.S.A PROTECTING THE INNOCENT FROM FALSE CONFESSIONS AND LOST CONFESSIONS-AND FROM MIRANDA PAUL G. CASSELL" For most of the last several decades, criminal procedure scholarship-mirroring the Warren Court landmarks it was commenting on-spent little time discussing the guiltless and much discussing the guilty. Recent scholarship suggests a dif- ferent focus is desirable. As one leading scholar recently put it, "the Constitution seeks to protect the innocent."' Professors Leo and Ofshe's preceding article,2 along with ar- ticles like it by (among others) Welsh White and Al Alschuler,4 commendably adopts this approach. Focusing on the plight of an innocent person who confessed to a crime he5 did not com- mit, they recommend certain changes in the rules governing po- " Professor of Law, University of Utah College of Law ([email protected]). -
Consequences of Failing to Admit Guilt at Parole Hearings Daniel S
MEDWED_TRANSMITTED.DOC2 2/26/2008 1:51 PM The Innocent Prisoner’s Dilemma: Consequences of Failing to Admit Guilt at Parole Hearings Daniel S. Medwed∗ INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 493 I. THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PAROLE ................................................ 497 A. HISTORICAL ORIGINS AND PURPOSES OF PAROLE ................................ 497 B. PAROLE RELEASE DECISION-MAKING: CONTEMPORARY STANDARDS AND POLICIES .................................................................................... 504 II. THE EFFECT OF PAROLE RELEASE DECISION-MAKING NORMS ON THE INNOCENT ............................................................................................... 513 A. PAROLE: AN INNOCENCE OPTION OF LAST RESORT ............................. 518 B. PRESSURE ON INNOCENT INMATES TO “ADMIT” GUILT ........................ 523 III. ADMISSIONS OF GUILT AND THE PAROLE RELEASE DECISION RECONSIDERED ....................................................................................... 529 A. THE DANGER OF ASSUMING THE LITIGATION PROCESS ACCURATELY FILTERS THE GUILTY FROM THE INNOCENT ......................................... 530 B. POTHOLES ON THE PATH TO REDEMPTION THROUGH THE PAROLE PROCESS ........................................................................................... 532 IV. SUGGESTIONS FOR REFORM .................................................................... 541 A. LIMITATIONS ON THE SUBSEQUENT USE OF STATEMENTS FROM PAROLE HEARINGS ........................................................................... -
Compensation Chart by State
Updated 5/21/18 NQ COMPENSATION STATUTES: A NATIONAL OVERVIEW STATE STATUTE WHEN ELIGIBILITY STANDARD WHO TIME LIMITS MAXIMUM AWARDS OTHER FUTURE CONTRIBUTORY PASSED OF PROOF DECIDES FOR FILING AWARDS CIVIL PROVISIONS LITIGATION AL Ala.Code 1975 § 29-2- 2001 Conviction vacated Not specified State Division of 2 years after Minimum of $50,000 for Not specified Not specified A new felony 150, et seq. or reversed and the Risk Management exoneration or each year of incarceration, conviction will end a charges dismissed and the dismissal Committee on claimant’s right to on grounds Committee on Compensation for compensation consistent with Compensation Wrongful Incarceration can innocence for Wrongful recommend discretionary Incarceration amount in addition to base, but legislature must appropriate any funds CA Cal Penal Code §§ Amended 2000; Pardon for Not specified California Victim 2 years after $140 per day of The Department Not specified Requires the board to 4900 to 4906; § 2006; 2009; innocence or being Compensation judgment of incarceration of Corrections deny a claim if the 2013; 2015; “innocent”; and Government acquittal or and Rehabilitation board finds by a 2017 declaration of Claims Board discharge given, shall assist a preponderance of the factual innocence makes a or after pardon person who is evidence that a claimant recommendation granted, after exonerated as to a pled guilty with the to the legislature release from conviction for specific intent to imprisonment, which he or she is protect another from from release serving a state prosecution for the from custody prison sentence at underlying conviction the time of for which the claimant exoneration with is seeking transitional compensation. -
Pleadings: Appeal and Error. an Appellate Court
Nebraska Supreme Court Online Library www.nebraska.gov/apps-courts-epub/ 09/28/2021 08:15 PM CDT - 329 - NEBRASKA SUPREME COURT ADVAncE SHEETS 298 NEBRASKA REPORTS NADEEM V. STATE Cite as 298 Neb. 329 MOHAMMED NADEEM, APPELLANT, V. STATE OF NEBRASKA, APPELLEE. ___ N.W.2d ___ Filed December 8, 2017. No. S-16-113. 1. Motions to Dismiss: Pleadings: Appeal and Error. An appellate court reviews a district court’s order granting a motion to dismiss de novo, accepting all allegations in the complaint as true and drawing all reason- able inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. 2. Motions to Dismiss: Pleadings. For purposes of a motion to dismiss, a court may consider some materials that are part of the public record or do not contradict the complaint, as well as materials that are necessarily embraced by the pleadings. 3. Pleadings: Complaints. Documents embraced by the pleadings are materials alleged in a complaint and whose authenticity no party ques- tions, but which are not physically attached to the pleadings. 4. ____: ____. Documents embraced by the complaint are not considered matters outside the pleadings. 5. Res Judicata: Judgments. Res judicata bars relitigation of any right, fact, or matter directly addressed or necessarily included in a former adjudication if (1) the former judgment was rendered by a court of com- petent jurisdiction, (2) the former judgment was a final judgment, (3) the former judgment was on the merits, and (4) the same parties or their privies were involved in both actions. 6. Convictions: Claims: Pleadings. Under Neb. Rev. -
The Myth of the Presumption of Innocence
Texas Law Review See Also Volume 94 Response The Myth of the Presumption of Innocence Brandon L. Garrett* I. Introduction Do we have a presumption of innocence in this country? Of course we do. After all, we instruct criminal juries on it, often during jury selection, and then at the outset of the case and during final instructions before deliberations. Take this example, delivered by a judge at a criminal trial in Illinois: "Under the law, the Defendant is presumed to be innocent of the charges against him. This presumption remains with the Defendant throughout the case and is not overcome until in your deliberations you are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant is guilty."' Perhaps the presumption also reflects something more even, a larger commitment enshrined in a range of due process and other constitutional rulings designed to protect against wrongful convictions. The defense lawyer in the same trial quoted above said in his closings: [A]s [the defendant] sits here right now, he is presumed innocent of these charges. That is the corner stone of our system of justice. The best system in the world. That is a presumption that remains with him unless and until the State can prove him guilty beyond2 a reasonable doubt. That's the lynchpin in the system ofjustice. Our constitutional criminal procedure is animated by that commitment, * Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law. 1. Transcript of Record at 13, People v. Gonzalez, No. 94 CF 1365 (Ill.Cir. Ct. June 12, 1995). 2. -
Description of Bite Mark Exonerations
DESCRIPTION OF BITE MARK EXONERATIONS 1. Keith Allen Harward: Keith Harward was convicted of the September 1982 murder of a man and the rape of his wife. The assailant, who was dressed as a sailor, bit the rape victim’s legs multiple times during the commission of the rape. Because of the assailant’s uniform, the investigation focused on the sailors aboard a Navy ship dry-docked near the victims’ Newport News, Virginia, home. Dentists aboard the ship ran visual screens of the dental records and teeth of between 1,000 and 3,000 officers aboard the ship; though Harward’s dentition was initially highlighted for additional screening, a forensic dentist later excluded Harward as the source of the bites. The crime went unsolved for six months, until detectives were notified that Harward was accused of biting his then-girlfriend in a dispute. The Commonwealth then re-submitted wax impressions and dental molds of Harward's dentition to two ABFO board-certified Diplomates, Drs. Lowell Levine and Alvin Kagey, who both concluded that Harward was the source of bite marks on the rape victim. Although the naval and local dentists who conducted the initial screenings had excluded Harward as the source of the bites, in the wake of the ABFO Diplomates’ identifications they both changed their opinions. Harward’s defense attorneys also sought opinions from two additional forensic dentists prior to his trials, but those experts also concluded that Harward inflicted the bites; in total, six forensic dentists falsely identified Harward as the biter. At Harward's second trial, Dr. -
Reversible Errors and Errores Juris
FEDERAL CONVICTIONS REVERSED The following is a publication of the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of New York. The cases are from United States Courts of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court. The opinions contain at least one point favorable to criminal defendants. The purpose is to give CJA Panel Attorneys a shortcut to case law favoring their clients. All cases should be researched to see if they are still viable. A precedent in one jurisdiction is not necessarily the law elsewhere. None of the cases should be cited without first reviewing the entire opinion. This warning is especially for prisoners and defendants who wish to rely on the cases herein. A one-line summary cannot possibly be sufficient to cite these cases without first reading each. These materials may be duplicated for any lawyer providing legal services to indigent defendants. Duplication is encouraged. These materials may be reprinted by other free publications or free on-line providers serving the criminal defense bar. Attribution to this office is requested. This collection has previously existed as Reversible Errors and Errores Juris. The new name reflects that coverage is now limited to errors overturning federal criminal convictions, not sentences, nor are other aspects of the criminal justice system addressed. There are two reasons. First, it has been difficult to update so many areas of law on a regular basis. Second, federal sentencing law has changed drastically in recent years and it will take time to determine the common bases for reversal among federal jurisdictions. Updates can be found at www .nynd-fpd.org The publications will be distributed by e-mail in Acrobat 8.0. -
Compensation for Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Incarceration, and Exoneration
68-West–Statehouse, 300 SW 10th Ave. Topeka, Kansas 66612-1504 (785) 296-3181 ◆ FAX (785) 296-3824 [email protected] http://www.kslegislature.org/klrd December 27, 2017 COMPENSATION FOR WRONGFUL CONVICTION, WRONGFUL INCARCERATION, AND EXONERATION Exoneration Overview The National Registry of Exonerations1 (Registry) maintains the country’s largest database of exonerations. According to the Registry, 2,141 persons have been exonerated nationwide since 1989. For purposes of the Registry, a person is considered to have been exonerated if he or she was convicted of a crime and later was either: (1) declared to be factually innocent by a government official or agency with the authority to make that declaration; or (2) relieved of all the consequences of the criminal conviction by a government official or body with the authority to take that action. The official action may be: (i) a complete pardon by a governor or other competent authority, whether or not the pardon is designated as based on innocence; (ii) an acquittal of all charges factually related to the crime for which the person was originally convicted; or (iii) a dismissal of all charges related to the crime for which the person was originally convicted, by a court or by a prosecutor with the authority to enter that dismissal. The pardon, acquittal, or dismissal must have been the result, at least in part, of evidence of innocence that either (i) was not presented at the trial at which the person was convicted; or (ii) if the person pled guilty, was not known to the defendant and the defense attorney, and to the court, at the time the plea was entered. -
Exoneration in Sweden
This article from Erasmus Law Review is published by Eleven international publishing and made available to anonieme bezoeker Exoneration in Sweden Is It Not about Time to Reform the Swedish Model? Dennis Martinsson* Abstract receives information concerning the case from the pros- ecutor. Other signs of the respect for the rule of law are This article reviews exoneration in Sweden, with a focus on that the prosecutor should indict a person only if there the procedure of applying for exoneration. First, it highlights are sufficient reasons to believe that he or she commit- some core features of Swedish criminal procedural law, nec- ted the crime and if the assessment is that an indictment essary to understand exoneration in the Swedish context. will result in a guilty verdict. Further, the prosecutor Secondly, it outlines the possibilities in Swedish law to apply has the burden of proof and a conviction requires that for exoneration, both in favour of a convicted person and to the evidence prove beyond reasonable doubt that the the disadvantage of a previously acquitted defendant. defendant committed the crime. Another feature is that Thirdly, it identifies some challenges with the current Swed- Swedish law offers rather extensive possibilities for a ish model of administering applications for exoneration. defendant who has been convicted by a district court to Fourthly, it argues that the current system should be appeal against the judgment.3 Thus, Sweden’s several reformed by introducing into Swedish law a review commit- legal safeguards ensure that criminal law cases are trea- tee that administers applications for exoneration. -
From False Evidence Ploy to False Guilty Plea: an Unjustified Path to Securing Convictions Introduction
COMMENT From False Evidence Ploy to False Guilty Plea: An Unjustified Path to Securing Convictions introduction On June 20, 1991, two police officers brought an African American man named Anthony Gray into custody for questioning related to the unsolved rape and murder of a woman in Calvert County, Maryland.1 During the interroga- tion, the detectives lied to Mr. Gray about the evidence police held against him. They told him that two other men had confessed to involvement in the crime and had named Mr. Gray as the killer.2 They told him that he had failed two hour-long polygraph tests.3 And they told him that they “knew” he had com- mitted the crime.4 In reality, no one had confessed to the crime or identified Anthony Gray as the perpetrator.5 Mr. Gray did not fail the polygraph tests.6 Instead, the police had gathered “a substantial amount of exculpating evidence” during the period of time when Mr. Gray was being interrogated.7 Witnesses reported having seen a lone white man driving from the crime scene in the victim’s car, and the hair evidence that police recovered could have only come from a Caucasian 1. Gray v. Maryland, No. CIV.CCB-02-0385, 2004 WL 2191705, at *2 (D. Md. Sept. 24, 2004). This account of Anthony Gray’s case is based on judicial opinions that present the factual record in the light most favorable to the defendant. 2. Gray v. Maryland, 228 F. Supp. 2d 628, 632 (D. Md. 2002). 3. Gray, 2004 WL 2191705, at *3. -
15A0021n.06 No. 13-3882 UNITED STATES COURT OF
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION File Name: 15a0021n.06 No. 13-3882 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) ON APPEAL FROM THE v. ) UNITED STATES DISTRICT ) COURT FOR THE DONTE BOOKER ) NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ) OHIO Defendant-Appellant. ) ) ) Before: MCKEAGUE and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges; HOOD, District Judge.* KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judge. Cleveland police officers and an ATF agent tricked Donte Booker into attempting to possess cocaine with the intent to sell it, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846. Booker appeals his conviction, arguing that the government entrapped him as a matter of law. Booker also argues that the district court should have allowed the jury to hear evidence about his wrongful conviction for an unrelated rape. We affirm. I. Booker served 17 years in prison for a 1987 rape he did not commit. After his release, a DNA test proved his innocence and the convictions were vacated. Ohio later paid Booker $618,000 to settle his wrongful-conviction lawsuit. * The Honorable Joseph M. Hood, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky, sitting by designation. United States v. Booker No. 13-3882 The sting operation at issue here took place several years later. In October 2012 an informant, Daisetta Harris, told Cleveland Detective Todd Clark that Booker had asked her to help him rob drugs and money from stash houses. Detective Clark set up a sting operation to catch Booker. At Detective Clark’s behest, Harris told Booker that she knew two people who might be willing to help with a robbery: a woman named Angelique, and Angelique’s drug- courier boyfriend, Andre. -
The Ethical Limits of Discrediting the Truthful Witness
Marquette Law Review Volume 99 Article 4 Issue 2 Winter 2015 The thicE al Limits of Discrediting the Truthful Witness: How Modern Ethics Rules Fail to Prevent Truthful Witnesses from Being Discredited Through Unethical Means Todd A. Berger Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/mulr Part of the Courts Commons, and the Evidence Commons Repository Citation Todd A. Berger, The Ethical Limits of Discrediting the Truthful Witness: How Modern Ethics Rules Fail to Prevent Truthful Witnesses from Being Discredited Through Unethical Means, 99 Marq. L. Rev. 283 (2015). Available at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/mulr/vol99/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Marquette Law Review by an authorized administrator of Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ETHICAL LIMITS OF DISCREDITING THE TRUTHFUL WITNESS: HOW MODERN ETHICS RULES FAIL TO PREVENT TRUTHFUL WITNESSES FROM BEING DISCREDITED THROUGH UNETHICAL MEANS TODD A. BERGER* Whether the criminal defense attorney may ethically discredit the truthful witness on cross-examination and later during closing argument has long been an area of controversy in legal ethics. The vast majority of scholarly discussion on this important ethical dilemma has examined it in the abstract, focusing on the defense attorney’s dual roles in a criminal justice system that is dedicated to searching for the truth while simultaneously requiring zealous advocacy even for the guiltiest of defendants. Unlike these previous works, this particular Article explores this dilemma from the perspective of the techniques that criminal defense attorney’s use on cross-examination and closing argument to cast doubt on the testimony of a credible witness.