“As far as we know, not a single effort has been made to apprehend the actual perpetrators of that homicide. Including an admitted confession from a perpetrator, who after having been named as a perpetrator in this offense – law enforcement made no effort to apprehend him – he went ahead and killed another person. He is currently incarcerated in Nevada for having shot and killed a taxi driver there. I don’t understand law enforcement’s abdication of their responsibility here.” Linda Starr, Legal Director of the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) was referencing the case of Maurice Caldwell in an interview with Rina Palta of NPR’s KALW local public radio in San Francisco.

In about 45 percent of DNA-proven wrongful convictions, the real perpetrator is also identified. But, what about cases in which the DNA excludes the wrongfully convicted but does not find a match in state or national criminal DNA databases? Or what about cases such as that of Maurice Caldwell, who spent 20 years in prison before Superior Court Judge Charles Haines, ruling that Caldwell had been represented by ineffective counsel, ordered a new trial. His attorney has since been disbarred for his conduct in other cases.

Caldwell, who steadfastly maintained his innocence, was convicted of murder on the testimony of a sole witness, now deceased. The identification procedure was Continue reading →