Category Archives: Snitching

Compromised Justice? Selling Case Details to Would-be Snitches

Posted on December 20, 2012 by | 1 comment

A must-read USA Today report published on December 14 (here) places a spotlight on a process rarely revealed to those outside the justice system: The role of the snitch in making federal cases…and in reducing sentences. While DNA proven wrongful convictions have shown that snitches can be a questionable source for information, the use of snitches continues to be widespread. So much so that credible case information is a currency for getting out of jail sooner.

Imprisoned bank robber Marcus Watkins is not the first to recognize that there could be a profitable business in selling case details to defendants and convicts desperate to reduce their sentences. Continue reading →

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Posted in Editorials/Opinion, investigations and investigation techniques, North America, Reforming/Improving the system, Snitching

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Breaking News: Judge Vacates Convictions in Washington

Posted on December 15, 2012 by | 1 comment

Congratulations to Robert Larson, Tyler Gassman, Paul Statler, and the Innocence Project Northwest!!

From The Spokesman Review:

Family members gasped with joy and wept Friday as a judge threw out the disputed robbery convictions of three Spokane men who have argued for years that they were framed by a snitch who was trying to spare himself and his brother from longer prison terms.

Superior Court Judge Michael Price, after reviewing new evidence in the case, offered scathing criticism of what he called the failures of the three attorneys who previously defended Paul E. Statler, Tyler W. Gassman and Robert E. Larson. Price vacated the 2009 convictions for robbery, assault and drive-by shooting that netted Statler about 42 years, Gassman 26 and Larson 20 years in prison.

“Mr. Larson, Mr. Gassman and Mr. Statler were entitled to a fair trial and effective counsel,” Price said. “One cannot go on without the other. Here the counsel failed … to discover evidence critical to rebutting the state’s case.”

Price said arguments presented by attorneys on behalf of the Innocence Project Northwest Clinic had provided new phone and work records – which had not been sought by earlier defense attorneys – that raised serious doubt whether a jury would have convicted the three men. Continue reading →

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Posted in North America, Snitching

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Federal Prosecutorial Misconduct - Can There Be Any Difference at the State and Local Level?

Posted on October 19, 2012 by | 4 comments

USA Today just published a story about Nino Lyons, who was exonerated of drug trafficking charges for which he was convicted in 2001. It’s a very “telling” article. Here is the lead-in to the story:

“For more than a week in 2001, the jurors listened to one witness after another, almost all of them prison inmates, describe how Lyons had sold them packages of cocaine. One said that Lyons, who ran clothing shops and nightclubs around Orlando, even tried to hire him to kill two drug suppliers.

But the federal prosecutors handling the case did not let the jury hear all the facts.

Instead, the prosecutors covered up evidence that could have discredited many of Lyons’ accusers. They never revealed that a convict who claimed to have purchased hundreds of pounds of cocaine from Lyons struggled even to identify his photograph. And they hid the fact that prosecutors had promised to let others out of prison early in exchange for their cooperation.”

See full story here.

Quoted in the article is Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman, an expert on misconduct by prosecutors. “It’s systemic now, and … the system is not able to control this type of behavior. There is no accountability.” (emphasis is mine)

The article focuses on federal prosecutors, but why would this situation be any different at state and local levels? My expectation is that it’s not. I’ve heard prosecutors quoted as saying “We will win at all cost.”

There has to be some accountability for these people who are invested with so much power, but it seems there is not.

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Posted in Editorials/Opinion, Exonerations, Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad), Snitching

Sixth Circuit Finds Evidence of Actual Innocence in Ohio Murder Case

Posted on September 10, 2012 by | 3 comments

Ohio inmate Al Cleveland, convicted of murder in 1996, has been a client of Jennifer Bergeron of the Ohio Innocence Project for many years. His case has also been investigated at various points in time by the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University and private investigator Martin Yant.

Today, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the evidence compiled over the years is sufficient to meet the “actual innocence” Shlup exception, and overturned the lower court’s decision and remanded the case for further proceedings. The fantastic opinion is here. All the details of the case are contained in the opinion. News report here and in WSJ here…

This the type of victory that reflects determination and persistence. Bergeron worked against great odds for years to get to this point. It is a sweet victory for Al, and a sweet victory for Jennifer.

Below is a painting that Al created in prison, entitled Flood of Lies, which reflects his feelings about his plight. About the painting, Al wrote:

I don’t have many words to describe this piece, but it represents the end of the artistic confines to which I have been bound for years, and marks the beginning of an inward journey of truth-telling in art and the expression of such by all means despite the look. No beauty right now, just a soul under pressure and an able hand in need, coming to grips with a few dreams it must let go. Upon further thought, this represents the feeling of many of us wrongfully incarcerated, serving Life sentences.

Flood of Lies

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Posted in Freedom's Heroes, Habeas Corpus, Snitching

The Perfect Storm of Wrongful Convictions

Posted on July 28, 2012 by | 3 comments

The video of William Dillon, 52, singing the national anthem for the Tampa Bay Rays swept the Internet. He was invited to do the opening honors, including throwing the first pitch, because, of course, he could sing. But in doing so, he delivered another powerful message. As is often the case, Dillon, who spent more than 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, refuses to let bitterness ruin his newfound freedom. He accepted the invitation to sing about the land of the free and the home of the brave because his love of country—and the promise of America—has never wavered.

“Words cannot even explain how I feel,” he said just prior to singing (see Tampa Bay Times report and video). “It is so emotional and so deep-ingrained in my Continue reading →

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Posted in Editorials/Opinion, Life after exoneration, North America, Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad), Recantations, Snitching

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Murder Conviction Overturned in Ohio After DNA Tests Results Point to Innocence…

Posted on July 10, 2012 by | 1 comment

Dewey Jones

Congrats to OIP staff attorney Carrie Wood for her victory in this hard-fought case!

From the Columbus Dispatch (more here):

Dewey Jones’ quest to prove that he isn’t a murderer took another step forward yesterday when a judge overturned his felony conviction and granted a new trial for the Akron man, who has served 17 years of a life sentence.

The ruling by Summit County Common Pleas Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands follows the release in April of new test results showing that DNA recovered from an Akron murder scene didn’t come from Jones.

Jones, 50, was convicted in March 1995 of robbing and killing 71-year-old Neal Rankin, a family friend. Jones previously had been convicted of drug trafficking and passing bad checks, but he has always maintained his innocence in Rankin’s murder.

“I’ve done some things I’m not proud of in life and made some bad choices,” Jones told The Dispatch last year at the Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield last year. “ But I’ve not hurt or killed anyone.”

The lab tests, conducted by DNA Diagnostics Center of Fairfield in southwestern Ohio, found a partial male DNA profile on the piece of rope used to tie Rankin’s wrists, the knife used to cut the rope, and pieces of Rankin’s shirt sleeves. None of it matched Jones when compared with his DNA.

The testing also found no DNA that matched Gary Rusu, whom the state’s lead Continue reading →

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Posted in DNA, Exonerations, Snitching

Duke’s Wrongful Conviction Clinic Scores Release, New Trial of Lamonte Armstrong…

Posted on July 1, 2012 by | 5 comments

From press release:

See news videos here and here….

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A Greensboro man convicted of first-degree murder in 1995 was released from prison Friday after a judge agreed with defense attorneys and a North Carolina assistant district attorney that he should be freed pending a new trial.

LaMonte Armstrong, convicted of the 1988 murder of Ernestine Compton in Greensboro, had served 17 years of a life sentence. He was released by Judge Joseph Turner after defense attorneys David Pishko ’77 and Theresa Newman ’88, a professor at Duke Law School and co-director of the school’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic, presented evidence of his wrongful conviction. Guilford County Assistant District Attorney Howard Neumann joined with Armstrong’s lawyers in recommending his release pending a new trial.

Armstrong’s hearing, originally scheduled for September, was fast-tracked after police uncovered new evidence during a retest of physical evidence from the crime scene.

A team of Duke Law students, many of them now alumni, has been working with Newman, Pishko and Professor James Coleman on Armstrong’s case for years. Their “dogged work,” and the “open minds” of Neumann and Greensboro Police Detective Michael Matthews, resulted in a just outcome, Coleman said.

“The willingness of the Greensboro Police Department and the District Attorney’s office to listen to our concerns and act as amenable, if skeptical, allies in pursuing the truth is a blueprint for how innocence investigations should Continue reading →

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Posted in Exonerations, Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad), Snitching

Policing Snitching to Protect Defendant’s Rights

Posted on June 1, 2012 by | 5 comments

The above is the title of a concisely written article by Emily Smith. It appeared in the American Criminal Law Review, 2011. The article reviews the pros and cons of informant testimony; the idea that snitching evidence is essentially quid pro quo in nature. That, for the most part, they are to be viewed with circumspect, otherwise, measures are required to be put in place to retain their probative value.

The author provides anecdotal evidence to support the claim that, 49% of those wrongly convicted and sentenced to death, faced this fate because of crooked testimony. The author then followed with a rhetorical question: Is reliance on this essential practice, really necessary to the effective enforcement of the criminal law?

‘No one can deny that the information the informants can provide is relevant to a trial. However, prosecutors are given almost unfettered discretion to offer the informant incentives, with courts rarely questioning the credibility of their witnesses. The problem is that the informant’s greed creates trouble when it is combined with the prosecutor’s leeway and singular focus on conviction’. In light of this ‘tunnel vision’ by prosecutors, the author suggests that, there should be some additional sort of judicial oversight. She says, there are three ways to conduct such supervision. Read those ways and the entire article.

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Posted in Africa, Editorials/Opinion, North America, Snitching

Reflections on System Resistance to Innocence Part II

Posted on May 18, 2012 by | 2 comments

In a blog post that appeared on March 14, 2012 entitled Bryant ‘Rico’ Gaines to Walk Free Today in Ohio: Reflections on System Resistance to Innocence (Blog Post), I expressed frustration over how the criminal justice system in Cincinnati reacted to a post-conviction claim of innocence, in the context of a specific case, in a way that I felt did not comport with a prosecutor’s duty to search for truth and ‘do justice.’

After the Blog Post was published, I heard that at least one member of the Prosecutor’s Office was upset because he or she believed that the Blog Post contained some inaccurate facts. As a result, I invited the Prosecutor or his representative to respond to the Blog Post in the comment section and asked them to specifically address any mistakes I had made so that we could flesh them out through discussion.

I later received this 10-page letter dated April 3, 2012 (‘the Letter’). After receiving the Letter, representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that it was intended as a public response to the Blog Post and encouraged me to post it in my blog, which I have done above. [Note: The Letter responded to my Blog Post by using the names of the various actors in the case. I did not use names in the original Blog Post because I see this as an academic discussion about the criminal justice system broadly rather than a discussion that is personal in nature. Therefore, I have redacted most names from the Letter.]

My response to the Letter:

I. Global Comments

A. Prosecutorial Tunnel Vision and Resistance to Innocence Claims

First, I would like to clarify the point of my Blog Post. I intended to explore the concept of prosecutorial tunnel vision in post-conviction cases and to allow blog readers to contrast the reaction of the Prosecutor’s Office when presented with post-conviction evidence of Gaines’ potential innocence with how police and prosecutors have reacted in other similar cases I have celebrated on the blog, such as in the articles here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Specifically, in the Blog Post, I pointed out examples of prosecutorial behavior Continue reading →

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Posted in Editorials/Opinion, Forensic controls, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice, Junk science, North America, Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad), Recantations, Reforming/Improving the system, Snitching

Thursday’s Quick Clicks…

Posted on May 10, 2012 by | 1 comment

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Posted in Events, Eyewitness identification, Life after exoneration, North America, Snitching, United Kingdom

Thursday’s Quick Clicks…

Posted on April 26, 2012 by | Leave a comment

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Posted in DNA, Events, Eyewitness identification, Film/Cinema, investigations and investigation techniques, Reforming/Improving the system, Snitching

Monday’s Quick Clicks…

Posted on March 19, 2012 by | Leave a comment

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Posted in Book recommendations/discussion, Life after exoneration, Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad), Snitching

Bryant “Rico” Gaines to Walk Free Today in Ohio: Reflections on System Resistance to Innocence

Posted on March 14, 2012 by | 15 comments

Later today, Ohio Innocence Project client Bryant “Rico” Gaines will walk free after serving 9 years of a life sentence for a murder he did not commit. (Details of case, and grounds of innocence, available here). OIP attorney Karla Hall and Cincinnati defense attorney Bill Gallagher, along with scores of students, worked very hard over the years to bring about Rico’s freedom, and they deserve many congratulations. But Rico will not be going home cleared of all charges, despite the fact that he is innocent. He walks free today after deciding to take a plea deal to a reduced charge of “conspiracy to commit involuntary manslaughter.” His decision was simple. He has two daughters, including an 11-year old daughter that he has barely seen since she was 2 when Rico was locked up. Rico knows he had nothing to do with the murder in this case, but after having clear evidence of innocence in his favor for many years, and seeing how the prosecutors and courts refuse to listen, he decided that taking a plea and lying about his involvement in the murder was the price to pay for freedom and being reunited with his daughters immediately.

Rico’s case is a testament to three things: (1) how difficult it is for an innocent man to win his freedom when there is no DNA in his case; (2) the lengths that the system will go to deny admitting a mistake; and (3) how difficult it is for a Continue reading →

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Posted in Defense lawyering (good and bad), Editorials/Opinion, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice, North America, Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad), Recantations, Snitching

The galvanizing Troy Davis case taught lessons beyond death penalty

Posted on March 3, 2012 by | 11 comments

Massive attention in America and internationally on the Troy Davis case appropriately focused on the death penalty, but this case was a call to action regardless of one’s position on capital punishment. The troubling uncertainty that followed Troy Davis to the death chamber on September 21, 2011, should prompt widespread recognition that the U.S. criminal justice system can do better, and Americans must require it.

When Davis’s guilt was called into question following the recantation of most key witnesses, thousands protested but were unable to stop the train that had left the station twenty years earlier. That’s when a jury, after weighing evidence Continue reading →

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Posted in Capital punishment, Commissions/Innocence Commissions/Governmental Case Review Agencies, Editorials/Opinion, Events, Eyewitness identification, North America, Police conduct (good and bad), Recantations, Reforming/Improving the system, Snitching

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Capital Murder Conviction Overturned in Federal Habeas in Virginia…

Posted on February 29, 2012 by | 10 comments

Congrats to Shawn Armbrust and the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project on a big win in federal court yesterday. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia threw out the 2001 murder conviction of Michael Hash, holding that the state had failed to turn over deals it had cut with States’ witness, and that Hash’ attorneys had been ineffective. The 64-page decision is here. News account of the case here.

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Posted in Defense lawyering (good and bad), Exonerations, North America, Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad), Snitching