INCLUSION DAILY EXPRESS -- Confessed "Murderers" Convictions Overturned

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Forced or Questionable Confessions Thrown Out

2015
April 13: Mentally Disabled Man, Convicted in ’87 Murder, Is Freed After Connecticut Court Ruling
2006
Oct. 16: City To Pay $1 Million For False Murder Confession (Illinois)
2002
January 7: DNA Tests Show Another "Confessed Murderer" Didn't Do Crime (Illinois)
2001
January 3: DNA Testing Frees Death Row Inmate (Louisiana)
January 5: Condemned Man Spared By "Missing" Evidence (Oklahoma)
2000
February 10: State Says It Convicted The Wrong Serial Killer (Illinois)
September 15: Death Sentence To Be Overturned (Arkansas)

State Says It Convicted The Wrong Serial Killer
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February 10, 2000
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- Cook County prosecutors announced yesterday that one of the six murders for which Hubert Geralds was convicted was actually committed by another inmate.

Three years ago, Geralds was convicted of the 1994 murder of Rhonda King. Investigators had already linked Geralds to four murders through DNA evidence, but built charges in the King killing and one other murder on his confessions.

But ten days ago, police arrested Andre Crawford. During questioning, Crawford confessed to nearly a dozen murders, including King's. In fact, he gave a much more detailed confession than Geralds.

This brings into question several of Geralds' confessions. Prosecutors want to vacate or remove Geralds' six murder convictions, one attempted murder conviction and his death sentence.

During his 1997 trial, experts testified that Geralds' IQ was between 59 and 73. His attorneys claim that police "could have gotten him to go along with anything" because of his "extremely low intelligence".

The State Attorney's office says Geralds will be tried again, but this time just for five murders and the attempted murder, all of which occurred in 1994 and 1995.

Death Sentence To Be Overturned
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
September 15, 2000
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS--The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a convicted killer's death sentence must be overturned and new sentencing hearing given because the man's attorney simply did not do his job.

The state's highest court said William Howard was not looking out for Damond Sanford's best interest during the sentencing phase of his capital murder, rape, burglary and theft trial.

Sanford, who was 17 at the time of his conviction, had confessed to the January 1995 murder of Minnie Ward. But during sentencing, Howard failed to investigate and argue prosecutors' portrayal of Sanford as evil and cold-blooded.

After questioning Howard, the court determined that the defense attorney made no effort to obtain Sanford's school records -- which indicated he had scored 67 on one IQ test and 75 on another. In most areas, an IQ below 70 classifies a person as having mental retardation.

Howard also failed to present to the jury medical records that showed Sanford nearly suffocated to death as a child when a load of cotton seed fell on him, and that later his sister struck him in the head with a two-by-four post.

According to today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Supreme Court's unanimous decision was based also on Howard's testimony that he was 'quite disappointed' in the jury's guilty verdicts and that 'he was tired'.

DNA Testing Frees Death Row Inmate
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 3, 2001
ANGOLA, LOUISIANA--For the first time in nearly 14 years, Albert Burrell walked out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary yesterday -- a free man -- after DNA testing cleared him of the crimes for which he was sent to death row.

Burrell, who is considered to have mental retardation, and his alleged accomplice, Michael Graham Jr., were convicted and sentenced to die for the 1987 murders of William and Callie Frost. Both men have consistently maintained that they were not guilty of the crimes.

Burrell came within 17 days of a scheduled execution in 1996, before his attorneys won a stay of execution.

On Tuesday, District Judge Cynthia Woodard ordered Burrell released after DNA testing determined that blood found at the murder site, long believed to belong to Burrell and Graham, in fact did not match that of either man. Graham was released last Thursday.

"We have no physical evidence in this case and that has been the problem from the start," said Pam Laborde, a spokesperson with the state's attorney general office. Woodard agreed with the attorney general that Burrell's and Graham's trials had "a number of irregularities".

This is not the first time DNA evidence has spared a person with mental retardation from the death penalty. Last October, DNA tests cleared a Virginia death row inmate of raping and murdering a woman in 1982. Defense attorneys believe Earl Washington Jr., 40, who reportedly has an IQ of 69, had been pressured by police to confess to committing the crimes. Washington had been convicted even though his confession had a number of inconsistencies. For example, he said he had acted alone, even though the victim's children testified they had witnessed the crime and that two men were involved. He also incorrectly identified the woman's race.

Washington's case has caused Virginia lawmakers to review the fairness of its death penalty laws. Illinois Governor Ryan last year issued a moratorium on executions in his state until a thorough examination can be done, after DNA and other evidence caused a large number of death penalty cases to be thrown out.

The execution of people with mental illness or mental retardation in the U.S. has sparked debate around the world, and some action within the states. Some disability rights advocates say that people such disabilities are often not sophisticated in defending themselves and do not thoroughly understand their rights. Since many are taught how to please others instead of how to understand and advocate for their own rights, they are more easily manipulated by accomplices and by police that want a confession. Another complicating factor is that most people with mental disabilities lack financial resources to obtain qualified, competent attorneys skilled in defending death penalty cases.

Last month, John Paul Penry, who reportedly has mental retardation, came within a few hours of being executed in Texas before the U.S. Supreme Court granted him a stay in order for the court to examine his case. A decision is expected in the summer.

Condemned Man Spared By "Missing" Evidence
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 5, 2001

TULSA, OKLAHOMA--For reasons not yet explained by officials, evidence from a 1985 murder showed up mysteriously late Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the man convicted of the crime was scheduled to die. The items -- a bloody sock, a pair of overalls, and a pocket knife -- were discovered in a evidence locker. They had been missing for the last four years.

In light of the discovery, Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin granted a 30-day reprieve to Robert William Clayton, 39, who was to be executed on Thursday, in order for the evidence to be examined and tested by DNA experts. It was the first stay of execution granted in Oklahoma over the last ten years.

Clayton, who reportedly has mental retardation and scored 68 on IQ tests, was convicted in the stabbing death Rhonda Kay Timmons, 19, at the Tulsa apartment complex where he was a groundskeeper. During the 1987 trial, prosecutors alleged that Clayton's sock and overalls contained traces of Timmons' blood. The overalls had been washed, but blood found on the sock had the same blood-type as Timmons. Experts were unable to determine whether the blood on the knife was from a human or an animal.

When a 1996 state law allowed evidence to be tested using DNA technology, none of the items could be found. Why the evidence turned up on Wednesday is unclear. Clayton's defenders believe DNA testing of the sock and knife will clear the man who has been on death row for 14 years. Fallin's order for the stay of execution will allow the testing to begin immediately.

Investigators in the case say Clayton confessed to "flipping out" and killing Timmons. Clayton denies that he gave any such confession.

The discovery brings into further question how states handle death penalty cases, particularly those involving defendants believed to have mental retardation. Clayton's reprieve came the day after Albert Burrell, a death row inmate who scored 68 on IQ tests, was released from Louisiana State Penitentiary. Burrell was cleared of the 1987 murder of an elderly couple, when DNA tests found that blood found at the crime scene did not belong to Burrell or his alleged accomplice. Last October, DNA tests cleared a Virginia death row inmate Earl Washington Jr, 40, of raping and murdering a woman in 1982. Defense attorneys believe Earl Washington, who reportedly has an IQ of 69, had been pressured by police to confess to committing the crimes.

Advocates for people with disabilities point out that people with mental retardation are at a disadvantage because, among other things, they may not understand their rights, confessions are easily forced from them, and they have poor legal representation. Before the decision Oklahoma was scheduled to execute eight people this month, which would have matched a monthly record for executions set recently in Texas. Still scheduled to die by lethal injection on January 11 is Wanda Jean Allen, who reportedly has an IQ of 69, considered by many to be in the mild range of mental retardation.

DNA Tests Show Another "Confessed Murderer" Didn't Do Crime
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 7, 2002

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS--One July day in 2000, Corethian Bell phoned police to report that he had found the body of his mother, Netta, in her apartment. She had been shot to death, he said.

Fifty hours later, Bell confessed to killing his mother because, he said, he was angry at her for her cocaine addiction. The confession was captured on videotape.

The trouble is, he didn't do it.

Last Friday, Bell was released from prison after a brief hearing. Results from DNA test failed to link Bell, who reportedly has mental retardation, to the crime. The tests did link DNA from the crime to another inmate who is serving time for killing a different woman in a similar fashion just a few blocks from where Bell discovered his mother's body.

Bell has said he confessed after he was questioned for more than two days, and only after detectives yelled at him, told him he failed a lie-detector test and knocked him off of his chair. Bell said he believed that once he was in front of a judge he could explain that he was innocent and the judge would set him free.

The fact that autopsy results showed Bell's mother was stabbed -- not shot as Bell had reported -- apparently was not taken into consideration.

Bell's case once again brings into serious question the techniques Chicago police use to gain confessions from suspects. Some experts are calling for entire interrogations to be videotaped, not just confessions.

"You can't not tape the 50 hours of denials, and not tape the time the police strike someone in the head, and not tape the way the person is coached into saying whatever he says, and then only flip on the camera for the actual confession," said one of Bell's lawyers, Herschella Conyers.

In February of 2000, Cook County prosecutors announced that one of the murders to which Hubert Geralds had confessed was committed by another inmate who had given a much more detailed confession to the crime.

And last month, Calvin Ollins, 29, was released from prison after new DNA test cleared him, his cousin, and two other men of the 1986 rape and murder of a Chicago woman. Ollins, who reportedly has mental retardation and scored between 65 and 70 on IQ tests, was just 14 years old when he confessed.

"They threatened to do things and got me thinking they could do them," Ollins said after of the police that questioned him. "One said he would smack me in the mouth if I didn't cooperate. Another said they would put me in jail. . . . Then they told me I would go home if I gave them what they wanted."

So far, DNA tests have resulted in approximately 100 rape and murder convictions to be overturned across the country.

Saturday's Chicago Tribune ran this story on the Corethian Bell case:
"DNA Voids Murder Confession"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-0201050152jan05.story

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