2016 was another busy year for Innocence Network affiliated organizations. According to the National Registry of Exonerations (NRE), 166 people were cleared in 2016 of crimes they did not commit — more than any other year in history. As the pace of exonerations increases year-to-year, innocence advocates across the country are pushing harder than ever for reforms to improve the accuracy of the criminal justice system in their respective states.
Exonerees celebrate on stage at the 2016 Innocence Network Conference. Photo: Innocence Network.
Advocates in Kansas and Texas are pushing for bills that require the recording of interrogations to help prevent false confessions. In Kansas, exonerees penned an op-ed highlighting the need for such a bill, while the Timothy Cole Exoneration Review Commission in Texas asked the legislature to implement a bill requiring police to tape all felony interrogations. California’s recording bill, NCIP-sponsored SB 1389, took effect on January 1, 2017 and requires electronic recording of custodial interrogations of all murder suspects, adults and minors.
In Virginia, the recognition that innocent people sometimes confess and plead guilty to crimes they did not commit has prompted Governor Terry McAuliffe to propose a bill that would make any felon eligible to petition the court based on new DNA evidence, regardless of how he or she originally pleaded. Currently, Virginia law bars individuals who pleaded guilty to later petition a court for a writ of actual innocence.
Innocence advocates in Montana are also seeking to remove existing bars for innocent inmates to file a petition for writ of habeas corpus. House Bill 144 – deemed the “actual innocence bill” – was approved in January by the Montana House Minerals Committee. The bill expands the amount of time a convicted felon has to provide evidence that would absolve him or her of a crime. Existing Montana law limits the introduction of new evidence to two years, except for DNA evidence, which carries no time limit. The bill will go on to the full House for consideration. If passed, it will advance to the state Senate.
Implementation of eyewitness identification evidence-based practices also remains a high priority across the county. In January, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a memo to federal law enforcement agencies and prosecutors recommending that all departments adopt eyewitness identification procedures that have been scientifically proven to reduce misidentification. Additionally, researchers from the University of Virginia and the University of Utah are conducting a study on eyewitness misidentification that will aim to improve suspect identification procedures to better avoid wrongful convictions.
In the three-month period since NCIP’s last newsletter, 36 people in 15 states were exonerated. The following is a list of their cases, taken from the National Registry of Exonerations.
Exonerations in November 2016, December 2016 and January 2017
Roosevelt Glenn
State: IN
Date of Exoneration: 1/30/2017
In 1993, Roosevelt Glenn was sentenced to 36 years in prison for rape in Lake County, Indiana. He was exonerated in January 2017 by DNA tests that excluded him as a participant in the crime.
Johnny Hincapie
State: NY
Date of Exoneration: 1/25/2017
In 1991, Johnny Hincapie was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after he falsely confessed to taking part in a murder and robbery in New York City. He was exonerated in 2017 after new witnesses said Hincapie was not present at the crime.
Herbert Landry
State: UT
Date of Exoneration: 1/24/2017
In 2006, Herbert Landry, who was relocated to Provo, Utah after his New Orleans home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina, was sentenced to 5 years to life in prison for arson. He was exonerated in 2017 when the prosecution’s evidence of arson was discredited.
Katherine Dendel
State: MI
Date of Exoneration: 1/24/2017
In 2003, Katherine Dendel was sentenced to 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison for murdering her long-time companion in Jackson, Michigan. The charge was dismissed in 2017 after she was granted a new trial because her lawyer failed to present evidence that the death could have been caused by a combination of medications the deceased was taking.
Kyle Weldon
State: IA
Date of Exoneration: 1/23/2017
In February 2015, 21-year-old Kyle Weldon pled guilty to possession of amphetamine and was sentenced to 31 days in jail in Polk County, Iowa. He was exonerated in January 2017 after the prosecution agreed that police planted the drugs.
Raymond Jennings
State: CA
Date of Exoneration: 1/23/2017
In 2009, Raymond Jennings was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for murder in Los Angeles County, California. He was exonerated in January 2017 after a re-investigation by the prosecution identified the real killers.
Kevin Harding
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 1/19/2017
In January 2009, Kevin Harding pled guilty to possession of cocaine in Harris County, Texas and was sentenced to 10 months in jail. He was exonerated in 2017 because a lab test was negative for the presence of any controlled substance.
Isaiah McCoy
State: DE
Date of Exoneration: 1/19/2017
In 2012, Isaiah McCoy was sentenced to death for murder in Dover, Delaware. After being granted a new trial due to prosecutorial misconduct, he was acquitted at a retrial in January 2017.
John O’Hara
State: NY
Date of Exoneration: 1/12/2017
In 1999, John O’Hara was convicted of vote fraud in Brooklyn, New York and sentenced to probation. He was exonerated in 2017 when a witness admitted to testifying falsely at O’Hara’s trial.
April Grotton
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 1/10/2017
In 2013, April Grotton pled guilty to possession of methamphetamine in Montgomery County, Texas and was sentenced to 1 year in Texas State Jail. She was exonerated in January 2017 after laboratory testing was negative for the presence of any controlled substance.
Cody Marble
State: MT
Date of Exoneration: 1/6/2017
In 2002, Cody Marble was sentenced to five years in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year old boy while both were in a juvenile detention facility in Missoula, Montana. He was exonerated in 2017 after the complainant and two other witnesses recanted their testimony.
William Virgil
State: KY
Date of Exoneration: 1/6/2017
William Virgil was sentenced to 70 years in prison for murder in Campbell County, Kentucky in 1988. He was exonerated in 2017 by DNA testing that excluded him as the source of the biological evidence in the case.
Harold Monroe
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 1/4/2017
In 2014, Harold Monroe pled guilty to possession of cocaine in Harris County, Texas and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. He was exonerated in 2017 after a lab test was negative for the presence of any controlled substance.
Sonia Cacy
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 1/4/2017
In 1996, 44-year-old Sonia Cacy was sentenced to 99 years in prison for setting a fire in 1991 to kill her stepfather. She was exonerated in 2017 based on evidence that the fire was an accident and the forensic analyst had misrepresented his findings.
William Carini
State: IL
Date of Exoneration: 1/3/2017
In 1992, William Carini was sentenced to 26 years in prison for raping a motorist who was sleeping in her car on the side of an interstate in Lake County, Illinois. He was exonerated in 2017 when DNA tests failed to find any evidence connecting him to the rape.
Donte Rollins
State: PA
Date of Exoneration: 12/21/2016
In 2007, Donte Rollins was sentenced to 62 1/2 to 125 years in prison for attempted murder, aggravated assault, and conspiracy to commit murder for a shooting that left a 6-year-old boy paralyzed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was exonerated in 2016 by video surveillance evidence and receipts showing he was miles away at the time of the crime.
Earl Amory
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 12/20/2016
In 2009, Earl Amory pled guilty to possession of cocaine and was sentenced to 120 days in jail in Harris County, Texas. He was exonerated in 2016 after a lab test was negative for the presence of any controlled substance.
Brian Franklin
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 12/16/2016
In 1995, Brian Franklin was sentenced to life in prison for raping a 13-year-old girl in Fort Worth, Texas. Franklin was acquitted at a retrial in 2016 after the complainant admitted that she had perjured herself at the first trial.
Robert Davis
State: VA
Date of Exoneration: 12/16/2016
In 2004, Robert Davis pled guilty to murdering a woman and her toddler son in Crozet, Virginia. In 2016, Davis was pardoned by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliff after his two co-defendants admitted that they lied about his participation in the crimes.
Dietrich Richardson
State: IL
Date of Exoneration: 12/16/2016
In 2011, Dietrich Richardson was sentenced to 30 years in prison for armed robbery and illegal possession of a firearm in Peoria, Illinois. He was granted a new trial because of improper arguments by the prosecutor and the case was dismissed after he presented new evidence supporting his alibi.
Danial Williams
State: VA
Date of Exoneration: 12/15/2016
Danial Williams was one of four U.S. Navy sailors (known as the Norfolk Four) convicted of a 1997 rape and murder in Norfolk, Virginia. He was exonerated in 2016 after the real killer confessed.
Joseph Dick, Jr.
State: VA
Date of Exoneration: 12/15/2016
Joseph Dick, Jr. was one of four U.S. Navy sailors (known as the Norfolk Four) convicted of a 1997 rape and murder in Norfolk, Virginia. He was exonerated in 2016 after the real killer confessed.
Lionel White
State: IL
Date of Exoneration: 12/14/2016
In 2006, Lionel White was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of heroin in Chicago. He was exonerated in 2016 after the police officer in charge of his case was convicted of framing suspected drug dealers and extorting people to avoid false arrest.
Michael Amick
State: MO
Date of Exoneration: 12/1/2016
In 2011, Michael Amick was sentenced to life in prison for arson and the murder of his wife’s grandmother in Myrtle, Missouri. He was acquitted at a retrial in December 2016 after presenting evidence negating any financial motive for the crime.
David Parse
State: NY
Date of Exoneration: 11/23/2016
David Parse, investment adviser for Deutsche Bank, was convicted in 2011 of mail fraud and obstructing the IRS in the marketing of tax shelters that cost taxpayers more than $1 billion. Parse was exonerated in 2016 after evidence revealed that he relied on his lawyers’ tax advice in good faith.
Charles Palmer
State: IL
Date of Exoneration: 11/23/2016
In 2000, Charles Palmer was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of an attorney in Decatur, Illinois. He was exonerated in 2016 by DNA testing that excluded him as the killer.
Elizabeth Ramirez
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 11/23/2016
In 1997, Elizabeth Ramirez and three friends–Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera, and Anna Vasquez–were sentenced to long prison terms for sexually molesting two of Ramirez’s nieces. They were exonerated in 2016 after one of the girls admitted that no molestation occurred and the doctor who had testified that medical evidence indicated abuse recanted her testimony.
Kristie Mayhugh
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 11/23/2016
In 1997, Kristie Mayhugh and three friends–Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, and Anna Vasquez–were sentenced to long prison terms for sexually molesting two of Ramirez’s nieces. They were exonerated in 2016 after one of the girls admitted that no molestation occurred and the doctor who had testified that medical evidence indicated abuse recanted her testimony.
Cassandra Rivera
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 11/23/2016
In 1997, Cassandra Rivera and three friends–Kristie Mayhugh, Elizabeth Ramirez, and Anna Vasquez–were sentenced to long prison terms for sexually molesting two of Ramirez’s nieces. They were exonerated in 2016 after one of the girls admitted that no molestation occurred and the doctor who had testified that medical evidence indicated abuse recanted her testimony.
Anna Vasquez
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 11/23/2016
In 1997, Anna Vasquez and three friends–Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera, and Elizabeth Ramirez–were sentenced to long prison terms for sexually molesting two of Ramirez’s nieces. They were exonerated in 2016 after one of the girls admitted that no molestation occurred and the doctor who had testified that medical evidence indicated abuse recanted her testimony.
Carlton Wigfall
State: NY
Date of Exoneration: 11/22/2016
In 2011, Carlton Wigfall was sentenced to four years in prison for selling drugs in Manhattan, New York. He was exonerated in 2016 after it was revealed that the prosecution failed to disclose that its main witness, the police officer who claimed to have seen the drug deal, had been accused of framing defendants in six similar cases.
Clarence Moses-EL
State: CO
Date of Exoneration: 11/14/2016
In 1988, Clarence Moses-El was sentenced to 48 years in prison for rape, assault and burglary in Denver, Colorado. He was acquitted at a retrial in 2016 after the real rapist admitted to the crime and reanalysis of the forensic evidence excluded Moses-El as the perpetrator.
Richard Rosario
State: NY
Date of Exoneration: 11/10/2016
In 1998, Richard Rosario was sentenced to 25 years to life for murder in Bronx, New York. He was exonerated in 2016 after multiple alibi witnesses established that he was in Florida at the time of the crime.
De’Marchoe Carpenter
State: OK
Date of Exoneration: 11/10/2016
In 1995, De’Marchoe Carpenter and Malcom Scott were sentenced to life in prison for a drive-by shooting that killed a woman and wounded two others in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They were exonerated in 2016 after the real killers confessed and two eyewitnesses admitted they lied under pressure from police.
Malcolm Scott
State: OK
Date of Exoneration: 11/10/2016
In 1995, De’Marchoe Carpenter and Malcom Scott were sentenced to life in prison for a drive-by shooting that killed a woman and wounded two others in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They were exonerated in 2016 after the real killers confessed and two eyewitnesses admitted they lied under pressure from police.
Clifford Jones
State: NY
Date of Exoneration: 11/3/2016
In 1981, Clifford Jones was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison for raping a woman and murdering a man in an abandoned building in Manhattan, New York. He was exonerated in 2016 by DNA tests on hair from a cap worn by the perpetrator and fingernail scrapings from a victim.
