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Fightdirecto -> Should we have the death penalty for rape? (5/25/2012 12:08:09 PM)
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DNA clears Houston man 27 years after conviction
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A Houston man is expected to be freed this week after serving more than 27 years in prison — the longest time behind bars of any Texan who has been exonerated - for a rape prosecutors now say he did not commit.
Michael Anthony Green, 45, is expected to be in court today, when his attorney, Bob Wicoff, will ask that he be released on bail while the case moves forward.
If freed, Green would be the eighth local man let out of prison in recent years, and the second in a week, after serving time for a crime he did not commit.
"He is innocent," Wicoff said. "We've got the bad guys, too. We've pegged the bad guys."
Green was sentenced to 75 years in prison for the 1983 rape of a Houston woman based on faulty eyewitness identification, Wicoff said.
According to court records, a woman talking on a pay phone with her husband was abducted at gunpoint by two men at a Greenspoint-area gas station after midnight on April 18, 1983. They forced her into a car with two other men. Her abductors drove the victim to a secluded area, where three of them sexually assaulted her. The fourth man did not participate.
Wicoff credited attorneys and investigators in the Post Conviction Review Section of the Harris County District Attorney's Office with finding a pair of jeans stored in a warehouse that had been worn by the victim during the crime, then testing it for DNA evidence. The results excluded Green.
Green was picked up the night of the assault by officers looking for a stolen black car in the area where the woman was raped. According to court records, when police spotted the car and pulled it over, the four black men inside fled. Police began stopping all black men walking in the area and detained Green, who is black.
Green and another man were left in a police car that night, illuminated by headlights, while the victim was brought to the scene. Court records say the woman saw both men but said neither was among those who had assaulted her.
Eight days later, however, police showed the victim a photo array that included Green, and she picked him out. Later that day, she picked him out of a live lineup.
The victim identified him in court four months later, after having seen him three times. He was the only person convicted of the crime, according the District Attorney's Office.
Wicoff blamed police for the false eyewitness identification.
"DNA freed this guy. Bad police work put him away," Wicoff said.
Former Long Beach Football Star Exonerated After Being Convicted Of Rape
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A judge Thursday overturned the rape conviction of former Long Beach Polytechnic High School football star Brian Banks, who served more than five years in prison.
His alleged victim has recanted her accusation, according to Banks’ attorneys.
Banks, now 26, sobbed after Long Beach Superior Court Judge Mark C. Kim granted the defense’s motion to throw out his conviction.
“My only dream in the world was to just be free and to have the same opportunity as everybody here,” said Banks, wearing a black sweatshirt with the word “Innocent” on it.
“I feel like anything is possible,” he said. “It’s proven today by me getting my freedom back. I feel like this is just the first step to re-inventing my life, so the sky is the limit for me.”
Banks was 16 years old when he was arrested and charged with rape. In 2003, he was convicted and sentenced to six years in state prison but had always maintained his innocence.
The district attorney offered Banks a deal — plead guilty to rape and spend another 18 months in prison, or go to trial and face 41 years to life.
Banks said his defense attorney told him, “‘When you go into that courtroom the jury is going to see a big black teenager and you’re automatically going to be assumed guilty.’ Those are her exact words.”
The terrified teen wanted to speak to his mother. He was told he had no time and that he had ten minutes to decide.
“I sat there and I cried. And I asked questions and I asked why and I cried. Eighteen months sounded way better than 41 years to life,” Banks said.
Banks pleaded no contest to rape and was sentenced to six years in state prison.
Banks’ new attorney, California Innocence Project Director Justin Brooks, said hospital records show the alleged victim said Brian left his DNA evidence inside her. However, according to lab results, not a single molecule of his DNA was recovered from the victim or her clothing.
Years later, in two videotaped conversations, the alleged victim repeatedly said the rape never happened.
Banks’ accuser also received a $1.5 million settlement for the Long Beach Unified School District after her mother sued the district for lack of security at the time of the alleged rape.
Should accused rapists get a speedy trial and an equally speedy execution if convicted?
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