Case in Point: Pennsylvania Man Originally Denied Access to DNA
In May of 1987, Bruce Godschalk was convicted of rape and burglary in Pennsylvania. The conviction was based primarily on eyewitness identification and a confession later proven to be false. Forensics techniques available at the time of the trial and used to test the semen from the crimes could not exclude Mr. Godschalk as the perpetrator.
Following his conviction, Mr. Godschalk petitioned for access to DNA testing and was denied. After contacting the Innocence Project in 1995, which sought testing on his behalf, the District Attorney refused to allow access to the DNA evidence. It was not until November of 2000 that a Federal District Court granted access to the DNA testing. Delays in setting a testing protocol and delivering the evidence, in addition to some legal hurdles, deferred testing of the evidence until January of 2002.
Mr. Godschalk was eventually excluded as the donor of the semen in the crimes and released from prison. Mr. Godschalk had spent seven of his fifteen years of incarceration fighting for access to DNA evidence. As a result of Mr. Godschalk’s case, Pennsylvania introduced and later passed a law creating access to DNA evidence.
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Thursday, December 11, 2008
Case in Point: Pennsylvania Man Originally Denied Access to DNA
Charges Dropped Against Man Imprisoned 3 Decades
Charges Dropped Against Man Imprisoned 3 Decades
12/2008
Charges have been dropped against a man who spent nearly three decades behind bars before DNA evidence cast doubt on his murder conviction, prosecutors in Florida said Wednesday.
William Dillon, 49, has been free on bond since last month, after a judge ordered a new trial because of testing that showed his DNA wasn't on key evidence from his 1981 conviction.
Prosecutors subsequently concluded that a jury wouldn't find Dillon guilty "beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt," Brevard County State Attorney Norman Wolfinger said Wednesday.
Aside from the DNA test results, nine witnesses from Dillon's trial have died, and another cannot testify because of medical problems.
Mike Pirolo, Dillon's public defender, described Wednesday's development as bittersweet.
"Sweet that justice was done and he's a free man," he said. "Bitter that 27 years of his life was taken away that he'll never get back."
Two other inmates also spent 27 years behind bars before being exonerated by DNA evidence, the longest such terms, said the Innocence Project, a legal center specializing in wrongful conviction cases.
Testing for DNA evidence wasn't available when Dillon was originally tried in the bludgeoning death of James Dvorak.
New analysis paid for by the Innocence Project Florida showed Dillon's DNA was not found on a bloodstained yellow T-shirt presented during his trial. The victim's blood was on the shirt, along with the DNA of two other people.
Dillon didn't immediately return a message left Wednesday with defense attorneys.
He had expressed relief when he was released last month.
"When I first went behind the bars, I couldn't believe that it happened," Dillon said at the time. "And then I never thought it was gonna be corrected."
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Thursday, November 27, 2008
What is the Office of the Pardon Attorney?
Office of the Pardon Attorney - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
The Office of the Pardon Attorney, in consultation with the Attorney General or his designee, assists the President in the exercise of executive clemency as authorized under Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution. Under the Constitution, the President's clemency power extends only to federal criminal offenses. All requests for executive clemency for federal offenses are directed to the Pardon Attorney for investigation and review. The Pardon Attorney prepares the Department's recommendation to the President for final disposition of each application.
Executive clemency may take several forms, including pardon, conditional pardon, commutation of sentence, conditional commutation of sentence, remission of fine or restitution, respite, reprieve and amnesty.
Roger C. Adams was the last appointed Pardon Attorney, having been appointed by President Clinton in 1998. He resigned in early 2008 amid allegations of racism and poor management. Helen Bollwerk is currently serving as Acting Pardon Attorney.
External links
USDOJ: Office of the Pardon Attorney
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Wednesday, November 26, 2008
How do you get a pardon from President Bush?
Requests Come in for Last-Minute Pardons from Bush Newsweek Periscope Newsweek.com:
Bush has taken a stingy stand on pardons, granting fewer of them—just 157, and none of them high profile—than any president in modern history. He has directed all hopefuls to submit applications to the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, which evaluates all requests using strict, longstanding guidelines, including a requirement that applicants have finished serving their sentences and expressed remorse. The office received a record 555 pardon requests during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and an additional 103 in the past month.
Washington superlawyer Ted Olson, who served as solicitor general during Bush's first term, has submitted a pardon request on behalf of former junk-bond king Michael Milken, who is seeking a pardon for his 1990 securities-fraud conviction. Other commutation applicants include Marion Jones, the Olympic sprinter who was convicted of lying about steroid use, and John Walker Lindh, the so-called 'American Taliban,' now serving 20 years for providing material support to a terrorist organization.
The strict guidelines are already causing political headaches.
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