Multiple Articles: Exonerations in OH, CA

[Stefanie Faucher]

This email contains news from:

Los Angeles Times: California man imprisoned for 36 years was wrongfully convicted, prosecutors say

AP: Witness Recants, Freeing Ohio Man After 39 Years

The Independent (UK): Ricky Jackson freed: American prisoner who was nearly executed found innocent after 39 years behind bars

____________

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-michael-hanline-murder-release-20141119-story.html#page=1
Los Angeles Times
California man imprisoned for 36 years was wrongfully convicted, prosecutors say
By Christine Mai-Duc
November 19, 2014

A man who has spent more than 36 years behind bars for murder was wrongfully convicted and is expected to be released next week. But prosecutors, who said newly tested DNA evidence does not match the man, are leaving the door open for a new trial.

Michael Ray Hanline, 68, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1978 shooting death of Ventura resident J.T. McGarry, also known as Mike Mathers.

Prosecutors alleged at the time that Hanline was in a “love triangle” with Mathers. Hanline was convicted and sentenced in 1980 to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury found him guilty of the murder charge and a special circumstance that he committed it in the course of a burglary.

But according to Ventura County Dist. Atty. Gregory D. Totten, new evidence has emerged that “casts doubt upon” the verdict. DNA evidence collected at the crime scene does not match Hanline’s or his alleged accomplice, according to court documents.

Several sealed police reports also were uncovered. The reports cast doubt on testimony by Hanline’s then-girlfriend, Mary Bischoff, who was granted immunity and was a key witness during the trial.

The police reports could have been used to diminish Bischoff’s credibility, or suggest that Hanline could have been framed for the murder, but were not disclosed to Hanline’s defense attorneys at the time.

Ventura County prosecutors also revealed in court documents filed last week that interviews with several people over the last few months suggest several other individuals had motives and the means to kill McGarry. The interviews also revealed that witnesses had been threatened and discouraged from cooperating with prosecutors, the documents said.

Mathers disappeared on Nov. 10, 1978. Police found his body two days later off Highway 33 with .38-caliber gunshot wounds to his neck and chest.

Bischoff, who was living with Hanline in the San Fernando Valley at the time, testified in court that she had complained to him that Mathers still had thousands of dollars of money she and the victim had skimmed from motorcycle swap meets they’d helped run.

On the witness stand, Bischoff said Hanline had told her that there was a contract out on Mathers and that he’d “blow his brains out.” Bischoff also said she’d seen Hanline leaving their home with a .38 caliber gun the night of the murder, something she’d denied in earlier testimony, and that he’d returned wet and muddy.

Hanline claimed he had been home all night working on motorcycles in his garage, leaving only briefly to get some beer.

Bischoff testified that she had been smoking pot laced with PCP and had used cocaine the night of the murder. Bischoff was also under the influence of drugs during trial, according to court documents, and the judge had to adjourn court as a result.

In addition to her testimony, prosecutors presented as evidence the fact that some of Mathers' belongings had been discovered in a stolen van that Bischoff, Hanline, and his alleged accomplice, Dennis “Bo” Messer had been driving.

Police had said the three had gone to Mathers' home the day his body was discovered so Bischoff, who had been living there, could pick up her belongings. They later used Mathers' credit card to pay for a hotel room on their way to San Francisco.

A judge later determined that there wasn’t enough evidence to try Messer. Bischoff, who was granted immunity in exchange for her testimony, never faced charges, either.

A federal judge recommended in 2010 that Hanline’s conviction be set aside, and that he be retried. But a U.S. district judge refused the recommendation in 2011, prosecutors say. Last week, a Ventura County superior court judge set aside the conviction and sentence, scheduling a court hearing for Nov. 24.

While prosecutors agree that Hanline should be released due to “flaws” in the trial, they say they’re not ready to drop the case yet.

“At the present time, the conviction integrity process has not concluded that Hanline is factually innocent,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “The district attorney will continue to evaluate the evidence to determine how to proceed.”

Michael Schwartz, a prosecutor on the case, says the Ventura County district attorney’s office plans to ask for a retrial date to be set several months from now, while they continue investigating.

“It’s an ongoing and active investigation at this point,” Schwartz said, and new effort has been put into the case since the DNA results came in. New arrests could still be made in the case, Schwartz said.

The California Innocence Project, which has worked on Hanline’s case since 1999, says Hanline would be the longest-serving wrongfully convicted inmate in state history to be released.

"It's amazing that Mike will finally be released after 36 years of wrongful incarceration," said Justin Brooks, the director of the project at California Western School of Law, in a statement. "It's time for him to get back to his family and his life."

Alex Simpson, an attorney with the project representing Hanline, says his client was “in shock” when he broke the news. “I think it still hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Simpson told The Times on Wednesday. “What we’re talking about is just an unbelievably profound change.”

Simpson said that despite what prosecutors say, he believes Hanline is innocent. “Ever since we started looking into this case, it just never really made sense to us,” Simpson said.

Now, 34 years after he was convicted, the case will probably be even tougher to prosecute, he added. “What we’ve got now is people who have moved away, people who have passed on, witnesses who will likely not remember the same things that they testified to years ago, just because of the passage of time….We are very hopeful that the district attorney drops the charges as quickly as possible.”

According to Rebecca Silbert with the California Wrongful Convictions Project at the UC Berkeley School of Law, the only other inmate to serve as long for a wrongful conviction in California was Kash Delano Register, who was released in 2013 after spending more than 34 years in prison.

Hanline is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing Monday, where his bail and a new date for retrial could be set.

For more breaking news, follow me @cmaiduc

_______________


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/american-prisoner-who-was-nearly-executed-found-innocent-after-39-years-behind-bars-9872753.html

The Independent (UK)
Ricky Jackson freed: American prisoner who was nearly executed found innocent after 39 years behind bars
By Jon Stone
Thursday 20 November 2014

A US prisoner who once faced execution has been cleared of doing anything wrong after spending 39 years of his life in prison.

Ricky Jackson from Ohio spent almost four decades in captivity until a key witness at his trial admitted this year that he had lied as a boy.

Mr Jackson, now 57, was only spared execution because the state of Ohio temporarily abolished the death penalty in the 1970s, while he was on death row.

He was jailed alongside two other men over the 1975 murder of a Cleveland, Ohio man called Harold Franks. There was no other evidence linking the prisoner to the murder.

Mr Jackson is said to have cried in court as all charges were dropped against him. He is the longest-held US president to be completely exonerated, according to legal group the Ohio Innocence Project.

"The state is conceding the obvious," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said, as charges were dropped against Mr Jackson.

He is expected to be freed on Friday 21 November.

The men jailed alongside Mr Jackson have also asked for a retrial, though their petitions have not yet received a response.

Authorities were said to be within 20 days of starting the execution of the men until Ohio ruled the death penalty unconstitutional.

Execution has since been reinstated as a punishment in the state, with those found guilty suffering a lethal injection.

______________

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/witness-recants-freeing-ohio-man-39-years-27023546

Associated Press
Witness Recants, Freeing Ohio Man After 39 Years

CLEVELAND — Nov 19, 2014, 4:48 PM ET

A man who spent nearly four decades in prison after being convicted of murder is expected to be freed Friday after a witness confessed he lied as a boy when he told jurors he saw the deadly attack.

Ricky Jackson had been seeking a new trial and sobbed loudly with his face in his hands as prosecutors dismissed his case Tuesday, The Plain Dealer ( http://bit.ly/1vpfhwJ ) reported.

"I can't believe this is over," Jackson, 57, said, thanking his supporters and his attorneys from the Ohio Innocence Project.

Jackson has been imprisoned for 39 years, serving a life sentence for aggravated murder and other charges, according to state prison records. He is expected to be released as soon as the paperwork is finished.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said the case fell apart after witness Eddie Vernon recanted. Vernon said he had been fed details of the crime by police and kept quiet about his lies because investigators had threatened to imprison his parents.

Vernon was 12 when he accused Jackson and two brothers in the May 1975 killing of a money-order collector who authorities said was beaten, shot and attacked with acid as he walked near a grocery store. No evidence connected the defendants to the crime, but all three were convicted by juries.

This week, Vernon told a judge he was trying to please others when he provided a false story based on information from a friend and police who fed him details, creating a web of lies that helped convict Jackson and the other men. He said he gave authorities the names of the three men because he thought he was doing the right thing.

"All the information was fed to me," said Vernon, who came forward to change his story after speaking with a pastor. "I don't have any knowledge about what happened at the scene of the crime."

He said he had been nearby on a bus when he heard two pops, but couldn't see what occurred. Others who were on the bus also testified that he wasn't in position to see the slaying.

Prosecutors had been skeptical of Vernon but acknowledged after the hearing that the case didn't hold up.

"You made the right choice," Judge Richard McMonagle told McGinty.

Attorneys for the two convicted brothers, Wiley and Ronnie Bridgeman, also sought a new trial based on Vernon's information and are expected to ask prosecutors to drop that case, too, the newspaper reported.

Ronnie Bridgeman spent more than 25 years in prison, and his brother remains incarcerated.

A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said it doesn't anticipate charging Vernon.

———

Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

--
Stefanie Faucher
Communications Director
8th Amendment Project
sfau...@8thamendment.org
Mobile 510.393.4549
8thamendment.org