DNA Exonerations

1. After more than three decades in prison, a man in Florida was set free Thursday after a DNA test showed he did not kidnap and rape a 9-year-old-boy in 1974. James Bain, 54 was 19 when he was convicted on charges of kidnapping, burglary and strong-arm rape. Now he will be allowed to go home for the first time in 35 years. James Bain was convicted due to the victim picking him out of five photos. Bain kept pursuing DNA tests but was denied until the Innocence Project helped him. 2. Nicholas Yarris was arrested for the rape and murder of a woman. During the investigation of the body, police picked up many DNA samples. Yarris was arrested for a traffic violation, and told police that his acquaintance was in fault for the murder and rape of that woman. When that suspect was deemed negative, Yarris was charged with the murder and rape and was sentenced to death. Further DNA testing and Yarris was deemed innocent and was released from jail in January 2004, spending 21 years behind bars.

3. On January 24, 1988, the victim, a young cocktail waitress, was coming home from work when, as she got out of her car, a black man pointed a gun at her face and demanded her money and her purse. She handed them over and her assailant led her from the lighted area in front of her apartment building to a darkened area at the corner of the building. He threatened her with the gun and forced her to remove her hose and underpants and proceeded to rape her. Afterward, the victim suggested they each go their separate ways and the assailant agreed. The victim watched him walk away and then ran into her house and called first her mother and then the police. Troy Webb was arrested for the crime after the victim identified a photo of him as the attacker. At trial, the prosecution presented evidence that the victim had picked out a photograph of Webb at the police station. After declaring that she was ninety-nine percent sure that Webb was her attacker, she picked out another, younger, picture of him. A forensic analyst conducted serology testing on swabs collected from the victim after the attack and found Type A antigens, which were foreign to both Webb and the victim.

Although he should have been excluded as a possible perpetrator, the analyst testified that because Webb was a nonsecretor he could have contributed to a mixed sample. This was improper because there was no reason to believe there was a mixed sample of two semen contributors. In 1996, Webb gained access to the evidence for the purposes of DNA testing. The results of the testing excluded him as the perpetrator of this crime. He eventually filed for and was granted executive clemency from the governor. He had spent almost eight years in prison. 4. David Vasquez was arrested for the murder of a woman who was killed in her Arlington County, Virginia home. She was sexually assaulted and then hung. Vasquez, who is borderline mentally impaired, had reportedly confessed to the crime, supplying details not released to the public. He pled guilty to the crime and became one of several inmates that were exonerated after being convicted on the basis of “dream statements” that were used as confessions.

Additionally, Vasquez could not provide an alibi and was placed near the scene of the crime by two eyewitnesses. A forensic analyst also testified that pubic hairs from the crime scene were consistent with those of Vasquez. Because there is not adequate empirical data on the frequency of various class characteristics in human hair, an analyst’s assertion that hairs are consistent is inherently prejudicial and lacks probative value. Three laboratories performed DNA testing in this case, but they tested the evidence collected from other crimes where the perpetrator used the same methods used in the murder for which Vasquez was convicted. Testing on the hair in Vasquez’s case proved inconclusive. Testing in these other cases led to Timothy Spencer, who was subsequently convicted and executed for two other rape/murders. An FBI report found that the murder in Vasquez’s case was perpetrated by the same person who was responsible for the other murders, a person who was not mentally impaired.

The prosecution joined with defense attorneys to secure a pardon for Vasquez, which was granted in 1989. Spencer was executed in 1994. 5. Brian Piszczek was convicted in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1991 of rape, felonious assault, and burglary. The victim was home alone and answered a knock at her door. When asked who he was, the perpetrator claimed to be a friend and the victim thought she recognized the voice. The assailant, after being let in, pulled a knife and cut the victim several times before raping her. The victim, two months after the attack, identified Brian Piszczek from a photo lineup and subsequently identified him in court as the assailant. Piszczek’s alibi could only be confirmed by his girlfriend and he had, in fact, been to the victim’s house before with a mutual friend. Piszczek’s appeal failed, though it cited trial counsel for not seeking DNA testing of the evidence.

The Innocence Project took over the case in the postconviction phase. The Innocence Project filed for release of the evidence in 1994. The request was granted and the evidence went to Forensic Science Associates. FSA performed PCR based DNA testing on vaginal and anal swabs and a cutting from the victim’s nightgown. Piszczek was excluded as the donor of all the samples. After receiving the results, the prosecution moved the court to overturn Piszczek’s conviction, which happened in October 1994. Piszczek had spent four years in prison.