"PROSECUTOR CAROLYN MCCANN SAID WEDNESDAY THAT A SECOND INDEPENDENT LAB RULED OUT CARAVELLA AS THE SOURCE OF GENETIC EVIDENCE FOUND ON THE VICTIM. MCCANN SAID THE BROWARD STATE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE DID THE RIGHT THING WHEN IT AGREED TO DEFENSE REQUESTS FOR TWO EARLIER DNA TESTS, ONE DONE BY THE BROWARD SHERIFF'S OFFICE LAB IN 2001 THAT DID NOT IMPLICATE OR CLEAR HIM, AND A SECOND SET OF TESTS BY A CALIFORNIA LAB LAST YEAR THAT APPEARED TO CLEAR HIM. THE THIRD SET OF TESTS — BY A VIRGINIA LAB — WAS CONDUCTED OVER THE PAST SIX MONTHS AT THE PROSECUTION'S REQUEST. "THE EVIDENCE AGAINST HIM WAS PROVIDED BY ANTHONY CARAVELLA HIMSELF, BUT WE CANNOT IGNORE THIS DNA EVIDENCE," MCCANN SAID. "I CANNOT EXPLAIN WHY PEOPLE CONFESS TO POLICE ABOUT CRIMES THEY DID NOT COMMIT."
REPORTER PAULA MCMAHON: THE SUN SENTINEL;
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND: "Anthony Caravella, 41, spent 26 years in prison - more than half of his life - for a rape and slaying. He was 15 and had an IQ of 67, well below normal, when he was charged with the Nov. 5, 1983, murder of Ada Cox Jankowski, 58, in Miramar, Fla. Mr. Caravella exoneration was due to the perseverance of his lawyers, the attention given to the case by the Sun Sentinel, and the willingness of prosecutors to conduct DNA tests to investigate his guilt or innocence. The attitude of the Florida prosecutors contrasts significantly with the prosecutors in the State of Texas who have fought so hard against allowing the DNA tests which could show that Hank Skinner is innocent - even though he faces execution.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A judge apologized to Anthony Caravella in court Thursday morning and threw out his conviction for rape and murder and the life sentence imposed for those crimes," the Sun Sentinel story by reporter Paula McMahon, which appeared earlier today, under the heading, "After 26 years, Anthony Caravella is a free man: Judge throws out rape and murder conviction, apologizes on behalf of state," begins.
"Caravella, 41, served more than half his life — close to 26 years — in prison before being exonerated by DNA testing," the story continues.
"The past couple of years a lot of people have worked very hard for you … on the other hand, there are some people who may owe you an apology," Broward Circuit Judge Thomas M. Lynch IV told Caravella as he tossed out the conviction.
"Let me take the opportunity to apologize to you for the criminal justice system of the state of Florida," Lynch said to Caravella. "Good luck in the future, sir."
The lawyers, defendants and other members of the public who were in court burst into spontaneous applause.
Outside in the hallway, the pretrial release officer who had been monitoring Caravella since he was temporarily released six months ago offered to let him cut off the GPS device he was wearing around his ankle. She handed Caravella the clippers, but had to step in when he couldn't manage.
"I waited a very long time for this — it feels good, man," Caravella said. Without the tracking device, he said he felt about 10 pounds lighter.
He turned to his public defender, Diane Cuddihy, and said, "What do I do now?"
"Now you go home," she said.
His immediate plans, Caravella said, were "just getting my life in order."
On Wednesday, DNA test results exonerated Caravella in the Nov. 5, 1983, rape and murder of Ada Cox Jankowski, 58, in Miramar. Broward prosecutors agreed then to ask Lynch to throw out his conviction and life sentence.
"I never had any doubt that Anthony was innocent," said Cuddihy, who worked for nine years to free him. "The shocking thing is that an innocent man can be convicted like this."
Caravella was 15 and had an IQ of 67, which experts say is mildly mentally retarded, when he was charged with rape and murder.
Broward prosecutors took the very unusual step of temporarily releasing Caravella on Sept. 10, when earlier tests seemed to clear him. But he had to wear the monitor and obey a curfew while prosecutors did more forensic testing.
"I feel good, man, because I've never been free all this time," Caravella said Wednesday evening when told of the test results. "When they let me walk out that [prison] door, I was free but I wasn't free, because it was all hanging over my head. Now I'll be really free."
Prosecutor Carolyn McCann said Wednesday that a second independent lab ruled out Caravella as the source of genetic evidence found on the victim.
McCann said the Broward State Attorney's Office did the right thing when it agreed to defense requests for two earlier DNA tests, one done by the Broward Sheriff's Office lab in 2001 that did not implicate or clear him, and a second set of tests by a California lab last year that appeared to clear him. The third set of tests — by a Virginia lab — was conducted over the past six months at the prosecution's request.
"The evidence against him was provided by Anthony Caravella himself, but we cannot ignore this DNA evidence," McCann said. "I cannot explain why people confess to police about crimes they did not commit."
Miramar police had few leads or suspects in the murder of Jankowski, who was stabbed 23 times. Caravella became a suspect several weeks after the crime, when police arrested him on an unrelated juvenile case and asked about the slaying.
Caravella confessed in four increasingly incriminating taped statements he gave to police.
In 2009, Cuddihy said new evidence showed that police hit and coerced the mentally challenged teen into confessing, with the promise that a girlfriend would be freed if he helped them. He started talking and she was freed.
Caravella said he thought he was playing "head games" with police and they would look foolish when they wouldn't be able to prove that he did it. Instead, the Broward State Attorney's Office sought the death penalty at his 1984 trial.
Caravella's first appeal was rejected, and he languished in state prison until 2001, when his youngest brother, Larry Dunlap, called the Sun Sentinel. Dunlap asked whether DNA testing, not available when Caravella was convicted, could clear him. The reporter interviewed the family, reviewed the court case file and found some causes for concern, then put Dunlap in touch with the Broward Public Defender's Office.
Both the defense's and the Sun Sentinel's review of Caravella's case in 2001 revealed inconsistencies between evidence in the case and his eventual confession. The taped statements and other records showed that police, perhaps unwittingly, provided him with some details about the crime that he regurgitated in later statements. Officers also had lengthy periods of time alone with him, interactions that were not taped, between the interviews. The defense also said that then-prosecutor Robert Carney and police did not turn over evidence to the defense that might have helped him in 1984.
While Caravella may be entitled to financial compensation, he and his attorney said before Thursday's hearing that they have been devoting all their efforts so far to proving his innocence, not focusing on money."
"
The story can be found at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-caravella-dna-murder-20100324-25,0,5480558.story
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
