"The district attorney's office said its investigation showed no misconduct or negligence on the part of the initial investigators or attorneys involved in either side of the 1983 trial.
In a press release, Lykos' First Assistant Jim Leitner appeared to slam prior administrations for the length of time the case stalled.
"The evidence in this case had been sitting in the District Clerk's Office for 27 years, and no one had taken the initiative to do anything with it in the past," Leitner said. "The difference now is that you've got the Post Conviction Review Section looking into it — and that made all the difference in the case of Mr. Green.""
REPORTER BRIAN ROGERS: HOUSTON CHRONICLE;
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"A Houston man prosecutors now say is innocent 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 he did not commit," the story by reporter Brian Rogers Published in the Houston Chronicle earlier today begins, under the heading, "DNA clears man 27 years after rape conviction."
"Michael Anthony Green, 45, is expected to be in court Thursday where his attorney, Bob Wicoff, will ask that he be freed on bail while the case moves forward," the story continues.
"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 convict.
"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 in to a car with two other men. The men drove the victim to a secluded area where three of the men 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, created by District Attorney Pat Lykos, with finding clothing stored in a warehouse that had been worn by the victim during the crime, then testing it for DNA evidence. The results excluded Green.
Lykos said the office has identified all four men suspected in the crime, including the three men believed to have sexually assaulted the victim.
Because the statute of limitations has lapsed, none of the men can be prosecuted for the crime, according to Lykos.
She noted that DNA testing still was years away from common use in 1983.
The prosecutor assigned to the case, Assistant Harris County District Attoney Alicia O'Neal said the victim was aware of the development, but declined to comment about her reaction.
Court records show that after the assault, the men ordered the victim to lie down in a ditch while they drove away. She flagged down a taxi cab, which drove her to another gas station where she called police.
Officers were in the area looking for a black car that had been stolen. When police pulled the car over with the four suspects, black males, they all fled. Police began stopping all black males 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 where she saw both and said neither assaulted her, according to court records.
However, police showed the victim a photo line up that included Green eight days later and she picked him out. Later that day, she picked him out of a live lineup.
Four months later, after seeing him three times, the victim identified him in court. 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. "This was HPD's fault."
The district attorney's office said its investigation showed no misconduct or negligence on the part of the initial investigators or attorneys involved in either side of the 1983 trial.
In a press release, Lykos' First Assistant Jim Leitner appeared to slam prior administrations for the length of time the case stalled.
"The evidence in this case had been sitting in the District Clerk's Office for 27 years, and no one had taken the initiative to do anything with it in the past," Leitner said. "The difference now is that you've got the Post Conviction Review Section looking into it — and that made all the difference in the case of Mr. Green."
Lykos declined to comment on Leitner's remarks.
Wicoff said certain court procedures need to be followed to have Green's actual innocence declared.
If Green is released, he said, that paperwork can be completed without the sense of urgency that has marked the last week.
"We can start sleeping at night," Wicoff said.
He said Green has served the longest prison sentence of an exonerated man in Texas.
The final ruling on Green's innocence will be made by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which also is scheduled to review the 1990 sexual assault conviction of Allen Wayne Porter.
Porter, 39, was freed last Friday after the District Attorney's office, in a similar investigation, uncovered evidence of his innocence. Porter had spent 19 years in prison.
Lykos also renewed her call for a regional crime lab, a project she campaigned on, noting that the backlog of rape kits continues to grow, while the statute of limitations continue to run on those cases.
"If this case isn't the poster case for the regional crime lab, I don't know what is," she said."
The story can be found at:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7128807.html
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COMMENTARY: GRITS FOR BREAKFAST:
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A stolen life: Latest DNA exoneree did 27 years for rape he didn't commit
Several readers emailed to inform me of yet another DNA exoneration out of Harris County. Reports the Houston Chronicle ("DNA clears man 27 years after rape conviction," July 28):
A Houston man prosecutors now say is innocent 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 he did not commit.
Michael Anthony Green, 45, is expected to be in court Thursday where his attorney, Bob Wicoff, will ask that he be freed 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 convict.
"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.
Wicoff credited attorneys and investigators in the Post Conviction Review Section of the Harris County District Attorney's office, created by District Attorney Pat Lykos, with finding clothing stored in a warehouse that had been worn by the victim during the crime, then testing it for DNA evidence. The results excluded Green.
The Harris DA's "Post Conviction Review Section" sounds a lot like the Conviction Integrity Unit Craig Watkins set up in Dallas. Lykos clearly is taking the issue of false convictions much more seriously than her predecessor, who tended to fight such claims tooth and nail. Her first assistant made that point:
In a press release, Lykos' First Assistant Jim Leitner appeared to slam prior administrations for the length of time the case stalled.
"The evidence in this case had been sitting in the District Clerk's Office for 27 years, and no one had taken the initiative to do anything with it in the past," Leitner said. "The difference now is that you've got the Post Conviction Review Section looking into it — and that made all the difference in the case of Mr. Green."
Good for Pat Lykos. But even more to the point, good for Mr. Green! Imagine going to prison for a crime you didn't commit at 18 and being exonerated at 45! Unfathomable. I also feel terrible for the poor gal whose testimony put Green behind bars. First she was a crime victim, then her confused error inadvertently helped victimize someone else in a profound and dreadful way. Anybody would feel awful at learning of such a mistake.
Two quick takeaways from this story: 1) Police departments need to update their eyewitness ID procedures, pronto, to keep this from happening again, and 2) it doesn't make a DA weak to admit past mistakes, it enhances her credibility.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-feature-cases-issues-and.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;