STORY: "Crosley Green's last chance for freedom," produced by Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, on May 30, 2015. (See the entire episode at the link below);
SUB-HEADING: "Was a Florida man convicted for murder and sentenced to death simply because he was black? "48 Hours" reveals new evidence that could free him."
GIST: "Today, 25 years after Green was sentenced to death for the murder of Flynn, there is new compelling evidence that the wrong person may have been sent to prison and the killer is still free. "The first rule of homicide investigation is ... everybody who was at that scene is treated as a suspect until they're eliminated," said Rixey. "That's not the way this happened."........The details she did give didn't really match the man detectives had in mind: Crosley Green, a small-time drug dealer recently released from jail. But later that night, they showed Kim a photo lineup with six photos. Hallock chose photo No. 2 - Crosley Green."That's a target with a bull's-eye for Crosley Green. ...His picture is smaller and darker than the other pictures," Harrison said of the photo lineup. "Anybody involved in police investigation and prosecution knows this. ...the position that your eyes are normally drawn to are right in the middle.""It's a black spot," Green said of the photo. "That's what you focus on, that black spot.".........The details she did give didn't really match the man detectives had in mind: Crosley Green, a small-time drug dealer recently released from jail. But later that night, they showed Kim a photo lineup with six photos. Hallock chose photo No. 2 - Crosley Green. "That's a target with a bull's-eye for Crosley Green. ...His picture is smaller and darker than the other pictures," Harrison said of the photo lineup. "Anybody involved in police investigation and prosecution knows this. ...the position that your eyes are normally drawn to are right in the middle." "It's a black spot," Green said of the photo. "That's what you focus on, that black spot." (Footprints found at the crime scene): Assistant State's Attorney Christopher White--now retired-- told jurors that a police dog got the scent of those prints and tracked that scent to the vicinity of a house where Crosley Green sometimes stayed. "You've seen those shoe impressions. It wasn't just her and Chip out there," White told Moriarty. "The shoe impressions were followed ... from the site where the truck was parked ... supporting what Kim said about there being a third person there, a black male, who abducted them and did these things." But White was never able to match those shoeprints to Crosley Green or anyone else. What's more, not a single fingerprint of Green's was found anywhere on the truck. And despite Kim Hallock's claim that Chip had fired his gun trying to save her, no gunshot residue was found on Chip's hands. "She's saying he fired the gun, and there be no gunshot residue left on his fingers? Is that possible?" Moriarty asked Harrison. "It's highly improbable," he replied. Still, prosecutors found three witnesses with criminal pasts who claimed Crosley had actually confessed to them -- most damning, his own sister Sheila. Before the case went to the jury, Crosley Green was offered a deal: admit guilt and get no more than 22 years. "So why didn't you take it?" Moriarty asked Green in 1999. "I didn't kill that young man. I keep telling you I didn't kill this young man, so why should I take that plea bargain?" he replied..........Assistant State's Attorney Christopher White--now retired-- told jurors that a police dog got the scent of those prints and tracked that scent to the vicinity of a house where Crosley Green sometimes stayed. "You've seen those shoe impressions. It wasn't just her and Chip out there," White told Moriarty. "The shoe impressions were followed ... from the site where the truck was parked ... supporting what Kim said about there being a third person there, a black male, who abducted them and did these things." But White was never able to match those shoeprints to Crosley Green or anyone else. What's more, not a single fingerprint of Green's was found anywhere on the truck. And despite Kim Hallock's claim that Chip had fired his gun trying to save her, no gunshot residue was found on Chip's hands. "She's saying he fired the gun, and there be no gunshot residue left on his fingers? Is that possible?" Moriarty asked Harrison. "It's highly improbable," he replied.
Still, prosecutors found three witnesses with criminal pasts who claimed Crosley had actually confessed to them -- most damning, his own sister Sheila. Before the case went to the jury, Crosley Green was offered a deal: admit guilt and get no more than 22 years. "So why didn't you take it?" Moriarty asked Green in 1999.
"I didn't kill that young man. I keep telling you I didn't kill this young man, so why should I take that plea bargain?" he replied. ........ "Every witness recanted their story," Moura explained. "And every one of them had reason to be afraid of the police. ...They were squeezed. ...And they were squeezed hard." With Crosley Green's sister and his two friends recanting, the private detectives focused on crime scene evidence: notably, those shoeprints in Holder Park that prosecutors said corroborated Kim's story. "At trial, the prosecutor said ... 'There's no question that those tracks ... are the tracks of the murderer," Moriarty told criminologist Lisa DiMeo, referring to a diagram of the crime scene. "Would you agree with that statement?" "Absolutely not," she replied. DiMeo, part of Crosley Green's team in 1999, says that although jurors were told that a dog tracked the shoeprints of Chip's killer, police crime scene video actually contradicts that:
If these were the tracks of an assailant, they should end where the truck was reportedly parked. But, in fact, DiMeo says, those prints continue past the truck, along the fence and appear to leave the park. "If these shoe prints are going out this way," Moriarty said, pointing to the footsteps by the fence on the far right side of the diagram, "how can they belong to the assailant if in fact he got in the truck back here? [points to left side of diagram.] They couldn't." "No. No, they couldn't," DiMeo affirmed.........Eight years before Crosley Green was arrested, Bill Dillon was charged with a murder he didn't commit. "Bill Dillon's case was a travesty of justice. From the very beginning to the end, it was a case of fabrication," said attorney Mike Pirolo, who helped win Dillon his freedom. "Bill Dillon's life was stolen from him." In August 1981, Bill Dillon was a 20-year-old baseball prospect about to get a second tryout with the Detroit Tigers when the badly beaten body of a 40-year-old man was discovered by a beach near his home. "The suspect in the case was described as around 5'10" ... and had a moustache," said Pirolo. The description didn't match Dillon. "I'm 6'4". And I never ever had a moustache," he told Moriarty. But, as in the Crosley Green case, the fact that the description didn't fit didn't seem to matter. "There couldn't have been anything in their minds that made them think I did it other than my size," Dillon said. "...that I fit the profile of beating a man to death." Prosecutors found witnesses near the beach who said they saw Dillon wearing a shirt that looked like a bloody yellow T-shirt connected to the killer. "Exactly what they did to me is the kind of techniques they use," Dillon said. "They use misidentification witnesses, they tell the people that, 'We know it's him, we just need somebody to identify him." There was also John Preston, a dog handler, who was later discredited as a fraud, who had done the seemingly impossible. "He ... tracked the crime scene after a hurricane had went through," said Dillon. Although Hurricane Dennis soaked the beach shortly after the murder, Preston claimed his dog was able to track Dillon's scent across a highway to the crime scene. "Nobody seemed to think that that was incredible," said Dillon. Bill Dillon served more than half his life in prison before tests showed that DNA found on the yellow T-shirt belonged to someone else "I was released on November 18, 2008, at 5:00 in the evening," he said. "How long had you spent in prison?" Moriarty asked. "I'd spent at that point, 27-and-a-half years," Dillon replied.........How long are you guys in for this?" Moriarty asked Green's attorneys. "As long as it takes," they replied in unison. "It's an uphill climb," said Thomas. "The odds are stacked against anyone who is trying to overturn their conviction," Harrison explained. "What makes this case different is the mountain of evidence that demonstrates that Crosley Green is actually innocent." Says White, "They still got a shot over in federal court ... whatever the court rules we will abide by it." The federal court could uphold his conviction, overturn it or decline to review it. It's Crosley Green's last chance for freedom and all he can do now is wait. "I want a new trial. ...I want the courts to look at my case," Green told Moriarty. "It takes time. ...there's this old sayin', 'it's easy to get in and it's hard to get out.' ...that's what I'm goin' through."
The Florida Attorney General's Office is fighting to uphold Crosley Green's conviction. It says Green failed to meet a filing deadline for his appeal.
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/crosley-greens-last-chance-for-freedom
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
