FIRST QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Daniels said any money he receives is only part of what he needs to regain his life in the free world. “It’s hard for me,” he said. “I’m not trying to put everything together at one time. I basically have to take it step by step to make sure Elmer’s OK right now. He added, “You can’t give me back 40 years, but you can do something to make the process of me moving on in my life a little bit better.”
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SECOND QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Daniels said any money he receives is only part of what he needs to regain his life in the free world. “It’s hard for me,” he said. “I’m not trying to put everything together at one time. I basically have to take it step by step to make sure Elmer’s OK right now. He added, “You can’t give me back 40 years, but you can do something to make the process of me moving on in my life a little bit better.”
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In 2015, he was released on parole. As part of the conditions of his release, he had to register as a sex offender. He got a job at a restaurant but was quickly fired after a police officer threatened to tell people a sex offender worked there. And in a sex offender therapy program he had to take, he refused to admit he was guilty of rape, a requirement for graduating. Without a job and certificate from the program, Daniels violated the conditions of his parole, and soon he was back in prison. That same year, federal investigators revealed that Malone, the FBI analyst, had provided flawed testimony or reports on hair analysis in 96 percent of his cases. In 2018, the groups investigating Malone told then-Delaware Attorney General Matthew Denn that Malone’s testimony “exceeded the limits of science.” That information alone was not enough to free Daniels, however, and it would take months of investigation for Denn to dismiss his conviction, though he did not declare Daniels innocent. “The state cannot conclusively state Mr. Daniels was not the victim’s assailant, but when coupling this information with the double-match testimony of agent Malone, the prosecutors continuing duty to seek justice requires re-examination,” wrote Denn in the filing."
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STORY: "Delaware Lawmakers Push Bill That Could Pay Reparations To The Wrongfully Incarcerated," by reporter Lauren Gill, published by The Appeal on February 06, 2020. Reporter Lauren Gill writes about criminal justice issues for The Appeal.
SUB-HEADING: "Elmer Daniels served nearly 40 years in prison before he was exonerated in 2018. He's one of at least three people who could receive $50,000 for every year spent behind bars.
GIST: "For
all but two years of his adult life, Elmer Daniels has been
incarcerated. In 1980, at the age of 18, he was convicted of raping a
teenage girl and sentenced to life in a Delaware prison. By the time he
was exonerated in 2018, the world he had known had grown unfamiliar.
Since
being freed, Daniels’s life has been difficult. He has received no
compensation from Delaware nor an apology for the 39 years he spent in
prison, and has struggled to support himself on the limited skill set he
obtained while incarcerated. “I think
it’s important to understand that when you released me, you basically
released me to nothing,” Daniels told The Appeal. “The reality of this
is I’ve done nothing wrong but I’m still paying for something that never
happened. Soon, Daniels could receive some relief. This legislative session, which began on Jan. 14, Delaware lawmakers will push a bill
that would compensate people who have been wrongfully convicted.
Legislators are proposing to pay $50,000 for every year spent behind
bars. If passed, Daniels would receive $1.95 million.
In most of the country, there’s a system that guarantees some type of payment to exonerees; 15 states provide nothing. “Right now
in Delaware, there’s absolutely no process,” Daniels’s attorney, Emeka
Igwe, said in an interview. “So what the state is telling the citizens
of Delaware is essentially we can convict someone wrongfully, have them
spend many years in jail, and come out and absolutely have no remedy
whatsoever in the courts. It’s fundamentally un-American.” Five
months after Daniels turned 18, he was on trial for rape. The
prosecution’s case rested largely on the testimony of the 15-year-old
victim, who picked out Daniels from 350 photographs that police showed
her in the days after the attack, and her friend, who was with her
moments before she was raped. An FBI analyst, Michael Malone, also took
the stand to testify that hair police had collected from Daniels and the
victim resulted in a significant match pointing definitively to Daniels
as the attacker. Daniels
said police arrested the wrong man and he had an alibi to prove it. His
defense team presented witnesses who testified that he was playing
basketball and running errands at the time of the rape. Their story,
however, was not enough to sway the all-white jury and he was sentenced
to life in prison. While
incarcerated at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna,
Daniels said he earned his high school diploma and learned how to cook
while employed in the prison’s kitchen. There were few other programs
for him to participate in, he said. In 2015,
he was released on parole. As part of the conditions of his release, he
had to register as a sex offender. He got a job at a restaurant but was
quickly fired after a police officer threatened to tell people a sex
offender worked there. And in a sex offender therapy program he had to
take, he refused to admit he was guilty of rape, a requirement for
graduating. Without a job and certificate from the program, Daniels
violated the conditions of his parole, and soon he was back in prison. That same
year, federal investigators revealed that Malone, the FBI analyst, had
provided flawed testimony or reports on hair analysis in 96 percent of
his cases. In 2018, the groups investigating Malone told then-Delaware
Attorney General Matthew Denn that Malone’s testimony “exceeded the
limits of science.” That
information alone was not enough to free Daniels, however, and it would
take months of investigation for Denn to dismiss his conviction, though
he did not declare Daniels innocent. “The
state cannot conclusively state Mr. Daniels was not the victim’s
assailant, but when coupling this information with the double-match
testimony of agent Malone, the prosecutors continuing duty to seek
justice requires re-examination,” wrote Denn in the filing.
Daniels
was released from prison on Dec. 13, 2018. Since then, he has moved to
Maryland to live with his fiancée. He’s had difficulty finding work and
is finding it hard to navigate the job market without computer skills.
To teach himself, he checks out books from the library. Daniels,
who does not have his driver’s license, obtained his learner’s permit
but cannot afford to pay for classes for the road test. To get around,
he said he either has to wait for someone to drive him or walk alongside
a busy highway near his home. “We’re struggling from paycheck to paycheck. Struggle to keep a light on, pay the rent, struggle to keep the heat on,” he said. To
receive money under Delaware’s legislation, people who have been
wrongfully convicted must file a complaint with the state’s courts
demonstrating that their conviction was either reversed or vacated and
that new evidence shows they weren’t involved in the crime. It’s a
popular model used by 10 other states that have wrongful conviction
compensation schemes in place. In
addition to or in place of monetary compensation, other states offer
benefits such as help paying school tuition, securing housing, and
finding a job. Montana offers tuition at a state university, but it does
not provide a payout. States like Wisconsin and New Hampshire have caps
on how much money someone can receive. In Missouri, people are only
eligible for compensation if they are exonerated by DNA testing. Some states deduct settlements paid to wrongfully convicted people in lawsuits from their total compensation. Jon Eldan,
the director of After Innocence, an organization that works with people
who have been wrongfully convicted, told The Appeal that states should
begin to pivot toward systems in which courts evaluate each person’s
loss to determine the compensation they receive instead of relying on a
set amount. This system is in place in New York. “I think
we should be asking what we’re doing when we compensate people. The
answer is we’re not really valuing their loss,” he said. “To generously
compensate the wrongfully convicted in America would break no one’s
bank. This will never reflect a massive cost with respect to how much we
spend generally.” Last year,
Daniels spoke at Legislative Hall in support of Delaware’s compensation
bill, which was introduced by Representative Sean Lynn. The bill made
it out of the House Judiciary Committee but was never put on the floor
by Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf for a vote. Schwartzkopf did not respond to a request for comment from The Appeal. Senator
Brian Pettyjohn, who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate, told The
Appeal, “I’m hopeful we’re going to pass some version of it, whether
it’s this session or next, because we need to hold ourselves accountable
and need to help these individuals.” If passed,
at least three people freed in the last five years—Daniels, Jermaine
Dollard and Isaiah McCoy—would qualify for compensation.
Daniels said any money he receives is only part of what he needs to regain his life in the free world.
The entire story can be read at:
https://theappeal.org/delaware-lawmakers-push-bill-that-could-pay-reparations-to-the-wrongfully-incarcerated/
“It’s hard
for me,” he said. “I’m not trying to put everything together at one
time. I basically have to take it step by step to make sure Elmer’s OK
right now. He added,
“You can’t give me back 40 years, but you can do something to make the
process of me moving on in my life a little bit better.”
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S
NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles
Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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 found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
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FINAL
WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever
there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal
system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent
future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
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Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
