BACKGROUND: Brothers Robert (Bobby) and David Bintz were wrongfully convicted of the assault and murder of Sandra Lison in 1986. Despite DNA evidence from the crime scene excluding them as assailants, the brothers remained incarcerated for 25 years.The Great North Innocence Project, in partnership with pro bono attorneys from Chestnut Cambronne PA, began representing Bobby in 2019, building on the record the Wisconsin Innocence Project had created while representing his brother, David. Through groundbreaking investigative genetic genealogy work by volunteers at the Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center and advanced DNA analysis by Bode Technology, the GNIP legal team was not only able to prove that Bobby and David were innocent of this terrible crime, but identify the true perpetrator. Bobby and David walked free after over two decades in prison on September 26 and have been officially exonerated.
GIST: "Robert (Bobby) and David Bintz, represented by the Great North Innocence Project (with pro bono support from Chestnut Cambronne) and the Wisconsin Innocence Project, respectively were exonerated for a murder they did not commit. Investigative genetic genealogy allowed the Great North Innocence Project to find the actual perpetrator of the 1986 sexual assault and murder for which the Bintz brothers served 25 years of wrongful incarceration.
An unsolved murder
In August 1986 Sandra Lison, the Sunday bartender at the Good Times Tavern in Green Bay, went missing after closing time. The following day her body was discovered in a state forest north of the city. She had been beaten and strangled. Law enforcement also indicated that this was a sexual assault, given the partial removal of Ms. Lison's dress and underwear as well as the presence of semen on her body and clothing. The Bintz brothers were questioned early in the investigation because they had purchased beer from Ms. Lison the night of her disappearance and complained to her about being overcharged. But nothing else connected them to the murder, so the investigation moved on and eventually the case went cold.
A jailhouse informant comes forward
Ten years later, a cellmate of David's reported to corrections officers that David was having nightmares confessing to a murder in his sleep. They instructed the cellmate to engage David in conversations about these nightmares, which led to a supposed "confession" by David to having murdered Sandra Lison with help from Robert. When confronted with the cellmate's account, David had a bizarre and contradictory colloquy with police in which he admitted that the cellmate's statement was true, but also denied being involved in, or knowing anything about, Ms. Lison's murder.
Police then took DNA samples from the Bintz brothers to compare against the semen from the crime scene. Both were excluded as contributors. Rather than continuing the investigation, the State decided to change the theory of the crime. The State prosecuted the Bintz brothers for robbery and murder, taking the position that the semen recovered from the body must have been the result of a recent consensual sexual encounter (even though all of Ms. Lison's friends and family had told police that she was not seeing anyone romantically). Both brothers were convicted and received life sentences.
Several years later, the Wisconsin Innocence Project performed additional testing and found that there was male blood on the victim's dress that came from the same source as the semen, all but confirming the State's initial theory that this was a sexual assault and murder. But the State opposed and the Court denied relief, calling it mere speculation to suggest that the man whose blood and semen was recovered from the victim may have been the actual perpetrator.
Genetic Genealogy breaks the case
In 2019, Great North Innocence Project, building on the factual record created by Wisconsin Innocence Project, sought additional testing on behalf of Robert Bintz. This led to successful development of a SNP profile for investigative genetic genealogy. The breakthrough came in August 2023, when the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center at Ramapo College in New Jersey used this as the test case for its "boot camp" for genealogists in training. Within 2 days, the team had the search narrowed to three brothers.
One of the three brothers, William Hendricks, stood out. He had a history of burglaries (including breaking into taverns) as well as sexual assaults with a strangulation element. Hendricks had been imprisoned on a rape conviction and had been released on parole about seven months before Sandra Lison's abduction and murder. Hendricks died in 2000.
In light of this new evidence, the Brown County D.A. ultimately agreed to the disinterment of Hendricks' body. Samples were extracted and sent to the crime lab for development of an STR profile. The crime lab was unable to develop one, but GNIP shipped a femur to Bode Cellmark Laboratories, and they got it done. Comparison by the crime lab confirmed the match between Hendricks and the blood and semen.
After some additional investigation (revealing still more ties between Hendricks and the crime), the State stipulated to the Bintz brothers' immediate release. The judge signed the order Wednesday, September 25, 2024, and the Bintz brothers are now free."
The entire post can be read at:
https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/7674579525777208764
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.
- SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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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:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
