DNA clears Houston man 27 years after conviction

Michael Green

A Houston man 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 prosecutors now say he did not commit.

Michael Anthony Green, 45, is expected to be in court today, when his attorney, Bob Wicoff, will ask that he be released 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 commit.

"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. Read more.

Source: Houston Chronicle, July 28, 2010

Innocent prisoner's angry outburst delays release

A Houston man expected to be freed today after being imprisoned 27 years for a rape he did not commit will have to wait one more day after reacting "emotionally" to the reality of his release this morning.

Bob Wicoff, an attorney for Michael Anthony Green, said his client was angry and would need another day to compose himself before having a bond set while the Texas Court of Criminal Appeal rules on his actual innocence.

"He was upset," Wicoff said. "Hopefully he'll be fine tomorrow."

Green was expected to be granted a personal recognizance bond by visiting state District Judge Mike Wilkinson this morning. He was not brought into the courtroom, but loud shouting could be heard from behind the door to the court's holdover cell.

Wicoff said the shouting was Green.

"This has been a gross perversion of justice and he's a smart guy and he knows it," Wicoff said. "He's angry."

The release was the next step in proceedings to declare Green actually innocent of a 1983 sexual assault. Read more.

Source: Houston Chronicle, July 29, 2010

Adding insult …

After years of wrongful imprisonment, a prisoner faced one last injustice

For 27 years, imprisoned Houstonian Michael Anthony Green, wrongly convicted in 1983 of aggravated sexual assault, protested his innocence and fought in vain to clear his name. Last year, his case was taken up by the Post Conviction Review Section, a group of lawyers and investigators newly formed by Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos to examine credible claims of a prisoner's innocence.

To the enormous credit of that group, investigators were able to find key DNA evidence that resulted in establishing Green's innocence and identifying the actual assailants.

Green's long nightmare was due to end last Thursday, in a hearing that would most likely release him on bond until his conviction and sentence could be overturned. Instead, Green made that long-awaited trip to the courtroom bound in handcuffs and shackles.

Green responded loudly and vehemently to that indignity, to the extent that he was not allowed into the courtroom, and the hearing was postponed until Friday. It was one last cruel blow, one insult too many from a justice system that had robbed him of his entire adult life. (He was 18 when he began serving a 75-year sentence.)

The reason for the restraints, said Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Alan Bernstein, was that Green came into the county jail classified as a violent criminal, and therefore needed to be taken to the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles. He told the Chronicle that no one had advised jail personnel of Green's special circumstances.

It's true that the sheriff's office is a giant bureaucracy (about 900 prisoners were transported to court on that same day) and procedures and protocols are necessary. But provision must be made, even in giant bureaucracies, for the rare occasion when business as usual becomes a travesty and must give way to humanity and common sense.

DA Lykos has said that should another such case arise she will alert the sheriff's office. (There was no official communication between the two offices on Green, said DA spokesman George Flynn.) Sheriff Adrian Garcia has said that in a similar situation, his office would suspend regular procedures.

"Everybody's learned from it," said sheriff's spokesman Bernstein. It would be a good idea for both offices to formalize that learning experience, and provide clear guidelines for future actions. This was a sad, unnecessary blow, not only to Green, but to Harris County's justice system, one that should never be allowed to happen again.

Source: Houston Chronicle, Aug.4, 2010

Comments

Texas: The inmates who refused to die quietly and had to be gassed out of their cells before execution

Former crime reporter Michelle Lyons, who witnessed nearly 300 executions in Texas, US, reveals the desperate acts of death row prisoners who refused to accept their fate After spending years or often decades locked up in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day, most Death Row inmates go willingly to their executions. However, some refuse to die quietly - with officers forced to gas them out of cells, strap up their heads and even give chase across prison grounds. Michelle Lyons, who has witnessed nearly 300 executions in Texas, US, exclusively tells Sun Online how certain inmates "fight like hell" in their last moments. On most occasions, Michelle watched from the witness area, with the killers already on the gurney - the stretcher where they'd be given a lethal injection. Seven prisoners once tried to escape from the Row in Huntsville - with one shoving magazines and newspapers under his clothes to help him roll over razor-wire fences. Others have had to b...

Idaho | Death row prisoners sue over state's new firing squad

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) – Days after Idaho made the switch to a firing squad for executions, two Idaho death row prisoners next in line to be put to death sued the state prison system, saying its director withheld information about how she settled on the specifics for carrying out the method. Attorneys for prisoners Thomas Creech and Gerald Pizzuto filed suit this week in state district court against Idaho Department of Correction Director Bree Derrick. In the filing, they called her approval of an updated standard operating procedure for the firing squad and lethal injection as a backup method “arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion and in excess of the statutory authority of the agency.”

Two Germans to be caned, jailed for Singapore train graffiti

"Singapore: Disneyland with the death penalty" A Singapore court sentenced two Germans to nine months in prison and three strokes of the cane on Thursday after they pleaded guilty to breaking into a depot and spray-painting graffiti on a commuter train carriage. Andreas Von Knorre, 22, and Elton Hinz, 21, both expressed remorse while being sentenced in the state courts of the island republic. “This is the darkest episode of my entire life,” said Von Knorre. “I want to apologise to the state of Singapore for the stupid act ... I’ve learnt my lesson and will never do it again.” Hinz added: “I promise I will never do it again. I want to apologise to you, and my family for the shame and situation I’ve put them into.” Both were dressed in prison uniform — a white T-shirt and brown trousers with the word “Prisoner” down the sides and on the back. They spoke to the court in English. Singapore sentences hundreds of prisoners to caning each year as part of a syst...

Florida death row inmate wants DeSantis to attend his pending execution

Dennis Michael Sochor is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday, the 29th person executed by the state in the past 19 months. Dennis Michael Sochor, convicted of strangling an 18-year-old woman he met at a New Year’s celebration in a Broward County bar 44 years ago, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday at Florida State Prison. His last wish? To have Gov. Ron DeSantis personally observe his execution up close and personal.

Florida | Former prison warden who oversaw executions urges corrections workers to not participate in them

Recently Florida carried out the execution of Dusty Spencer , a 74-year-old Marine veteran, for the murder of his wife, Karen, in 1992. It was the ninth Florida execution this year. For their own sake, I urge Florida’s corrections workers to refuse to carry out another one. Before you dismiss me as some soft lefty, you should know that I am an Air Force veteran. I voted for Ron DeSantis for governor twice—and for Donald Trump for president three times.

Oldest inmate set to be executed in Florida will face strict spending limit for final meal

An entire category of food is also off-limits for final meal requests in Florida Florida is currently preparing to execute its oldest inmate later today (July 14), a 74-year-old convicted murderer who has been on death row since the 1980s—but his final meal will be limited by a strict budget. Dennis Sochor is scheduled to be put to death later today, making history as the oldest inmate to ever be executed in the state. The criminal, who has been on death row for nearly 40 years, will be administered the lethal three-drug injection, with the process due to begin at around 6pm.

We Asked Ohio’s Death Row What They Think of Governor’s Death Penalty Reversal

Like Gov. Mike DeWine, most agreed the death penalty is broken and does not deter crime, but not always with the same reasoning. Some people on Ohio’s death row praised Gov. Mike DeWine for having the courage to come out against the death penalty. Others said actions speak louder than words, and they want the governor to commute their death sentences to life without the possibility of parole. But all agreed with the governor on one thing: Ohio’s death penalty law is broken. DeWine said long delays in carrying out executions undermine its intended function as a deterrent. Condemned prisoners resoundingly said that the possibility of being executed never stopped anyone from committing murder.

Florida | Double-murderer set for execution, sparking intense legal battle over age, declining health

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for the Pasco County execution of Dominick Occhicone, scheduled for July 28. Defense attorneys argue the 80-year-old double-murderer is too old and frail to be executed under the 8th Amendment. HOLIDAY, Fla. - Dominick Occhicone is scheduled to face execution on July 28 for the 1986 cold-blooded murders of his ex-girlfriend's parents in Pasco County, sparking an intense legal battle over his advanced age and failing health. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Dominick Occhicone, who has spent nearly 40 years on death row, according to state records. The man is about to turn 81 and was convicted of killing Raymond and Martha Artzner at their home in Holiday. The warrant comes shortly after the state executed 74-year-old Dusty Ray Spencer last week. If the scheduled July 14 execution of 74-year-old Dennis Sochor proceeds, he will surpass Spencer as the oldest inmate executed in Florida since 1976. Court records show that Occhicone wen...

UK | A Dead Woman’s Sentence Is Commuted to Life in Prison. Justice or Farce?

A Dead Woman’s Sentence Is Commuted to Life in Prison. Justice or Farce? On July 8, England’s Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, David Lammy, informed his colleagues in the House of Commons that King Charles had granted a conditional pardon to a woman who was executed on July 13, 1955. The beneficiary of the King’s posthumous mercy was Ruth Ellis, who, as a report in the Guardian notes , “was the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom.”

Germany | Neuschwanstein killer contests extradition over death penalty fears

Three years after the rape and murder of a US tourist near Neuschwanstein Castle, the convicted man, also from the United States, is contesting his extradition from Germany. The 33-year-old pushed two young women down a slope of around 50 metres during a visit to the world-famous castle. A 21-year-old later died in hospital and her friend was injured. The man raped and strangled the 21-year-old before pushing her over the edge. Kempten Regional Court sentenced him to life in prison for murder, attempted murder and rape resulting in death. The foreigners' office in the area then issued a deportation order against the convicted murderer.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog