The Tampa Bay Times reports that the Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala has rejected the appeal made on behalf of William Thomas Zeigler to have his pre-trial evidence from the 70s tested with modern DNA technology. Ayala denied this request “even though her conviction integrity unit urged her in April to grant it, saying it […]
Wrongful Convictions
Kristina S. Hickey (1969 – 1984)
Introduction Kristina S. Hickey (1969 – 1984) was murdered in Park Forest, Illinois, 1984. She was 15 years old and still in high school. On January 15, 1987, Christopher Abernathy was convicted for Kristina’s murder. On February 11, 2015, after 30 years of incarceration, Abernathy was exonerated by DNA and set free. But who killed […]
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Daniel Dougherty: third trial
On March 27, 2019, the third trial started for Daniel Dougherty. In 2000, Daniel Dougherty was found guilty of the 1985 arson that killed his two sons, Danny (4) and Johnny (3). Police arrested Dougherty in 1999 after his estranged wife and mother of the two children claimed he had confessed. A jury found him guilty […]
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Lapointe seeks $13.5M in state compensation
In 1992, Richard A. Lapointe was sentenced to life plus 60 years for the 1987 rape-murder of Mrs. Bernice Martin who was found stabbed, raped, and strangled in her Manchester, Connecticut apartment that was set on fire. Lapointe has Dandy walker Syndrome, a congenital brain malformation that made him gullible and vulnerable to giving a false […]
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Hope for William Thomas Zeigler
The Tampa bay Times announced Jan 3, 2019 that the Florida State Attorney’s office is “taking a fresh look” at the 1975 case of William Thomas Zeigler. Whether that fresh look is indeed an official review does not become clear in the article. However, we finally have a Florida state representative who “wants to introduce […]
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Sum it Up! #55
Sum it Up! #55 covers a lot of ground. Here we go: Wrongful Convictions 1: Lamonte McIntyre After being wrongly imprisoned for a double-murder for the past 23 years, Lamonte McIntyre walked out of Wyandotte County Courthouse a free man! Lamonte McIntyre was wrongly convicted in 1994 of a double murder he never committed. His conviction […]
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New trial for Daniel Dougherty
On October 31, the Pennsylvania Superior Court gave Daniel Dougherty what he has coveted: a new trial. For the third time. The defense and appellate courts agreed: Daniel Dougherty had two unfair trials. The three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that Dougherty should get a new trial. They cited three crucial errors the […]
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Sum it Up! #54
In this Sum it Up, we explore forensics and wrongful convictions. Identifying 9/11 victims On Aug 7, the Washington Post reported that “the remains of a man killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11 have been identified nearly 16 years after the terror attacks.” The article explains that 2’753 people were killed on September […]
