In 1993 Derrick Williams was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences on kidnapping and rape charges. A Miami Herald reporter, Fred Grimm, wrote in a recent article that the victim of the crimes reported to the police that her rapist hid his face with a gray t-shirt that she was able to take with her as she escaped. Later, Williams’ girlfriend claimed he had a similar shirt. Williams was arrested on that evidence.
Fast-forward 17 years later when modern DNA testing of the t-shirt was done this month. The testing revealed that, based on DNA samples of sweat and skin cells, Williams was not the attacker. The Innocence Project of Florida is elated by this news, even though, for the time being, Williams is still being held in prison.
The State Supreme Court of Florida, embarrassed and upset over a recent rash of DNA exonerations, has appointed a committee to discover why so many procedural flaws appeared to have been made in so many cases which ended up with people being wrongfully convicted.
Grimm points out factors in Williams’ case that can be applied to other wrongful conviction cases. These factors include relying on the victim’s identification of the perpetrator. Grimm reports that 75% of exonerations by DNA had roots in victim misidentification. Faulty photo line-ups also account for misidentification: a witness often becomes more “positive” once he or she makes a faulty ID.
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