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DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16

By Jeralyn, Section Innocence Cases
Posted on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 10:20:48 AM EST
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Michael Anthony Williams left prison in Louisiana yesterday after serving 24 years for a rape that DNA tests show he didn't commit. He has been in jail since the age of 16. Now 40, where does he go? There was no tearful and joyful family waiting at the jail for him to come out. He left with Vanessa Plotkin, his Innocence Project attorney. [TChris provided excellent analysis of the case here.]

His first act beyond the electronic gates and razor wire Friday morning wasn't a lavish meal or a tearful reunion with family and friends. Instead, it was a drive to a white stucco building -- blue paint peeling from the trim -- at Laurel and North 18th streets near downtown Baton Rouge, where the 40-year-old quietly got his first apartment.

"It needs a little cleaning," he said of his new home. "It's definitely better than a prison cell."

Williams had been sentenced to life without parole. There had been no physicial evidence linking him to the crime. He wrote to Barry Scheck and Cardozo's Innocence Project, and they accepted the case.

May, who had just graduated from law school when Williams was convicted, said he agreed to DNA testing last year after reading a transcript of the trial and realizing "there was no physical evidence at all -- none -- to tie the defendant to this crime."

What does the victim have to say? She stands by her story.

"She's so certain he was there that she now feels there must have been two people present. At the trial, of course, there was no suggestion that two people were present."

The unidentified co-ejaculator theory. Right.

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    DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 | 22 comments (22 topical)
    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#1)
    by wishful on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 11:26:49 AM EST
    Does anyone know what income this man will be able to depend on? Does he need us to come to his aid, since we were the ones who mistakenly (that's generous) denied him his liberty? Will the LA counterpart to Jeb Bush push a law through the state legislature to benefit Mr. William's needs analogous situationally to the one passed by Jeb Bush in FLA for Terry Shiavo? Of course, the state was responsible for Mr. William's demise, so the state bears even more responsibility in his case.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 11:39:35 AM EST
    I think this is one of the reason so many of us became criminal defense lawyers

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#3)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:10:55 PM EST
    Is anybody going to investigate the prosecution and see if the prosecution or the cops screwed the pooch? And, if so, prosecute THEM?

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#4)
    by wishful on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:24:01 PM EST
    RA, anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that such action is not in order.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#5)
    by Dadler on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:26:40 PM EST
    richard, who's going to initiate this investigation? the prosecutor's office? federal prosecutors? i know it occurs now and then, but prosecutors prosecuting prosecutors isn't exactly something that gets a lot of press or scrutiny. it's perceived to be so small a problem it really isn't. sure it happens we say, but hardly ever, and we punish those who do it. wanna bet?

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#6)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 02:14:30 PM EST
    Dadler. I didn't quite follow your point. IMO, punctuation and caps are not an affectation but actually useful. If these guys get away with this crap, because nobody goes after them, what's the deterrent factor? Disappointment that the guy gets out twenty years later? If there was no physical evidence, what evidence was there? Eyewitness? Is eyewitness evidence right up there with water-witching?

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 03:53:29 PM EST
    This is just happening too often and too late. How many years have the courts been using DNA as a tool to put the right person in prison? Why wasn't DNA testing done sooner? The tax payers paid for his prison time for 24 yrs. What does it cost a year? $100,000.00 ? Instead of the government granting millions of dollars to special projects like, $130,000.00 to some nut that is studying the sex life of an Africian frog, they should be be spending the money to help these innocent people. People are awarded thousands of dollars because, the spilled hot drinks on themself, or ate fast food and got fat. What the hell is wrong with this picture. 24 yrs. of this mans life wasted in prison, and he didn't do anything. I think the state should have to pay so much per year, for each year a person spends in prison, if he is found innocent at a later time.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 04:14:53 PM EST
    It is a sad situation that no family or friends are there for him for support. He definitely need to be compensated, not that it can give him his youth back.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 08:28:45 PM EST
    The heavy burden of proof required in criminal prosecution is supposed to minimize these miscarriages of justice. This kind of outcome is why I would rather see a guy like Peterson walk than to have this guy do 16 years for a crime he did not commit. Compensation? There is no compensation for this. This is going to be a tough adjustment for this man. I wish him the best, but it's going to be tough. Maybe the prosecutors, the judge, the jurors and their families should all step up now and provide support - help with job search, help with housing, help with human support. These folks have the strongest connection to this miscarriage. Is anybody interviewing the prosecutor? the judge? the investigators? I would be interested in their reaction to the DNA evidence.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 08:34:43 PM EST
    excuse me, 24 years in Angola, reputedly one of the worst prisons in this country.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#11)
    by cp on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 08:36:19 PM EST
    hey richard, no caps worked just fine for e.e. cummings. eyewitness indentification has proven to be historically flawed, especially if it is someone unknown previously to the victim. juries, however, are convinced of its veracity. no one would intentionally misidentify someone as a criminal. they are correct, most people wouldn't. most victims are convinced that they've identified the correct party. this victim is a classic case in point. in spite of all forensic evidence to the contrary, this woman is still convinced she identified her attacker correctly. she has to be, otherwise, she would have to admit she was wrong, and was responsible for ruining an innocent person's life. if i recall correctly, scott peterson was convicted on even less evidence: no forensic evidence tying him to the disappearence; no eyewitness identification; three different, discredited, prosecution theories of the crime. none of this stopped a jury of his "peers" from convicting him, basically for being a cad. i am more and more convinced this happens far more frequently than we want to admit. to a large degree, the 24/7 media exposure plays a part. there is no such thing as an untainted jury pool. add to that the racial aspects of mr. williams' case, and i'm surprised he wasn't put to death already.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 08:40:58 PM EST
    this from the article. May being the current prosecutor who said he reviewed the trial transcript and felt the case was weak: But May said he's kept in touch with the victim, and although DNA evidence points to someone else committing the sexual assault, "she's so certain he was there that she now feels there must have been two people present. At the trial, of course, there was no suggestion that two people were present." cp is exactly right about the lengths that each of us might be willing to go to in order to convince ourselves that we didn't send the wrong guy to Angola for 24 years. for those of you who favor rendition and torture, I am betting that we could have gotten a confession out of this guy if we had gone that extra mile. What do you think?

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 10:50:18 PM EST
    the situation is horrible. The loss of time can never be replaced. How can we hold the state responsible? The jury found him guilty, not the judge. The citizens should come together to right the injustice not the state. unforunately the community as a whole is too self absorbed to come together to right this wrong. Even with all the flaws our system has, what system is better?

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#14)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 06:26:13 AM EST
    I think Cummings' big selling point is that you can read him and put anything you want into the poem. And whichever it is...doesn't matter. That's not exposition and communication. There's a difference. Me, I object to objections to fragments. If I were to read this board long enough, I'd have to start figuring all these vics did whatever it was to themselves, since there never is a real perp. Or if there is, the cops always get somebody else.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#15)
    by Dadler on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 10:27:01 AM EST
    richard, my point was this: prosecutorial misconduct happens all the time, but is not itself prosecuted enough. they are umpiring their own game to a great degree. that's it.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 10:51:23 AM EST
    I have two points t make 1; Where are all those Death advocate commenters? 2; I am astonished at the severity of the sentence for a 16 year old. If the system was worried about sending a messages this one would tell all minors who rape, they are better off if they rape and kill their victim!

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#17)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 02:36:19 PM EST
    I got it, dad. But my point is that, for all the causes advocated here and elsewhere amongst the Professionally Incredibly Wonderful, prosecuting prosecutorial misconduct seems to be 'way down the bottom of the list. Seems to me that the only reasonable explanation is that, for all the venom directed at such misconduct, professional association--everbody's an attorney, after all--trumps this injustice. The death penalty issues would be far less immediate if we were more sure that misconduct were considerably rarer, for example. But we see society hammered for liking the death penalty instead of the dirty prosecutors who actually get it administered by misconduct. Puzzlements.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 04:18:33 PM EST
    I, for one, would love to see police and prosecutors indicted and tried when they hide, destroy, fail to turn over exculpatory evidence, but I don't think it's going to happen. Police and prosecutors really don't like to go after their own. Ask Serpico how all that turns out. You might open your door some day and get to meet two retired NYPD guys visiting you from Las Vegas.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 07:01:36 PM EST
    Angel. did you get to many speeding tickets as a teenager? The citizens convicted him not the police. Why don't you find the jury pool and charge them. Pull them from their homes and make them pay for doing the best job they could at the time. The injustice was trajic but why cover it with another injustice.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 07:23:10 PM EST
    wishful - In your first comment, you bring up the name, Jeb Bush. Why? It has no bearing, and serves only to try and politiicize a bad situation. Would you like to know the name of the Democreatic Governor that this man was convicted under? Barb - Good idea. It isn't enough, but let's say $200,000 per year for each year an innocent person is in prison.

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 14, 2005 at 07:04:20 AM EST
    Lenny - yes, way too many speeding tickets. But my suggestion of prosecuting police and prosecutors in the post above was specific to cases where they hide, destroy, or fail to turn over exculpatory evidence. None of that appears to have happened in this case. I agree with you that the jury, the victim who id'd the "perp" are the ones who must be reviewing their actions, but I don't see any criminal culpability, just human failings. Read above for my suggestions to address those. No one appears to be open to any prosecution in this particular miscarriage of justice. It's just a cautionary tale that we should keep in mind when we see a guy like Peterson condemned to death on inadequate evidence. This is a site about the justice system in some ways, right?

    Re: DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 14, 2005 at 12:35:18 PM EST
    Angel - If there was any intentional miscounduct on the part of the state that impacted the trail then those responsible should be held to full extent of the law. If there is no public trust and intregrity in the police and prosecutors then the system falls apart. I have been a first responder for over 10 years and I value my integrity and my most powerful weapon. I don't protect or support those who don't honnor the public trust. The main problem with this case is eye witness testimony. In many of the cases I have processed I find it very suspect and don't rely on it as a fact. Example: Last week a clerk was robbed at knife point and stabbed for not moving fast enough. The clerk described in detail the hands of the suspect. He described a gold wedding band with a scrolling leaf design and unkept finger nails. Store video confirms that the suspect had on large blue work gloves the entire time. The victim never saw his hands. That victim will go to his grave remembering the ring on the hands that stabbed him even though he never saw it. This is just one example of many. The victim is not trying to fool the system. These are facts of human behavior that we have to accept and try to work around in processing cases. This could be similar to the rape case. The human mind protects itself in strange ways. My statement was defensive only because the publics first reponse it the blame first reponders. If something went wrong it was because of the self motivated corrupt police. The justice system has many players with many responsibilities. There are many flaws in the system but I don't see a better one in practice anyhwere in the world. When people point fingers it just seperates the groups and breeds mistrust. The first reponse to a problem should be one of teamwork and fixing the system.

    DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 | 22 comments (22 topical)