|
Wrongly
Convicted Database
Record
|
Years
Imprisoned:
|
15.43 |
Charge: |
Rape |
Sentence: |
20 years to life imprisonment |
Year Convicted: |
1994 |
Year
Cleared:
|
2009 |
Location
of Trial:
|
Ohio |
Result:
|
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary
of Case:
|
Co-defendant of Nancy Smith. James Allen and Smith were wrongly convicted on August 3, 1994 of raping children in 1993 who were attending a Head Start program in Lorain, Ohio. Smith was a school bus driver, and she allegedly drove the bright yellow school bus to Allen's home in a residential neighborhood where the rapes allegedly occurred. They were convicted on the basis of inconsistent and contradictory testimony of several children. There was no physical, forensic or adult eyewitnesses corroborating the children's claims. Smith was sentenced to 15 to 90 years in prison, and Allen was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Based on exculpatory evidence concealed by the prosecution and new evidence their sentences were vacated on February 4, 2009, and they were both subsequently released on $100,000 bail. On June 24, 2009 Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge James Burge set-aside the convictions of Smith and Allen on the grounds that the prosecution had not presented enough evidence at their trial to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. |
Conviction
Caused By:
|
|
Innocence
Proved By:
|
On June 24, 2009 Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge James Burge set-aside the convictions of Smith and Allen.
|
Defendant
Aided By:
|
Ohio private investigator Martin Yant, Canadian writer Lona Manning, and the Ohio Innocence Project |
Compensation Awarded: |
|
Was Perpetrator Found? |
|
Age
When Imprisoned:
|
41 |
Age
When Released:
|
56 |
Information Source 1: |
Nancy Smith, Joseph Allen acquitted, By Jordan Cravens, Morning Journal (Lorain, OH), June 24, 2009 |
Information
Location 1:
|
http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2009/06/24/news/doc4a42530d21c9a530514921.txt |
Information
Source 2:
|
|
Information
Location 2:
|
|
Information
Source 3:
|
|
Information
Location 3:
|
|
Information
Source 4:
|
|
Information
Location 4:
|
|
Information
Source 5:
|
|
Information
Location 5:
|
|
Ethnicity/Skin:
|
Black |
Book
About
Case:
|
|
Book
Information:
|
|
Book About Case (2): |
|
Book Information (2): |
|
Movie About Case: |
|
Comments About Case: |
|
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org