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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder and Rape |
Sentence: |
95 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
30 |
Year Crime: |
1982 |
Year Convicted: |
1983 |
Year Cleared: |
2013 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Missouri |
County or Region of Crime: |
St Louis |
City of Crime: |
St Louis |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"George Allen Jr. was wrongly convicted in 1983 of capital murder, rape, sodomy and first degree burglary in the death of 31-year-old Mary Bell in 1982 in the St. Louis, Missouri's LaSalle Park neighborhood. George Allen was arrested six weeks after Bell’s murder while walking in the neighborhood. He was questioned by police and gave a taped confession, that he later recanted as coerced by the police. No physical, forensic, or eyewitness testimony linked Allen to the crime. The forensic evidence actually excluded him because his blood type didn’t match that of semen recovered from Bell. Allen's prosecution was based on his taped confession, that he later recanted as coerced by the police. After a jury voted 10-2 for Allen’s acquittal, he was retried three months later and the jury unanimously found him guilty. Allen was sentenced to 95 years in prison. Allen was sentenced to 95 years in prison. On November 2, 2012 Allen's conviction were overturned by Cole County Judge Daniel Green on the basis the prosecution violated his right to due process by failing to disclose favorable evidence to his trial attorney. On November 7, 2012 the Circuit Attorney's Office issued a statement that: "We have reviewed the facts and evidence concerning this matter in order to evaluate the viability of retrying Mr. Allen, and we have determined that a successful retrial of this case would be impossible." Allen was released on bond on November 14, 2012. On January 18, 2013 the charges were dismissed against Allen. Allen filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that among its defendants named the City of St. Louis and the State of Missouri. Allen was 60 when he was found dead from natural causes in his bedroom in St. Louis on October 16, 2016. Funeral services were held on October 26, 2016 in St. Louis. On December 13, 2017 Allen's estate handled by his sister Elfrieda and his mother Lonzetta Taylor agreed to settle the lawsuit with the City of St. Louis and and the State of Missouri for a total of $13,825,000, to be shared equally between the state and the city. Under the agreement the first $5 million was to be paid in January 2018, with annual payments of $2 million annually thereafter until the full amount was paid. After agreeing for the State to pay half, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley changed his mind and asserted the state should only pay $1million, with St. Louis paying the remainder. On February 9, 2018 AG Hawley filed a lawsuit in St. Louis City Circuit Court seeking declaratory relief to limit the state's liability to payment of only $1million of the $13.825 million settlement." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Prosecution failed to disclose favorable evidence. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On November 2, 2012 Allen's conviction were overturned by Cole County Judge Daniel Green on the basis the prosecution violated his right to due process by failing to disclose favorable evidence to his trial attorney. On November 7, 2012 the Circuit Attorney's Office issued a statement that: "We have reviewed the facts and evidence concerning this matter in order to evaluate the viability of retrying Mr. Allen, and we have determined that a successful retrial of this case would be impossible." Allen was released on bail, and on January 18, 2013 the charges were dismissed against Allen." |
Defendant Aided By: |
Innocence Project (NY) |
Compensation Awarded: |
"$13,825,000 million total. $6,912,500 (City of St. Louis, Jan. 2018) and $6,912,500 (State of Missouri, Dec. 13, 2017)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
26 |
Age When Released: |
56 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"George Allen released by Judge Green, By Rebecca S Rivas (staff), The St. Louis American, November 15, 2012" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/article_00c311bc-2e66-11e2-b6ef-001a4bcf887a.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Circuit Attorney Officially Dismisses Case Against George Allen, KTVI-TV, St. Louis, January 18, 2013" |
Information Location 2: |
http://fox2now.com/2013/01/18/circuit-attorney-officially-dismisses-case-against-george-allen/ |
Information Source 3: |
"Circuit Attorney Will Not Re-Try Man After Convictions Overturned, By Jill Hampton, Fox2-TV (St. Louis, MO), November 7, 2012" |
Information Location 3: |
http://fox2now.com/2012/11/07/circuit-attorney-will-not-re-try-man-after-convictions-overturned/ |
Information Source 4: |
"Man who spent decades in prison before reversal of St. Louis murder conviction is remembered, By Joel Currier, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct 27, 2016" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/man-who-spent-decades-in-prison-before-reversal-of-st/article_b8351489-047f-50b2-8964-4901a024a1d8.html |
Information Source 5: |
"Family of George Allen gets $14 million in wrongful prosecution case, By Rachel Lippmann, StlPublicRadio.org, February 6, 2018" |
Information Location 5: |
http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/family-george-allen-gets-14-million-wrongful-prosecution-case#stream/0 |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org