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Wrongly
Convicted Database
Record
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Years
Imprisoned:
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26 |
Charge: |
Murder and Rape |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment |
Year Convicted: |
1981 |
Year
Cleared:
|
2009 |
Location
of Trial:
|
Wisconsin |
Result:
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Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary
of Case:
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Wrongly convicted in 1981 of raping and murdering a 19-year-old girl in a downton Madison apartment in 1980. Ralph Armstrong was sentenced to life in prison. In 2005 the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned his conviction after forensic tests excluded him as the source of crime-scene DNA. While preparing for Armstrong's retrial his lawyers discovered that the prosecution had failed to disclose that Armstrong's brother Steve had confessed to at least two people in the mid-1990s that he committed the crime. Steve Armstrong died in July 2005 without being charged with the crimes. On July 30, 2009 the Wisconsin Court of Appeals dismissed the indictment against Armstrong. He had been wrongly imprisoned for 25 years. |
Conviction
Caused By:
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Innocence
Proved By:
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On July 30, 2009 the Wisconsin Court of Appeals dismissed the indictment against Armstrong.
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Defendant
Aided By:
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Innocence Project at Cardozo School of Law |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Found? |
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Age
When Imprisoned:
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26 |
Age
When Released:
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51 |
Information Source 1: |
Wisconsin_vs_Armstrong, No. 80-CF-495 (Dane County Cir Ct, 7-30-09) |
Information
Location 1:
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Information
Source 2:
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Murder Conviction Overturned, Prosecutor Hid Evidence, North Country Gazette, August 2, 2009 |
Information
Location 2:
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http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/08/02/hid_evidence/ |
Information
Source 3:
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Information
Location 3:
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Information
Source 4:
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Information
Location 4:
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Information
Source 5:
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Information
Location 5:
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Ethnicity/Skin:
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White |
Book
About
Case:
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Book
Information:
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Book About Case (2): |
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Book Information (2): |
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Movie About Case: |
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Comments About Case: |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org