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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Rape and Sexual Assault/Battery |
Sentence: |
25 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
6 |
Year Crime: |
2013 |
Year Convicted: |
2013 |
Year Cleared: |
2020 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Tennessee |
County or Region of Crime: |
Davidson |
City of Crime: |
Nashville |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"William Arnold was wrongly convicted in 2013 of rape and sexual battery of a 12-year-old boy while he was a mentor with the Boys and Girl's Club. Arnold's prosecution was based on the testimony of the boy. After his conviction by a jury Arnold was sentenced to 25 years in prison. In 2019 the Tennessee Court of Appeals granted Arnold's post-conviction petition and reversed his convictions and ordered a new trial based on the prosecutor misconduct of making improper comments to the jury and even sitting in the witness stand and impersonating and mocking Arnold, and ineffective assistance of his trial lawyer for failing to utilize documents on cross-examination that he had which could have undermined the credibility of the witnesses' testimony. Arnold was released on bail while the Davidson County DA considered whether to proceed with a retrial. After a reinvestigation of the case by the Davidson County DA's conviction review unit, the DA's Office decided not to retry Arnold. The DA's Office's motion to dismiss the charges was granted on June 29, 2020. Arnold's was the first case dismissed as a result of an investigation by the conviction review unit." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Testimony by the alleged victim. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"The DA's Office's motion to dismiss the charges was granted on June 29, 2020." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
41 |
Age When Released: |
47 |
Sex: |
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Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"District attorney won't retry child rape case overturned by appeals court, By Mariah Timms and Natalie Neysa Alund, Nashville Tennessean, June 29, 2020" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2020/06/29/da-wont-retry-nashville-child-rape-case-overturned-appeals-court/3277688001/ |
Information Source 2: |
"After seven years in prison, rape convictions dismissed for Nashville man, By Jeremy Finley (staff), WSMV News 4 (Nashville), June 29, 2020" |
Information Location 2: |
https://www.wsmv.com/news/after-seven-years-in-prison-rape-convictions-dismissed-for-nashville-man/article_870f9c38-ba16-11ea-a36b-637e6f2c150d.html |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org