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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Burglary (including aggravated) |
Sentence: |
15 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
5.5 |
Year Crime: |
2006 |
Year Convicted: |
2006 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Mississippi |
County or Region of Crime: |
Lawrence |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"William Scott Ashwell was wrongly convicted on December 14, 2006 of burglary and escape in Lawrence County, Mississippi. William Ashwell pled guilty to both charges on December 14, 2006, and Judge Michael Eubank accepted his guilty pleas. Later that month he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his burglary conviction. Ashwell was separately sentenced on December 27, 2006 to five years in prison for his escape conviction, to run concurrently with his burglary sentence. A condition of Ashwell's sentences was that if he successfully completed a three-month drug and alcohol treatment program, and a two year Intensive Supervision Program (ISP) the remainder of his prison sentence would be suspended and he would be placed on post-release supervision for the remainder of his 15 year sentence. Ashwell completed the drug treatment and ISP programs and was released from prison. In July 2010 Ashwell was arrested and charged with testing positive for marijuana in March 2009 and for possession of precursors with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. Ashwell's post-release supervision was revoked and Ashwell was returned to prison to complete his sentence. In August 2013 Ashwell filed a pro se post-conviction petition to withdraw his guilty plea and for a new trial, based on the court's lack of jurisdiction to find him guilty in 2006 because the criminal docket for his case showed that the Lawrence County District Attorney didn't file a bill of information against him. In June 2014 the trial judge ordered the State to respond to Ashwell's petition, and appointed him a lawyer -- although he had been releaased on parole. On November 20, 2014 Judge Prentiss Greene Harrell denied Ashwell's petition on the basis that even though there was no evidence in the docket that the bill of information was filed as required by law to give the court jurisdiction to process Ashwell's case, the State filed an affidavit by the prosecutor for the case in 2006 that Ashwell would not have been allowed to plead guilty "without a [b]ill of [i]nformation being sworn and executed." Ashwell appealed. On June 7, 2016 the Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed the trial judges ruling. The Mississippi Supreme Court accepted review of Ashwell's case. On August 24, 2017 the Mississippi Supreme Court unanimously vacated Ashwell's guilty pleas and reversed his convictions on the basis there was no physical evidence a charging document had been filed by the Lawrence County DA, and therefore the trial court lacked jurisdiction to accept his guilty pleas. Ashwell was living in Lauderdale County, Mississippi when on May 5, 2015 he was charged with resisting arrest, seat-belt violation, driving with suspended license and no liability insurance. Disposition of the charges didn't result in a parole violation and his return to prison." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On August 24, 2017 the Mississippi Supreme Court unanimously vacated Ashwell's guilty pleas and reversed his convictions on the basis there was no physical evidence a charging document had been filed by the Lawrence County DA, and therefore the trial court lacked jurisdiction to accept his guilty pleas." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
24 |
Age When Released: |
32 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
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Information Source 1: |
"William Scott Ashwell, aka William Ashwell, aka William S. Ashwell v. State of Mississippi, No. 2015-CT-00023-SCT (Miss. Sup. Ct., 8-24-2017) (Reversing and vacating convictions because trial court didn't have jurisdiction to accept guilty pleas because no charging instrument had ever been filed by the Lawrence County DA.)" |
Information Location 1: |
https://courts.ms.gov/Images/Opinions/CO121460.pdf |
Information Source 2: |
"Mississippi man’s convictions voided for no charging papers, By Associated Press, Washington Times, August 27, 2017" |
Information Location 2: |
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/27/mississippi-mans-convictions-voided-for-no-chargin/ |
Information Source 3: |
"William Scott Ashwell v. State of Mississippi, No. 2015-CT-00626-SCT (Miss. Sup. Ct.) (Case docket from 4-10-2015 when appeal filed to reversal on 8-24-2017)" |
Information Location 3: |
https://courts.ms.gov/appellate_courts/docket/phpdocket.php?case_num=82270 |
Information Source 4: |
"Ashwell v. State, No. 2015-CA-00023-COA, Consolidated with No. 2015-CA-00626-COA (Miss. Ct of Appeals, 6-7-2016)" |
Information Location 4: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16867970921793820009&q=William+Scott+Ashwell&hl=en&as_sdt=6,33" |
Information Source 5: |
"William Scott Ashwell v. Mississippi, no. 2015-CT-00023-COA (Miss. Ct. of Appeals, 6-7-2016) (Affirming trial court’s dismissal of post-conviciction petition on Nov. 20, 2014.)" |
Information Location 5: |
https://courts.ms.gov/Images/HDList/..%5COpinions%5CCO113758.pdf |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org