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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Indecent Exposure |
Sentence: |
Community service & sex registration |
Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
2016 |
Year Convicted: |
2017 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
United Kingdom |
County or Region of Crime: |
England |
City of Crime: |
Wickham |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Edward John Chandler was wrongly convicted in August 2017 of misdemeanor indecent exposure in Wickham, Berkshire, England on July 28, 2016. The prosecution of Edward Chandler was based on his identification by two women that he was the man who propositioned them with foul language, and then exposed himself while chasing them in a school playground as they were walking home from the Five Bells Pub. The women said they picked him out in an identity parade because they said he had the flasher's "creepy eyes." Chandler denied the charge and said he had been misidentified. After his conviction following a bench trial Chandler was sentenced on August 10, 2017 to 12 months community service, 35 days rehabilitation, payment of £250 prosecution costs and £85 statutory victim services surcharge, and five years registration on the Sex Offenders Register. Chandler appealed on the basis his accuser's eyewitness identification was unreliable. His argument was based on his accuser's disclosure during their testimony that they had been shown his photo during a "chain of Facebook exchanges," before they saw him in the identity parade. The Crown Prosecution Service opposed Chandler's appeal. Philip Anderson unsuccessfully argued that Chandler had received a fair trial because: "This is a small village and inevitably there will be gossip if someone is flashing at young women. Such gossip is difficult to prevent and it's not unusual. Telling one person means the whole community knows it." On September 27, 2017 Crown Court Judge Simon Oliver quashed Chandler's conviction on the basis of insufficient prosecution evidence because Chandler's identification by the two witnesses should have been excluded. Their identification was tainted because of their exposure to his picture in the Facebook exchanges during which the witnesses where told, "This is who you're looking for."" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On September 27, 2017 Crown Court Judge Simon Oliver quashed Chandler's conviction on the basis of insufficient prosecution evidence because Chandler's identification by the two witnesses should have been excluded. Their identification was tainted because of their exposure to his picture in the Facebook exchanges during which the witnesses where told, "This is who you're looking for."" |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Male |
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Information Source 1: |
"Flasher conviction quashed because Facebook village gossip undermined fair trial, By Patrick Sawer (Reporter), The Telegraph (London), September 28, 2017" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/28/flasher-conviction-quashed-facebook-village-gossip-undermined/ |
Information Source 2: |
"Man who exposed himself in school playground appears in court, By John Garvey, Newburty Today, August 16, 2007" |
Information Location 2: |
https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/hungerford/22102/man-who-exposed-himself-in-school-playground-appears-in-court.html |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org