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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Rape |
Sentence: |
20 to 30 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
16 |
Year Crime: |
1986 |
Year Convicted: |
1989 |
Year Cleared: |
2005 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Michigan |
County or Region of Crime: |
Macomb |
City of Crime: |
Macomb |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Mark Cleary was wrongly convicted in January 1989 of raping his 6-year-old daughter. He was convicted based solely on the testimony of his daughter, who only made the accusation after Cleary went to court in March 1987 to get court ordered visitation rights to see his two children during a custody dispute after his girlfriend (and the children's mother) had not allowed him to see them for a year. He was sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison. Based on his daughter's recantation he filed a motion for a new trial that was granted in December 2004. On February 2, 2005 Macomb County's Posecutor announced it wouldn't seek to retry Cleary because without his daughter's testimony it couldn't convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty. Cleary filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that named Macomb County and several individuals as defendants. The lawsuit was dismissed by the U.S. District Court judge, and on February 2, 2011, the federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of Cleary's lawsuit." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Perjurious testimony of his daughter. |
Innocence Proved By: |
Mark Cleary's conviction was overturned in December 2004. |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
No. Federal lawsuit dismissed. |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
30 |
Age When Released: |
46 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Court rules against man wrongly convicted of raping his daughter, By David Ashenfelter (staff writer), Detroit Free Press, February 4, 2011" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.freep.com/article/20110204/NEWS06/102040382/Court-rules-against-man-wrongly-convicted-raping-his-daughter |
Information Source 2: |
"Prison nightmare ends after daughter recants tale of rape, By David Ashenfelter (staff writer), Detroit Free Press, September 13, 2005" |
Information Location 2: |
http://ancpr.com/2005/09/17/prison-nightmare-ends-after-daughter-recants-tale-of-rape/ |
Information Source 3: |
"Mark Cleary v. County of Macomb, No. 09-1441 (6th Cir, 2-2--2011)" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/11a0068n-06.pdf |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org