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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Child/Minor Sexual Assault |
Sentence: |
15 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
3 |
Year Crime: |
2010 |
Year Convicted: |
2014 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New Jersey |
County or Region of Crime: |
Ocean |
City of Crime: |
Lakewood |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Dennis Conover was convicted in 2014 of two counts of sexually assaulting the 12-year-old sister, K.B. of his girl friend, Mary Ellen Deane, in Lakewood and Jackson, New Jersey. Conover's prosecution was based in part on his videotaped admission to using a vibrator on K.B., and the testimony of K.B. After his conviction by a jury Conover was sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison. Conover appealed that the judge's jury instructions were fatally defective in lacking the specificity necessary for the jury to know what they were convicting him of. On June 19, 2017 the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division reversed Conover's convictions and ordered dismissal of his charges. The Court's ruling stated: "Because neither the indictment nor the verdict sheet specified any facts distinguishing the incidents, it was not clear for which incident the jury found defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, or if the jury agreed unanimously on which assault D.C. committed. If the jurors agreed that one of the incidents occurred, but disagreed as to which one, the jury had the obligation to consider each charge separately and acquit on each charge if it could not reach a unanimous guilty verdict on any one charge. The court never told the jury what specific acts were connected with which charges in the indictment. The verdict sheet did not distinguish at all between the identically-worded counts. Thus the jury was left on its own to decide which count applied to what behavior. The danger thus existed that the jurors were not unanimous in finding guilt on one particular incident. ... After considering the issues raised on appeal, we reverse D.C.'s conviction due to the lack of specificity of the verdict and due to double jeopardy concerns, we remand for the entry of an order dismissing the indictment as to D.C." (State of New Jersey vs. D.C., No. A-2825-14T4 (NJ Superior Ct. Appellate Div., June 19, 2017))" |
Conviction Caused By: |
Judge gave fatally erroneous jury instructions. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On June 19, 2017 the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division reversed Conover's convictions and ordered dismissal of his charges. The Court's ruling stated: "After considering the issues raised on appeal, we reverse D.C.'s conviction due to the lack of specificity of the verdict and due to double jeopardy concerns, we remand for the entry of an order dismissing the indictment as to D.C."" |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
34 |
Age When Released: |
37 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Man admits child sex assault; judge's error sets him free, By Amanda Oglesby, Asbury Park Press, June 22, 2017" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.app.com/story/news/investigations/data/conviction-records/2017/06/22/sex-assault-judges-error-double-jeopardy/416571001/ |
Information Source 2: |
"State of New Jersey vs. D.C., No. A-2825-14T4 (NJ Superior Ct. Appellate Div., June 19, 2017) (Reversing conviction and ordering dismissal of charges.) (12-04-0882, Ocean County and Statewide)(Record Impounded)" |
Information Location 2: |
https://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/attorneys/assets/opinions/appellate/unpublished/a0453-15.pdf |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org