Gregory Counts

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Charge:	"Rape, Sodomy and Kidnapping"
Sentence:	16 to 48 years
Years Imprisoned:	26
Year Crime:	1991
Year Convicted:	1992
Year Cleared:	2018
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	New York
County or Region of Crime:	New York
City of Crime:	New York City
Result:	Judicially Exonerated
Summary of Case:	"Gregory Counts and Van Dyke Perry were codefendants convicted of the rape, sodomy, and kidnapping of a woman in Harlem on January 18, 1991. The woman went to a partrol car parked on a Harlem street and told the officers she had been kidnapped at knife point by three black men near her home and raped. She identified Perry and Counts as two of her attackers and they were arrested in January 1991. The third alleged assailant was not arrested. There was no physical evidence linking them to the crime, and semen recovered from the woman didn't match Perry or Counts. The men's defense was the complainant was and unreliable recovering crack addict who gave inconsistent testimony, and she fabricated the story to protect her boyfriend who was wanted for shooting Perry two months before she reported the rape. After their conviction by a jury, Perry and Counts were sentenced to prison. Perry served 11 years in prison before he was released on parole. Counts was released in 2017 after 26 years of imprisonment. In April 2018 the woman told investigators with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office that the rape "never happened." The semen collected from her was DNA tested and the FBI's CODIS DNA database matched it to a man who died in 2011. On May 7, 2018 a Manhattan State Supreme Court judge granted a joint motion filed by the Manhattan DA's Office, the New York Appellate Defender's Reinvestigation Project, and the Innocence Project to vacate the convictions of Perry and Counts based on the new evidence they didn't commit their convicted crimes, and dismissed the charges."
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	"On May 7, 2018 a Manhattan State Supreme Court judge granted a joint motion filed by the Manhattan DA's Office, the New York Appellate Defender's Reinvestigation Project, and the Innocence Project to vacate the convictions of Perry and Counts based on the new evidence they didn't commit their convicted crimes, and dismissed the charges."
Defendant Aided By:	Innocence Project (New York)
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	19
Age When Released:	45
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"26 Years Later, Justice for Men Imprisoned for a Bogus Rape, By Jan Ransom, The New York Times, May 7, 2018"
Information Location 1:	https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/nyregion/innocence-project-manhattan-rape.html
Information Source 2:	"Two Men Accused Of Rape Exonerated 26 Years Later After The Victim Recanted, By Shenequa Golding, Vibe.com, May 8, 2018"
Information Location 2:	https://www.vibe.com/2018/05/black-men-exonerated-false-rape-kidnapping-conviction/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=timeline
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Gregory Counts

Charge:

"Rape, Sodomy and Kidnapping"

Sentence:

16 to 48 years

Years Imprisoned:

26

Year Crime:

1991

Year Convicted:

1992

Year Cleared:

2018

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

New York

County or Region of Crime:

New York

City of Crime:

New York City

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Innocence Project (New York)

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

19

Age When Released:

45

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"26 Years Later, Justice for Men Imprisoned for a Bogus Rape, By Jan Ransom, The New York Times, May 7, 2018"

Information Location 1:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/nyregion/innocence-project-manhattan-rape.html

Information Source 2:

"Two Men Accused Of Rape Exonerated 26 Years Later After The Victim Recanted, By Shenequa Golding, Vibe.com, May 8, 2018"

Information Location 2:

https://www.vibe.com/2018/05/black-men-exonerated-false-rape-kidnapping-conviction/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=timeline

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Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

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