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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
First Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
Death |
Years Imprisoned: |
12 |
Year Crime: |
1998 |
Year Convicted: |
2004 |
Year Cleared: |
2010 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Connecticut |
County or Region of Crime: |
New Haven |
City of Crime: |
Waterbury |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Robert Courchesne was wrongly convicted of the first-degree murder of Antonia Rodgers who was taken off life support 42 days after her birth by a cesarean section after her mother Demetris Rodgers -- who was 8-1/2 months pregnant with Antonia --was murdered in 1998 in Waterbury, Connecticut. Courchesne was convicted by a jury of murdeirng Antonia and her mother, and recommended a sentence of death, which the trial judge later imposed. Courchesne appealed his convictions and death sentences. On June 15, 2010 the Connecticut Supreme Court vacated Courchesne's capital murder conviction of Antonia Rodgers because the trial judge erroneously instructed the jury that she was a person under the law if she was born alive, instead of the appropriate standard that if she was born brain dead she wasn't alive or a person under the law -- and therefore she couldn't have been murdered. On June 25, 2010 the New Haven County DA's Office conceeded in Waterbury Superior Court that it couldn't prove Antonia wasn't brain dead when born, and informed the court Courchesne would not be retried for her murder and that charge would be dismissed. The Supreme Court also vacated Courchesne;s death sentence for the murder of Antonia's mother, and he was later resentenced to 60 years in prison. Robert Courchesne was 57 when he died in prison on February 2, 2014." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On June 15, 2010 the Connecticut Supreme Court vacated Courchesne's capital murder conviction of Antonia Rodgers because the trial judge erroneously instructed the jury that she was a person under the law if she was born alive, instead of the appropriate standard that if she was born brain dead she wasn't alive or a person under the law -- and therefore she couldn't have been murdered. On June 25, 2010 the New Haven County DA's Office conceeded in Waterbury Superior Court that it couldn't prove Antonia wasn't brain dead when born, and informed the court Courchesne would not be retried for her murder and that charge would be dismissed. The Supreme Court also vacated Courchesne;s death sentence for the murder of Antonia's mother, and he was later resentenced to 60 years in prison." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
41 |
Age When Released: |
53 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"State v. Courchesne, 998 A. 2d 1, 296 Conn. 622 (Conn. Supreme Court 2010)" |
Information Location 1: |
"http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3828658724935910742&q=Robert+Courchesne&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48" |
Information Source 2: |
"Death row inmate will not be retried, given life sentence, By Jonathan Shugarts, Republican-American, June 25, 2010" |
Information Location 2: |
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=219621;article=49151 |
Information Source 3: |
"Former Connecticut Death-Row Inmate Dies In Prison, By David Moran (reporter), Hartford Courant, February 3, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-former-deathrow-inmate-robert-courchesne-dies-0203-20150202-story.html |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org