Gerald Davis

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Charge:	Sexual Assault and Kidnapping
Sentence:	14 to 35 years
Years Imprisoned:	7
Year Crime:	1986
Year Convicted:	1987
Year Cleared:	1995
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	West Virginia
County or Region of Crime:	Kanawha
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Gerald Davis was codefendant of his father Dewey Davis. The Davis' were wrongly convicted in Kanawha County, West Virginia of sexual assault and kidnapping of a girl who they knew, and they let her wash her clothes at their house. Their prosecution was based on her testimony that Dewey watched while Gerald raped her on a bed, and the expert testimony of forensic analyst Fred Zain that a DNA test didn’t exclude Gerald as the source of semen found on the woman’s underwear. After his conviction by a jury Gerald was sentenced to 14 to 35 years in prison, and Dewey was sentenced to 10 to 24 years in prison. Two post-conviction tests excluded the Davis' as the source of semen recovered from a vaginal swab of the woman, and none of her DNA was found on the bedding that she said she was raped on. Based on the new evidence the convictions of Dewey and Gerald Davis were overturned and they were awarded new trials. They were released on bond in 1994 pending their new trials. Gerald Davis was acquitted after his retrial in December 1995, and the charges were then dismissed against his father Dewey. The post-conviction DNA testing supported the alleged "victim" committed perjury and no sexual incident occurred involving the Davis'. The Davis' filed compensation claims with the State of West Virginia, and in 1998 the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management awarded Dewey Davis $750,000 and Gerald Davis was awarded $650,000."
Conviction Caused By:	Perjury by the victim and false expert testmony by Fred Zain.
Innocence Proved By:	Post-conviction DNA testing excluded the Davis' from having raped their accuser. Gerald was acquitted after a retrial and the charges were dismissed against his father Dewey.
Defendant Aided By:	Innocence Project NY
Compensation Awarded:	"$650,000 (State of West Virginia, 1998)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	26
Age When Released:	34
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence after Trial, by Edward Connors, Thomas Lundregan, Neal Miller and Tom McEwen (US DOJ, National Institute of Justice, June 1996)"
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Information Source 2:	Innocence Project database
Information Location 2:	http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=31
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Gerald Davis

Charge:

Sexual Assault and Kidnapping

Sentence:

14 to 35 years

Years Imprisoned:

7

Year Crime:

1986

Year Convicted:

1987

Year Cleared:

1995

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

West Virginia

County or Region of Crime:

Kanawha

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Perjury by the victim and false expert testmony by Fred Zain.

Innocence Proved By:

Post-conviction DNA testing excluded the Davis' from having raped their accuser. Gerald was acquitted after a retrial and the charges were dismissed against his father Dewey.

Defendant Aided By:

Innocence Project NY

Compensation Awarded:

"$650,000 (State of West Virginia, 1998)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

26

Age When Released:

34

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence after Trial, by Edward Connors, Thomas Lundregan, Neal Miller and Tom McEwen (US DOJ, National Institute of Justice, June 1996)"

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

Innocence Project database

Information Location 2:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=31

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Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

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