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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Sexual Assault (includes aggravated) |
Sentence: |
15 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
7 |
Year Crime: |
2004 |
Year Convicted: |
2005 |
Year Cleared: |
2012 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Iowa |
County or Region of Crime: |
Clinton |
City of Crime: |
Clinton |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"David R. DeSimone was wrongly convicted on September 15, 2005 of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl named Samantha, during a party for his 18-year-old cousin at his home in Clinton County, Iowa on October 16, 2004. DeSimone was 45 at the time of the alleged attack. During DeSimone's trial the prosecution's key evidence was Samantha's testimony they had intercourse and that she performed fellatio because a physical examination of her didn't find any evidence of trauma or semen, and evidence collected from DeSimone's bedroom didn't result in any biological or physical evidence attributable to Samantha. To corroborate Samantha's testimony the prosecution presented the testimony of a high school senior named Nicole that she saw a girl run away from DeSimone's house at the eact time Samantha said she had fled. After DeSimone's conviction of third-degree sexual assault by a jury he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Iowa's Court of Appeals affirmed DeSimone's conviction and sentence in 2007. (See DeSimone, 2007 WL 750649, at *3.) Post-conviction DeSimone discovered evidence Nicole lied about what she testified to seeing, because her Burger King work time records showed she was in fact working at the time she said she was outside DeSimone's house and saw Samantha fleeing. DeSimone filed a petition for a new trial based on the prosecution's Brady violation of failing to disclose the favorable evidence impeaching Nicole's testimony the jury relied on. After the trial court and the appeals court denied DeSimone's petition, the Iowa Supreme Court granted his petition on September 9, 2011 in ruling the prosecution's failure to disclose the Brady evidence violated DeSimone's due process right to a fair trial. David DeSimone was acquitted on March 29, 2012 after a retrial. On April 3, 2012 DeSimone filed an application to be deemed a wrongfully imprisoned person so he could pursue compensation from the State of Iowa. After a hearing, on November 21, 2012 the district court entered an order finding DeSimone was a wrongfully imprisoned person under Iowa Code section 663A.1,, and he had not committed sexual assault or any lesser included crime. The State appealed, and on November 15, 2013 the Iowa Supreme Court remanded the case back to the district court so it could determine if testimony during DeSimone's two trials would affect its determination he was actually innocent." |
Conviction Caused By: |
"Perjurious testimony by a prosecution witness that was relied on to corroborate the alleged "victim's" testimony." |
Innocence Proved By: |
"David DeSimone was acquitted on March 29, 2012 after a retrial." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
46 |
Age When Released: |
53 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"David R. DeSimone v. State of Iowa, 803 N.W.2d 97 (IA Sup. Ct. 2011)" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20IACO%2020110909208 |
Information Source 2: |
"State of Iowa vs. David R. DeSimone, No. 12-2176 (Iowa Sup. Ct., 11-15-2013)" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.iowacourts.gov/About_the_Courts/Supreme_Court/Supreme_Court_Opinions/Recent_Opinions/20131115/12-2176.pdf |
Information Source 3: |
"Wrongful imprisonment case goes back to court, By Scott Levine (Herald Associate Editor), The Clinton Herald, November 16, 2013" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.clintonherald.com/local/x303481852/Wrongful-imprisonment-case-goes-back-to-court |
Information Source 4: |
"Judge rules Clinton man was ‘wrongfully imprisoned’, By Samantha Pidde (Herald staff writer), The Clinton Herald (Clinton, Iowa), December 4, 2012" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.clintonherald.com/local/x1951914488/Judge-rules-Clinton-man-was-wrongfully-imprisoned/print |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org