Clarens Desrouleaux

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Charge:	Burglary (including aggravated)
Sentence:	5 years
Years Imprisoned:	4
Year Crime:	2013
Year Convicted:	2013
Year Cleared:	2018
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Florida
County or Region of Crime:	Miami-Dade
City of Crime:	Biscayne Park
Result:	Judicially Exonerated
Summary of Case:	"Clarens Desrouleaux was wrongly convicted in 2013 of burglaries committed in January 2013 in Biscayne Park, Florida. Desrouleaux' prosecution was based on the evidence of two police officers -- Charlie Dayoub and Guillermo Ravelo -- that he had confessed to three home burglaries. Desrouleaux is a Haitian with an extensive criminal record and he was facing up to 30 years in prison with the charges against him for the burglaries. He agreed to plead guilty to reduce his sentence. After serving four years in prison he was released and deported back to his native Haiti. A federal investigation of Biscayne Park policing practices discovered that police chief Raimundo Atesiano had a policy of questioning Blacks walking on the street and if it was feasible, to charge them with unsolved crimes to improve the department's crime statistics. The officers who provided the evidence against Desrouleaux admitted to investigators that they fabricated that he confessed. However, he was targeted for prosecution because when they questioned him he was found to be in possession of a stolen check from one of the home burglaries days before -- but the officers didn't know if he obtained the stolen check by being the burglar or some other way. In July 2018 Ravelo pled guilty in federal court in Miami to violating the rights of two men he had provided false evidence against: one of the men for two home burglaries in 2013, and the other with five vehicle burglaries in 2014. Two other officers were indicted for civil rights violations and pled guilty, while agreeing to provide evidence against former chief Atesiano, who was also indicted. Based on the new evidence of police corruption that undermined the reliability of the evidence against Desrouleaux, on August 10, 2018 a motion by the Miami-Dade DA's Office to vacate Desrouleaux' convictions and dismiss the charges was granted by a judge. Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Justin Funck didn't admit that Desrouleaux was innocent, only that there was insufficient evidence to sustain his convictions. Funck wrote in a memo on the case: "While there is evidence that Clarens Desrouleaux was in possession of a stolen check, there is no evidence to suggest that he was the individual who actually broke into the house and stole the check." On September 14, 2018 Desrouleaux filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against "
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	"Based on the new evidence of police corruption that undermined the reliability of the evidence against Desrouleaux, on August 10, 2018 a motion by the Miami-Dade DA's Office to vacate Desrouleaux' convictions and dismiss the charges was granted by a judge. Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Justin Funck didn't admit that Desrouleaux was innocent, only that there was insufficient evidence to sustain his convictions. Funck wrote in a memo on the case: "While there is evidence that Clarens Desrouleaux was in possession of a stolen check, there is no evidence to suggest that he was the individual who actually broke into the house and stole the check.""
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	36
Age When Released:	40
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"Haitian man served five years after getting framed. Now, he’s suing Biscayne Park cops, By Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, September 18, 2018"
Information Location 1:	https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article218625710.html
Information Source 2:	"Police admit to framing a Black man who did 5 years in jail and then was deported back to Haiti, By Kia Morgan Smith, thegrio.com, August 13, 2018"
Information Location 2:	https://thegrio.com/2018/08/13/police-admit-framing-black-man-5-years-in-jail-got-deported-back-to-haiti/
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Clarens Desrouleaux

Charge:

Burglary (including aggravated)

Sentence:

5 years

Years Imprisoned:

4

Year Crime:

2013

Year Convicted:

2013

Year Cleared:

2018

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Florida

County or Region of Crime:

Miami-Dade

City of Crime:

Biscayne Park

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

36

Age When Released:

40

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Haitian man served five years after getting framed. Now, he’s suing Biscayne Park cops, By Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, September 18, 2018"

Information Location 1:

https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article218625710.html

Information Source 2:

"Police admit to framing a Black man who did 5 years in jail and then was deported back to Haiti, By Kia Morgan Smith, thegrio.com, August 13, 2018"

Information Location 2:

https://thegrio.com/2018/08/13/police-admit-framing-black-man-5-years-in-jail-got-deported-back-to-haiti/

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Book Information (2):

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