Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Ricky Lee Dougherty

 

Charge:

Child Endangerment

Sentence:

5 years

Years Imprisoned:

2.17

Year Crime:

2014

Year Convicted:

2014

Year Cleared:

2016

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Wyoming

County or Region of Crime:

Laramie

City of Crime:

Cheyenne

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

"Ricky Lee Dougherty was wrongly convicted in December 2014 of one count of child endangerment/obscene act for allegedly pleasuring himself the previous day in the presence of a young girl at Lions Park in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Ricky Dougherty was prosecuted based on his conviction of similar charges in September 2009 and March 1992. Dougherty's defense was that he was rubbing himself because of sciatic pain. The trial the judge denied Dougherty's objection to introduction of the bad character evidence of his previous convictions, and when the prosecution sought to introduce those convictions through court documents rather than through testimony, Dougherty's lawyer expressed concern, but he did not object. After his conviction by a jury Doughterty was sentenced to the maximum sentence of five years in prison. Dougherty appealed on two grounds: the judge gave an incorrect definition of the word “presence” as it was used in the charging documents, and that his prior bad acts evidence was improperly introduced through court documents rather than testimony. On June 22, 2016 the Wyoming Supreme Court reversed Dougherty's conviction and ordered a retrial on the basis the trial judge committed an abuse of discretion by allowing the bad character evidence of his prior convictions to be introduced without testimony. The State objected to review of the judge's admission of the evidence of his convictions because Doughtery's lawyer didn't object when they were admitted. Court ruled that the pretrial motion by Dougherty's lawyer that was denied allowed the judge's conduct to reviewed under the plain error. The Laramie County District Attorney decided to retry Dougherty. On September 20, 2016 Ricky Dougherty was acquitted by a jury after a retrial."

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"On September 20, 2016 Dougherty was acquitted by a jury after a retrial."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

50

Age When Released:

52

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Repeat Cheyenne sex offender gets acquitted on appeal, By Sarah Zoellick, Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Sept. 22, 2016"

Information Location 1:

http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/repeat-cheyenne-sex-offender-gets-acquitted-on-appeal/article_331b4728-8089-11e6-8926-0f5a9e7b0c36.html

Information Source 2:

"Dougherty v. State, 2016 WY 62 (Wyo. Supreme Court, 2016) (Reversing conviction based on trial judge's erroroneous admission of bad character evidence and ordering new trial.)"

Information Location 2:

"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10548498837091192102&q=Ricky+Lee+Dougherty&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48"

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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