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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Child/Minor Sex Abuse (incl. molestation) |
Sentence: |
10 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
9 |
Year Crime: |
1990 |
Year Convicted: |
1993 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
California |
County or Region of Crime: |
Shasta |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Edward Easley was wrongly convicted in 1994 of molesting his 7-year-old niece in 1992 in Shasta County, California. The 39-year-old Easley, who was an electrician, insisted on his innocence. However, threatened by prosecutors with a 32-year sentence if he went to trial and was convicted, Easley agreed to plead no-contest in exchange for a ten year prison sentence. Easley was released on parole after five years in prison. However, he was later imprisoned for three years for failing to register as a sex offender. He also served another year in prison for a parole violation. That all occurred after the girl recanted her accusation in 1996, and told people that her actual molester was her teenage cousin who was a friend of Easley. She said that her mother and her teenage cousin's mother pressured her into lying that Easley was her molester. In 2005 Easley filed a post-conviction petition based on his accuser's recantation, that sought to withdraw his plea and for a new trial. In 2009 Shasta County Superior Court Judge Jack Halpin ruled that his new evidence wasn't sufficient to set-aside his convictions -- even though it could have resulted in the jury acquitting him if it had heard her recantation. Halpin appealed. Ultimately, the California Supreme Court ruled that Easley was ineligible to bring a post-conviction petition because he had completed his sentence and was no longer in custody. Two California laws that took effect in January 2017 allowed Easley to file another post-conviction petition for consideration of his new evidence: one law allowed people released from custody to file a petition based on new evidence to prove their innocence; and, the other lowered the standard for innocence to be proved by new evidence to it was "more likely than not" it would have made a difference in the original trial. On August 31, 2017 Easley's petition was granted, which released him from his requirement to register as a sex offender." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Perjury by the victim. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On August 31, 2017 Easley's petition was granted, which released him from his requirement to register as a sex offender." |
Defendant Aided By: |
Northern California Innocence Project |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
Yes |
Age When Imprisoned: |
39 |
Age When Released: |
44 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Wrongly accused: Team from Santa Clara University’s ‘Innocence Project’ clear man’s name, By Eric Kurhi (Bay Area News Group), Mercury News, September 7, 2017" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/07/wrongly-accused-team-from-santa-clara-universitys-innocence-project-clear-mans-name/ |
Information Source 2: |
"Legal path eased to overturn convictions, By Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, September 10, 2017" |
Information Location 2: |
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/san-francisco-chronicle/20170910/282200831078897 |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org