Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

Go to Database Search Page

Go to  Database Index Page

Edward Easley

 

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:

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:

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

Information Source 3:

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case:

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

Hosted on forejustice.org and mirrored on justicedenied.org .