Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Gregory Fletcher

 

Charge:

Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs

Sentence:

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

2014

Year Convicted:

2014

Year Cleared:

2015

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Australia

County or Region of Crime:

Australian Capital Territory

City of Crime:

Canberra

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"Gregory Fletcher was wrongly convicted on July 10, 2014 of driving while drunk in Canberra, Australia on June 14, 2014. Fletcher had been playing video games at a friends house, where no alcohol was consumed, when he left in the early morning hours. Fletcher was hurt when he crashed after the motorcycle he was riding was "clipped" by a car at a roundabout about 3.15 a.m.. Fletcher pushed his damaged motorcycle home and woke his mother to help him with his wounds. After about an hour during which he drank between 10 to 12 standard drinks, his mother convinced Fletcher to let her drive him to the hospital. The Emergency Department recorded Fletcher's arrival time as 4.49 a.m. The law requires that to be admissible as proof of alcohol intoxication or drug use a blood test must be taken within two hours of appearing at a medical facility At 6:48 a.m. -- the last minute allowable by law -- a nurse took a sample of Fletcher's blood. However, the two different clocks were used to record Fletcher's arrival time and when his blood was drawn. The first clock was a computerized digital clock that only indicated the hour and minute, and the second clock was an analog clock that only indicated the hour and minute. The two clocks were not synchronized with each other. Consistent with his alcohol consumption after the accident, Fletcher's blood analysis returned a blood alcohol content of 0.135. Fletcher was charged with driving drunk. During Fletcher's bench trial the nurse testified she was aware of the two hour requirement and had drawn blood over 300 times in compliance with the law. She testified the two clocks were synchronized. Fletcher was found guilty by Magistrate Cook based on the presumption the two clocks had been synchronised and that the blood had been taken within the last permitted minute permitted by law. Fletcher appealed. On December 16, 2015 the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Terrirory set-aside Stevens conviction and ordered dismissal of the charge on the basis the prosecution introduced insufficient evidence his blood was drawn for being tested for its blood alcohol content within two hours of his admission to the hospital, and therefore the test results were inadmissible. Justice David Robinson wrote in the written decision, "In my view where only the doing of the required procedure was done in the last minute, as judged by two presumptions from two 'clocks', a reasonable doubt is thrown up where there is no evidence that the two clocks have been synchronised. I have come to the conclusion that the tribunal of fact ought to have experienced a real doubt as to whether the prosecutor had made out his case to the requisite standard. To my mind this fact could not be found to be proved beyond reasonable doubt unless there was evidence of the synchronisation of the two instruments.""

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"On December 16, 2015 the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Terrirory set-aside Stevens conviction and ordered dismissal of the charge on the basis the prosecution introduced insufficient evidence his blood was drawn for being tested for its blood alcohol content within two hours of his admission to the hospital, and therefore the test results were inadmissible."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Fletcher v Stevens, [2015] ACTSC 392 (Sup. Ct. of the Australian Capital Terrirory, Dec. 16, 2015) (Quashing conviction based on insufficient evidence)"

Information Location 1:

http://www.courts.act.gov.au/supreme/judgment/view/9237/title/fletcher-v-stevens

Information Source 2:

"Doubts over sychronisation of Canberra Hospital clocks has conviction overturned, By Michael Inman (Courts reporter), The Canberra Times, January 1, 2016"

Information Location 2:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/doubts-over-sychronisation-of-canberra-hospital-clocks-has-conviction-overturned-20160101-glxtfo.html

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

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