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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder and Rape |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
23 |
Year Crime: |
1994 |
Year Convicted: |
1994 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Illinois |
County or Region of Crime: |
Cook |
City of Crime: |
Chicago |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Darryl Fulton and Nevest Coleman were codefendants wrongly convicted in 1997 of the 1994 rape and murder of 20-year-old Antwinica Bridgeman in Chicago, Illinois. Bridgeman disappeared on the night of a party for her 20th birthday, and her body was found weeks later in Coleman’s basement. The basement was only accessible from outside the house. The stench of Bridgeman's decomposing body is how she was found by Coleman and a friend, who looked in a basement window and saw her body. Fulton was a friend of Coleman's who lived nearby. After intense interrogation by Chicago Police Department detectives both Fulton and Coleman confessed. They immediately recanted the confessions as coerced by physical abuse by the detectives. During a pre-trial hearing Coleman testified that a detective called him "a lying-assed nigger" and then hit him twice in the face with his fist. Their prosecution was based on their confessions, and the location of where Bridgeman's body was found. After the conviction by a jury of Fulton and Coleman, they were sentenced to life in prison. In 2016 post-conviction DNA testing of semen from Bridgeman's underwear excluded Fulton and Coleman. The FBI's CODIS national DNA database matched the DNA from Bridgeman's underwear to a man linked to at least three sexual assaults, but that man wasn't publicly identified by the Cook County DA's Office. Fulton and Coleman filed post-conviction petitions for a new trial that were granted on November 17, 2017 by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Dennis Porter, who ordered the men released on their own recognizance. They were released on November 21, 2017 after 23 years in custody. At the time of their release prosecutors said the two would be retried, but after reviewing the case, changed their minds. On December 1, 2017 the Cook County State's Attorney's motion to dismiss the charges was granted. On December 1, 2017 Fulton’s attorney, Kathleen Zellner, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that named as defendants the City of Chicago, Cook County, several Chicago PD officers, and a former Cook County Assistant State's Attorney. The lawsuit alleges “egregious misconduct” by the defendants in the prosecution and conviction of Fulton “for crimes in which he had no involvement.”" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On December 1, 2017 the Cook County State's Attorney's motion to dismiss the charges against Fulton and Coleman was granted." |
Defendant Aided By: |
"Attorney Kathleen Zellner represented Fulton in his post-conviction appeal, and attorney Russell Ainsworth represented Coleman." |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
27 |
Age When Released: |
50 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"You're free to go,' judge tells men who had been serving life for 1994 rape and murder, By Gregory Pratt (Staff reporter), Chicago Tribune, December 1, 2017" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-dna-clears-inmates-20171130-story.html |
Information Source 2: |
"2 men convicted in 1994 Chicago rape, murder to be retried, By The Associated Press, The Seattle Times, November 17, 2017" |
Information Location 2: |
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/2-men-convicted-in-1994-chicago-rape-murder-to-be-retried/ |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org