Donald Eugene Gates

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Charge:	Murder and Rape
Sentence:	20 yrs to life imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	27.5
Year Crime:	1981
Year Convicted:	1982
Year Cleared:	2009
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	District of Columbia
County or Region of Crime:	District of Columbia
City of Crime:	Washington DC
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Donald Eugene Gates was wrongly convicted in September 1982 of raping and murdering a 21 year-old Georgetown University student Catherine Schilling in Washington DC on June 23, 1981 by shooting her five times. The prosecution's key evidence was testimony by FBI crime lab analyst Michael P. Malone that hair found on Schilling matched Gates' hair sample, and a jailhouse snitch who testified that Donald Gates confessed to him. After Gates' conviction by a jury in the D. C. Superior Court, he was sentenced to 20 years to life in federal prison. DNA tests in 2009 excluded Gates as the assailant. In addition, But a Department of Justice Inspector Generals report found that Malone gave false hair matching testimony in another case. Based on the new evidence D.C. Superior Court Judge Fred Ugast, who presided over the now 58-year-old Gate's trial, vacated Gates' conviction on December 15, 2009. He was released hours later from a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona after more than 27 years in custody. Gates filed a claim for compensation with the U.S. Court of Claims, and he was awarded about $1.35 million -- $50,000 for each year of his imprisonment. In 2010 Gates filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the District of Columbia and four retired officers, alleging that they violated his constitutional rights. On November 18, 2015 the jury in the trial of Gate's lawsuit found that two police officers had withheld evidence and one of the men had fabricated evidence. The city and Gates then agreed to settle his lawsuit for $16.65 million. So Gates total award was about $18 million less his attorney fees of 40% plus. The hair analysis technique used by Malone and other crime lab analysts in the U.S. has been discredited. In 2013 the crime scene DNA was matched to a man who had died in 2012. Gates was represented in his federal civil suit by the New York City lawfirm of Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, LLP. Two of the partners in NS&B are Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, co-founders of the non-profit Innocence Project in New York."
Conviction Caused By:	A jailhouse snitch testified that Gates confessed. FBI crime lab technician Michael P. Malone provided inaccurate testimony that a hair found on the victim matched Gates' hair.
Innocence Proved By:	"DNA tests in 2009 excluded Gates as the assailant. Based on the new evidence D.C. Superior Court Judge Fred Ugast, who presided over the now 58-year-old's trial, vacated Gates' conviction on December 15, 2009. He was released hours later from a prison in Tucson, Ariz."
Defendant Aided By:	"Gates was represented in his federal civil suit by the New York City lawfirm of Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, LLP. Two of the partners in NS&B are Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, co-founders of the non-profit Innocence Project in New York."
Compensation Awarded:	"$18 mil. $16.65 mil (Washington D.C., 11-18-2015) & $1.35 mil. (Federal govt.)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	30
Age When Released:	58
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"Prosecutor reflects on wrongful conviction in D.C. killing, By Keith L. Alexander (Staff), Washington Post, March 6, 2010, p. B01"
Information Location 1:	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030504274_pf.html
Information Source 2:	"Man freed after 28 years in prison by DNA testing, By Freeman Klopott (staff writer), The Examiner (Washington, DC), December 16, 2009"
Information Location 2:	http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/crime/Man-freed-after-28-years-in-prison-by-DNA-testing-8659538-79359752.html
Information Source 3:	"Gates v. Dist. of Columbia, 66 F. Supp. 3d 1 (Dist. Court, Dist. of Columbia 2014)"
Information Location 3:	"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13593510074153753886&q=James+A.+Rigsbee&hl=en&as_sdt=4,77,130,140"
Information Source 4:	"DC Agrees to $16.65M Settlement With Wrongly Convicted Man, By Jessica Gresko (Associated Press), ABC News, November 19, 2015"
Information Location 4:	http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/dc-agrees-1665m-settlement-wrongly-convicted-man-35306341
Information Source 5:	"Man Wrongfully Convicted by Perjured FBI Testimony Freed After 28 Years in Prison; Donald Eugene Gates Released on Basis of New DNA Evidence, By Jon C. Hopwood, Yahoo Voice, 2009"
Information Location 5:	http://www.whistleblowersblog.org/2014/08/articles/news/man-wrongfully-convicted-by-perjured-fbi-testimony-freed-after-28-years-in-prison-donald-eugene-gates-released-on-basis-of-new-dna-evidence/
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Donald Eugene Gates

Charge:

Murder and Rape

Sentence:

20 yrs to life imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

27.5

Year Crime:

1981

Year Convicted:

1982

Year Cleared:

2009

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

District of Columbia

County or Region of Crime:

District of Columbia

City of Crime:

Washington DC

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

A jailhouse snitch testified that Gates confessed. FBI crime lab technician Michael P. Malone provided inaccurate testimony that a hair found on the victim matched Gates' hair.

Innocence Proved By:

"DNA tests in 2009 excluded Gates as the assailant. Based on the new evidence D.C. Superior Court Judge Fred Ugast, who presided over the now 58-year-old's trial, vacated Gates' conviction on December 15, 2009. He was released hours later from a prison in Tucson, Ariz."

Defendant Aided By:

"Gates was represented in his federal civil suit by the New York City lawfirm of Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, LLP. Two of the partners in NS&B are Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, co-founders of the non-profit Innocence Project in New York."

Compensation Awarded:

"$18 mil. $16.65 mil (Washington D.C., 11-18-2015) & $1.35 mil. (Federal govt.)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

30

Age When Released:

58

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Prosecutor reflects on wrongful conviction in D.C. killing, By Keith L. Alexander (Staff), Washington Post, March 6, 2010, p. B01"

Information Location 1:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030504274_pf.html

Information Source 2:

"Man freed after 28 years in prison by DNA testing, By Freeman Klopott (staff writer), The Examiner (Washington, DC), December 16, 2009"

Information Location 2:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/crime/Man-freed-after-28-years-in-prison-by-DNA-testing-8659538-79359752.html

Information Source 3:

"Gates v. Dist. of Columbia, 66 F. Supp. 3d 1 (Dist. Court, Dist. of Columbia 2014)"

Information Location 3:

"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13593510074153753886&q=James+A.+Rigsbee&hl=en&as_sdt=4,77,130,140"

Information Source 4:

"DC Agrees to $16.65M Settlement With Wrongly Convicted Man, By Jessica Gresko (Associated Press), ABC News, November 19, 2015"

Information Location 4:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/dc-agrees-1665m-settlement-wrongly-convicted-man-35306341

Information Source 5:

"Man Wrongfully Convicted by Perjured FBI Testimony Freed After 28 Years in Prison; Donald Eugene Gates Released on Basis of New DNA Evidence, By Jon C. Hopwood, Yahoo Voice, 2009"

Information Location 5:

http://www.whistleblowersblog.org/2014/08/articles/news/man-wrongfully-convicted-by-perjured-fbi-testimony-freed-after-28-years-in-prison-donald-eugene-gates-released-on-basis-of-new-dna-evidence/

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