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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Manslaughter |
Sentence: |
6 months |
Years Imprisoned: |
0.25 |
Year Crime: |
2010 |
Year Convicted: |
2013 |
Year Cleared: |
2016 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Louisiana |
County or Region of Crime: |
Tangipahoa |
City of Crime: |
Hammond |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Shawn Gilmore was wrongly convicted on February 1, 2013 of manslaughter in the stabbing death of her live-in boyfriend Alvin Collier in their Hammond, Louisiana trailer home on November 26, 2010. Gilmore had a 4" laceration on her left forearm. Gilmore told the police she stabbed Collier in self-defense. She was prosecuted based on several 911 calls she made while she said Collier was assaulting her. The prosecution said that Collier's voice was muffled, and that was proof the couple wasn't fighting. After her conviction by a jury, Judge Brenda Ricks granted Gilmore's motion for a new trial. The State appealed. On June 19, 2013 the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of a new trial by a majority vote. The State appealed, and on August 22, 2013 the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed the lower court's grant of a new trial. On remand Judge Ricks sentenced Gilmore to a 5 year prison sentence, which she suspended pending successful completion of 5 years of supervised probation. The State appealed, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that state law prohibits a suspended sentence for a person convicted of a violent crime. On remand Judge Ricks sentenced Gilmore to one day in jail, with credit for time served. The State appealed the sentence. On April 21, 2014 the appeals court ruled that Judge Ricks abused her discretion in sentencing Gilmore to one day, and remanded for resentencing by a different judge. The new judge denied Gilmore's supplemental motion for a new trial, a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support her conviction. The judge then sentenced Gilmore to six months in jail. Gilmore appealed the denial of her motion for a directed verdict. On October 27, 2016 the appeals court reversed Judge Ricks' denial of a post-verdict motion that the evidence was insufficent to support her conviction because the prosecution failed to introduce sufficient evidence to exclude that she reasonably acted in self-defense. The appeals court ordered dismissal of Gilmore's charge based on insufficient evidence in ruling: "No rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the State proved that the defendant did not act in self-defense.")" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On October 27, 2016 the appeals court reversed Judge Ricks' denial of a post-verdict motion that the evidence was insufficent to support her conviction because the prosecution failed to introduce sufficient evidence to exclude that she reasonably acted in self-defense. The appeals court ordered dismissal of Gilmore's charge based on insufficient evidence in ruling: "No rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the State proved that the defendant did not act in self-defense.")" |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
43 |
Age When Released: |
43 |
Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
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Information Source 1: |
"State of Louisiana v. Shawn Gilmore, No. 2016-KA-0464 (LA Ct. of Appeals, Oct. 27, 2016) (Unpublished opinion) (Reversing trial judge's denial of a post-verdict motion for a judgment of acquittal based on the prosecution's failure to introduce sufficient evidence to exclude she reasonably acted in self-defense. The appeals court ordered dismissal of Gilmore's charge based on insufficient evidence in ruling: "No rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the State proved that the defendant did not act in self-defense.")" |
Information Location 1: |
http://law.justia.com/cases/louisiana/first-circuit-court-of-appeal/2016/2016ka0464.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Appeals court reverses manslaughter conviction of Hammond woman in boyfriend's slaying, By Heiki Kinchen (Staff), The Advocate, October 29, 2016" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_54eb68d8-9d4e-11e6-aab6-0bf5590c7fc5.html |
Information Source 3: |
"State v. Gilmore, No. 2014-KW-0117 (La. Court of Appeals, 1st Cir., 4-21-2014) (Reversing the trial judge's one day sentence as an excessively lenient abuse of discretion, and remanding for resentencing by a different judge. (After being remanded, the new judge sentenced Gilmore to six months in jail, with credit for time served.)) " |
Information Location 3: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7671275773833828787&q=Shawn+Gilmore&hl=en&as_sdt=4,19" |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org