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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs |
Sentence: |
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Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
2007 |
Year Convicted: |
2008 |
Year Cleared: |
2014 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Michigan |
County or Region of Crime: |
Oakland |
City of Crime: |
Bloomfield |
Result: |
Pardoned |
Summary of Case: |
"Herbert Alan Gocha Jr. was convicted in 2008 of driving while intoxicated in the late evening of December 21, 2007 in Bloomfield, Michigan. Gocha pled guilty to misdemeanor DUI after the trial judge denied his motion to suppress the .011 blood alcohol test conducted at the Bloomfield Township police station on the basis the officer had no legal basis to stop his Saturn Outlook. Gocha first applied in 2012 to Michigans Board of Paroles and Pardons for an executive pardon. It wasn't referred to the governor. He applied again in 2014, and the board voted to recommend the governor grant a pardon. In December 2014 Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder granted Alan Gocha Jr. an unconditional pardon. The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled an executive pardon in Michigan "releases the punishment and blots out of existence the guilt, so that in the eye of the law the offender is as innocent as if he had never committed the offense."Unlike a federal pardon a pardon by most states that only forgive a crime and may commute a sentence without erasing the conviction, a Michigan pardon erases a person's conviction and restores their presumption of innocence." Alan Gocha's pardon was widely publicized as a political act by the governor, because there were no particular facts distinguishing his case from many other DUI convictions. (Beginning in 1987 Gocha used his middle name of Alan, in place of Herbert.)" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"In December 2014 Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder granted Alan Gocha Jr. an unconditional pardon. The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled an executive pardon in Michigan "releases the punishment and blots out of existence the guilt, so that in the eye of the law the offender is as innocent as if he had never committed the offense."" |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Snyder uses pardon to erase lawyer's DUI conviction, By David Eggert and Ed White (Associated Press writers), Detroit Free Press, March 27, 2015" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/03/27/ap-exclusive-snyder-uses-pardon-for-connected-lawyer/70531538/ |
Information Source 2: |
"Snyder uses pardon for connected lawyer, By David Eggert and Ed White (Associated Press writers), U-T San Diego, March 27, 2015" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/mar/27/ap-exclusive-snyder-uses-pardon-for-connected/ |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org