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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
24.5 |
Year Crime: |
1979 |
Year Convicted: |
1980 |
Year Cleared: |
2004 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
California |
County or Region of Crime: |
Los Angeles |
City of Crime: |
Long Beach |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Thomas Goldstein was wrongly convicted in 1980 of a 1979 murder committed in Long Beach, California based on an erroneous eyewitness identification and jailhouse informant Edward Floyd Fink who claimed that Thomas Goldstein confessed to him while they shared a jail cell. There was no physical or forensic evidence linking Goldstein to the crime. Thomas Goldstein was sentenced to life in prison. In the mid-1990s Goldstein learned that the prosecution failed to disclose that Fink had charges dropped in exchange for his testimony against Goldstein, and thus Fink perjured himself when he testified he didn't receive any benefit for his testimony, and the prosecution did nothing to correct his perjurious testimony. Goldstein filed a state habeas corpus petition based on the new evidence about Fink. After the California state court's denied Goldstein's petition, in 1998 he filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court. The federal judge ruled that violation of Goldstein's constitutional right to the evidence impeaching Fink’s testimony merited a new trial, because if Goldstein's lawyer had known it he could have used it to impeach Fink's testimony. Based on the weakness of the State's case the jury could have then voted to acquit Goldstein. The State appealed to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, which on Dec. 4, 2003 affirmed the vacating of Goldstein's conviction and ordered a new trial. In 2002 the eyewitness recanted his identification and he died several months later. After Goldstein's case was sent back to the state trial court, the prosecution re-charged Goldstein. However, the trial judge ruled the State could not use the eyewitness' testimony against Goldstein, so the State had no case whatsoever against Goldstein. Goldstein's indictment was subsequently dismissed and he was released on April 4, 2004, after more than 24 years imprisonment. Goldstein filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that included as defendant's John Van De Kamp and Curt Livesay, who at the time of Goldstein trial were the Los Angeles County District Attorney and Chief Deputy DA, respectively. Goldstein alleged they engaged in "administrative" conduct that contributed to the failure of the trial prosecutor to disclose that Fink was a police informant. Van De Kamp and Livesay moved to dismiss the suit based on prosecutorial immunity. The district court judge and then the 9th Circuit Court of appeals ruled that they were not entitiled to absolute immunity, because it only applied to a prosecutor's judicially related actions, not administrative duties. The US Supreme Court accepted Van De Kamp and Livesay's writ of certiorari, and on January 26, 2009 they ruled that prosecutorial immunity applied to any administrative action by a prosecutor that was related to the judicial decision(s) of any other prosecutor in that same case. (Van de Kamp v. Goldstein, No. 07-854 (USSC, January 26, 2009); 555 U.S. ___ (2009)) On August 11, 2010 it was announced that Goldstein's federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Long Beach had been settled for $7.95 million on June 1, 2010, but it took several months to finalize it." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Prosecution bought testimony of jailhouse snitch and the erroneous eyewitness identification. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"Conviction reversed by the 9th Cir Ct of Appeals on Dec 4, 2003, and Goldstein was released on April 4, 2004 after the indictment was dismissed." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
"$7.95 million (City of Long Beach, August 2010)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
31 |
Age When Released: |
55 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Wrongly Convicted Marine Freed After 24 Years, TalkLeft, April 2, 2004" |
Information Location 1: |
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/005925.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Court Bolsters Demand for Release, Henry Weinstein (staff), Los Angeles Times, Jan 31, 2004." |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.truthinjustice.org/goldstein.htm |
Information Source 3: |
"Wrongly Convicted Man Gets $7.95 Million Settlement, By Rebecca Cathcart (Staff), The New York Times, August 12, 2010" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/us/13goldstein.html |
Information Source 4: |
"Not Guilty After All, San Francisco Magazine, November 2004" |
Information Location 4: |
http://sanfran.com/archives/view_story/200/ |
Information Source 5: |
"(Van de Kamp v. Goldstein, No. 07-854 (USSC, January 26, 2009); 555 U.S. ___ (2009))" |
Information Location 5: |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org