Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Child/Minor Sex Abuse (incl. molestation) |
Sentence: |
45 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
10 |
Year Crime: |
1983 |
Year Convicted: |
1986 |
Year Cleared: |
1997 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New York |
County or Region of Crime: |
Bronx |
City of Crime: |
New York City |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Nathaniel T. Grady was one of The Bronx Five: 5 men working at day care centers in the Bronx prosecuted by Mario Merola in 1986 and whose convictions were overturned on appeal. Nathaniel Grady was a reverend. During his trial one child pointed to the trial judge as his abuser, and all of them had difficulty identifying Rev. Grady. Although no physical evidence was presented and there were no dates and times of the alleged abuse, Rev. Grady was convicted of 19 counts of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse. It was discovered after their convictions that the prosecution failed to disclose that the FBI secretly recorded 640 hours of video tape at the day care and no abuse took place. Their convictions were reversed." |
Conviction Caused By: |
"Interview techniques of the children involved that produced false testimony and the implantation of false memories. Documents weren't provided to the defense, there was uncorroborated testimony, the judges in all 3 prosecutions were clearly biased (3 of the men were codefendants) and the DA failed to disclose exculpatory evidence." |
Innocence Proved By: |
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Defendant Aided By: |
"Attorney Joel B. Rudin represented all five of The Bronx Five during stages of the appeal process. He said: "It was appalling, frightening .. It was the product of a very ambitious prosecutor who saw a good story and jumped on a national bandwagon. The true victims were the defendants." " |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
47 |
Age When Released: |
57 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
Frontline: Innocence Lost - Other Well-Known Cases |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/innocence/etc/other.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Ritual Abuse Cases In Westchester, New York State" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_westc.htm |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org