Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Atle Hage

 

Charge:

Sexual Assault (includes aggravated)

Sentence:

3 yrs

Years Imprisoned:

3

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

1984

Year Cleared:

1998

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Norway

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Posthumously

Summary of Case:

"Atle Hage was wrongly convicted of sexually abusing his son and daughter in 1984 and sentenced to three years in prison, based solely on his ex-wife's allegation during a bitter divorce. At the time Atle Hage's son and daughter both denied that any abuse occurred, but they were barred from testifying on his behalf at his trial because psychologists said it would be traumatic for them to do so. After his release, Hage despaired over his inability to clear his name and committed suicide at the age of 40 in 1987. After becoming adults and having legal standing, his son and daughter went to court in April 1998 to clear their father's name. The prosecutor agreed with them, saying he was dissatisfied that his conviction had solely been based on the his ex-wife's claim that the abuse occurred, and that psychologists had testified against him based solely on what she had told them. The prosecutor recommended a posthumous acquittal and the Trondheim district court issued exonerated Atle Hage in April 1998."

Conviction Caused By:

Perjurious testimony by the prosecution's star witness - the man's vindictive ex-wife

Innocence Proved By:

Posthumous acquittal

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

37

Age When Released:

40

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Man Exonerated Years After Suicide, AP (Oslo, Norway), April 24, 1998"

Information Location 1:

http://fact.on.ca/news/old/man_exon.htm

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Comments About Case:

"Man Exonerated Years After Suicide, April 24, 1998, OSLO, Norway (AP) -- More than a decade after a father committed suicide because he was jailed for incest, the son and daughter he allegedly abused finally cleared his name in court Friday. Atle Hage was convicted in 1984 of sexually molesting his son, Oystein and daughter, Nina, and was sentenced to three years in prison. He later killed himself in 1987 after repeatedly failing to disprove the charges. He was 40. His children, as adults, stuck to their claim they were never abused and went to court to clear their father's name. When the evidence was reviewed in Trondheim district court this month, the prosecutor recommended a posthumous acquittal. The incest charges were filed after a bitter divorce and custody battle for the children. The children were not questioned by the court because a psychologist said it would be too much for them. In clearing Hage on Friday, the court said psychologists called as expert witnesses in the first trial had done an unsatisfactory job and simply accepted the mother's word."

Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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