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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Arson |
Sentence: |
3 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
1 |
Year Crime: |
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Year Convicted: |
2001 |
Year Cleared: |
2005 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Missouri |
County or Region of Crime: |
Cass |
City of Crime: |
Harrisonville |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Jennifer Hall was wrongly convicted of arson in 2001, based on expert testimony. After her conviction by a jury her lawyer advised her that she would get a lesser sentence if she admitted responsibility, so she made up a story about accidentally starting the fire. The judge sentenced her to three years in prison. She was free on bail pending her appeals, and after her appeals were denied, she began serving a three year sentence on July 24, 2003. She filed a petition for a new trial based on new evidence by an expert that the fire's origin was consistent with a short in a wire. Hall's conviction was set aside by her trial judge on June 30, 2004, and a new trial was ordered. Jennifer Hall was acquitted after a retrial in February 2005. An expert at her retrial said he had never seen a fire investigation bungled as badly as the one of which she was convicted. Her jury deliberated for three hours. She spent a year wrongly imprisoned." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Erroneous expert testimony |
Innocence Proved By: |
"Conviction set aside in June 2004, and Jennifer Hall was acquitted after a retrial in February 2005." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
20 |
Age When Released: |
24 |
Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Wrongly Convicted, AP, WIBW Channel 13, Topeka, Kansas, April 18, 2005" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/1484032.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Acquittal can't restore lost time & confidence, Donald Bradley (staff), Kansas City Star, April 18, 2005" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/11420819.htm |
Information Source 3: |
"Out of the fire, Nadia Pflau, The Pitch, Kansas City, MO, March 24, 2005" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-03-24/news/stline.html |
Information Source 4: |
"Shawnee Woman who was jailed for crime she didn't commit having hard time recovering, KMBZ 980am (AP story), Kansas City, KS, April 18, 2005" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.kmbz.com/listingsEntry.asp?ID=322016&PT=Local%2BNews |
Information Source 5: |
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Information Location 5: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org