William O'Dell Harris

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Charge:	Sexual Assault (includes aggravated)
Sentence:	10 to 20 years
Years Imprisoned:	8
Year Crime:	1984
Year Convicted:	1987
Year Cleared:	1995
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	West Virginia
County or Region of Crime:	Kanawha
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"William O'Dell Harris was wrongly convicted in 1987 of rape in Kanawha County, West Virginia. Harris' prosecution was based on the eyewitness identification of him by the victim during his trial -- after she failed to initially identify him in a line-up, and the expert testimony of forensic analyst Fred Zain that the genetic (DNA) markers in the semen left by the assailant matched those of William Harris, while excluding 96.1% of the population. He protested his innocence. After his conviction by a jury William Harris was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. After evidence of forensic misconduct by Zain became public, post-conviction DNA testing of the evidence in Harris was ordered, and he was released in June 1994 on $200,000 bond to home confinement. Although the DNA testing was vigorously opposed by the State of West Virginia, it was finally conducted, and it excluded Harris as the source of the semen recoverd from the woman. Based on the new exclusionary evidence Harris' conviction was vacated on October 10, 1995, and he was released from home confinement."
Conviction Caused By:	"Eyewitness error and misconduct by police lab technician Fred Zain, who falsely testified that the genetic markers of the attackers sperm matched those of Harris and only 5.9% of the population."
Innocence Proved By:	Post-conviction DNA testing excluded Harris as the woman's assailant.
Defendant Aided By:	Innocence Project NY
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	20
Age When Released:	28
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"Dead Reckoning: The new science of catching killers, Michael Baden, M.D. and Marion Roach, Simon & Schuster, 2002, pg. 236."
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Information Source 2:	Innocence Project database
Information Location 2:	http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=08
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William O'Dell Harris

Charge:

Sexual Assault (includes aggravated)

Sentence:

10 to 20 years

Years Imprisoned:

8

Year Crime:

1984

Year Convicted:

1987

Year Cleared:

1995

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

West Virginia

County or Region of Crime:

Kanawha

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"Eyewitness error and misconduct by police lab technician Fred Zain, who falsely testified that the genetic markers of the attackers sperm matched those of Harris and only 5.9% of the population."

Innocence Proved By:

Post-conviction DNA testing excluded Harris as the woman's assailant.

Defendant Aided By:

Innocence Project NY

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

20

Age When Released:

28

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Dead Reckoning: The new science of catching killers, Michael Baden, M.D. and Marion Roach, Simon & Schuster, 2002, pg. 236."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

Innocence Project database

Information Location 2:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=08

Information Source 3:

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Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: