Darcus Henry

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Charge:	Murder and Assault
Sentence:	100 years
Years Imprisoned:	16
Year Crime:	1996
Year Convicted:	1999
Year Cleared:	2013
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Connecticut
County or Region of Crime:	New Haven
City of Crime:	New Haven
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Sean Adams, Johnnie Johnson, Carlos Ashe, and Darcus Henry were codefendants wrongly convicted of the murder of one man and the wounding of two other men who were shot by four your men in New Haven, Connecticut on December 14, 1996. The four codefendants were members of a New Haven street gang, the Island Brothers. Their prosecutions were largely based on the eyewitness evidence of Andre Clark, a survivor of the shooting. After their convictions by juries in three separate trials, Adams and Henry were sentenced to 100 years in prison, Johnson to 75 years, and Ashe to 90 years. On July 23, 2013 the Connecticut Supreme Court reversed Adams' post-conviction petition for a new trial based on the Brady violation that the prosecution failed to disclose to Adams' trial lawyers that Andre Clark, a survivor of the shooting, was lying when he denied testifying against his accused attackers under a plea agreement that could keep him out of prison in another case, and the prosecutors repeatedly failed to correct the record and inform the jury that Clark was lying. On July 25, 2013 New Haven state’s attorney, Michael Dearington, filed a motion to dismiss the charges against all four defendants on the ground that new trials were not possible after the passage of 17 years and the unavailability of Clark, the prosecution's star witness, because he was shot to death in 2008. After the motion was granted on July 25, all four were immediately released after more than 16 years in custody from the time of their arrests. The four filed claims under Connecticut's wrongful imprisonment compensation statute. State claims Commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr. awarded each of the men $4.2 million in compensation. Under state law Vance's ruling is final and not appealable by the state."
Conviction Caused By:	Prosecutor misconduct of allowing perjury by the State's star witness.
Innocence Proved By:	"On July 23, 2013 the Connecticut Supreme Court reversed Adams' post-conviction petition for a new trial based on the Brady violation that the prosecution failed to disclose to Adams' trial lawyers that Andre Clark, a survivor of the shooting, was lying when he denied testifying against his accused attackers under a plea agreement that could keep him out of prison in another case, and the prosecutors repeatedly failed to correct the record and inform the jury that Clark was lying. On July 25, 2013 New Haven state’s attorney, Michael Dearington, filed a motion to dismiss the charges against all four defendants on the ground that new trials were not possible after the passage of 17 years and the unavailability of Clark, the prosecution's star witness, because he was shot to death in 2008. After the motion was granted on July 25, all four were immediately released after more than 16 years in custody from the time of their arrests."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"$4.2 million (State of Connecticut, Jan. 15, 2016)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	21
Age When Released:	37
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"4 Murder Convicts Freed, By Melissa Bailey (staff writer), New Haven Independent (New Haven, CT), July 26, 2013"
Information Location 1:	http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/4_murder_convicts_freed/
Information Source 2:	"Questions about a $16.8 million award — and the meaning of innocence, By Mark Pazniokas, The Connecticut Mirror, February 5, 2016"
Information Location 2:	http://ctmirror.org/2016/02/05/questions-about-a-16-8-million-award-and-the-meaning-of-innocence/
Information Source 3:	"4 New Haven men get $4.2 million each for wrongful conviction, By Staff, New Haven Register, January 15, 2016"
Information Location 3:	http://www.nhregister.com/article/NH/20160115/NEWS/160119674
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Darcus Henry

Charge:

Murder and Assault

Sentence:

100 years

Years Imprisoned:

16

Year Crime:

1996

Year Convicted:

1999

Year Cleared:

2013

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Connecticut

County or Region of Crime:

New Haven

City of Crime:

New Haven

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Prosecutor misconduct of allowing perjury by the State's star witness.

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"$4.2 million (State of Connecticut, Jan. 15, 2016)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

21

Age When Released:

37

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"4 Murder Convicts Freed, By Melissa Bailey (staff writer), New Haven Independent (New Haven, CT), July 26, 2013"

Information Location 1:

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/4_murder_convicts_freed/

Information Source 2:

"Questions about a $16.8 million award — and the meaning of innocence, By Mark Pazniokas, The Connecticut Mirror, February 5, 2016"

Information Location 2:

http://ctmirror.org/2016/02/05/questions-about-a-16-8-million-award-and-the-meaning-of-innocence/

Information Source 3:

"4 New Haven men get $4.2 million each for wrongful conviction, By Staff, New Haven Register, January 15, 2016"

Information Location 3:

http://www.nhregister.com/article/NH/20160115/NEWS/160119674

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

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