Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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John Wayne Holsomback

 

Charge:

Sodomy (also Buggery)

Sentence:

25 years

Years Imprisoned:

10

Year Crime:

1987

Year Convicted:

1988

Year Cleared:

2000

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Alabama

County or Region of Crime:

Shelby

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"John Wayne Holsomback was wrongly convicted in 1988 of first-degree sodomy in Shelby County, Alabama. The charges were solely based on the allegation of Holsomback's son Jeffrey in 1987 when he was nine-years-old, that his father had sodomized him regularly from when his parents divorced in 1982 to 1987. The prosecution's case consisted entirely of the testimony of Jeffrey, since there was physical, medical or witness evidence that supported the allegation. After his conviction by a jury Holsomback was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Holsomback's direct appeal and state post-conviction appeal were denied, and he then filed a pro se federal habeas corpus petition that alleged his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective for failing to conduct any investigation by interviewing the two doctors who examined Jeffrey and obtain obtain the medical records that could have established there was medical evidence sodomy occured. Holsomback appealed after his petition was denied by the district court judge. On January 26, 1998 the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court's ruling and granted his petition on the basis that under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) his counsel had been constitutionally deficient for failing to investigate expert medical evidence beneficial to Holsomback's defense."

Conviction Caused By:

Ineffective assistance of counsel.

Innocence Proved By:

"On January 26, 1998 the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court's ruling and granted his petition on the basis that under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) his counsel had been constitutionally deficient for failing to investigate expert medical evidence beneficial to Holsomback's defense."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

34

Age When Released:

44

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Holsomback v. White, 133 F. 3d 1382 (11th Cir. 1998) (Granting federal habeas based on ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to conduct an investigation to determine the sodomy didn't occur, and ordering new trial.)"

Information Location 1:

"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11042892902768975358&q=John+Holsomback&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48"

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

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