Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Lesly Jean

 

Charge:

Rape and Sexual Assault/Battery

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

8.58

Year Crime:

1982

Year Convicted:

1982

Year Cleared:

1991

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

North Carolina

County or Region of Crime:

Onslow

City of Crime:

Jacksonville

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

"Lesly Jean was a U.S. Marine when he was wrongly convicted in 1982 of raping a woman in her home in Onslow County, North Carolina on July 21, 1982. The jury disregarded Jean's alibi defense supported by four alibi witnesses -- three fellow marines who testified he was in bed at Camp Lejeune at the time of the assault, and his commanding officer who said he was on the base -- and instead relied on the eyewitness testimony of the victim that Jean was her assailant. Jean was sentenced to life in prison. After his conviction was affirmed by the North Carolina state courts, Jean filed a federal habeas corpus petition that was denied by the U.S. District Court. Jean appealed, and on May 22, 1991, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's ruling and granted his petition based on the prosecution's violation of his right to due process under Brady v. Maryland, by failing to disclose to his lawyer the impeachment evidence that a police officer who may have seen the assailant was hypnotized to enhance his recollection before he identified Jean as that man, and that after that the victim was also hypnotized to refresh her memory after she couldn't identify her assailant from a photo lineup that included Jean -- after which she identified Jean as her assailant. The Onslow County DA declined to retry Jean and the charges were dismissed and he was released from prison in 1991. Ten years later, in 2001, DNA tests unavailable at the time of his conviction excluded Jean as the woman's rapist. Jean was pardoned by North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley in February 2001, and he was then awarded compensation of $176,150 by the State of North Carolina."

Conviction Caused By:

Eyewitness error and prosecutorial misconduct of failing to disclose impeachment evidence.

Innocence Proved By:

Lesley Jean was exonerated in 2001 by DNA tests unavailable at the time of his conviction. Pardoned by North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley in February 2001.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"$176,150 (State of North Carolina, 2001)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

22

Age When Released:

31

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"No postage on that pardon -- He wants rare paper in hand, By Sarah Ovaska (staff reporter), The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), February 3, 2007"

Information Location 1:

http://www.newsobserver.com/167/story/539309.html

Information Source 2:

Innocence Project database

Information Location 2:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=81

Information Source 3:

Actual Innocence - Exonerated Individuals whose cases involved prosecutorial misconduct

Information Location 3:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/pm/default.aspx?sid=sidebarsb&aid=38

Information Source 4:

311 S.E.2d 266

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

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

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