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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
"Robbery Accessory (includes facilitating, or aiding and abetting robbery)" |
Sentence: |
9 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
2 |
Year Crime: |
2008 |
Year Convicted: |
2010 |
Year Cleared: |
2011 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Tennessee |
County or Region of Crime: |
Seiver |
City of Crime: |
Gatlinburg |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Varion Johnson and his half-brother Chad Allen Love were wrongly convicted in March 2010 of charges related to the April 20, 2008 armed robbery of a McDonald's restaurant in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Johnson was working at the McDonald's the night of the robbery, and was convicted of facilitating the armed robbery by Love for helping to plan it. The jury's conviction of Love for aggravated armed robbery and Johnson for facilitating the armed robbery were based entirely on circumstantial evidence, because no physical, forensic, eyewitness or confession evidence linked them to the crime. Johnson was sentenced to nine years in prison and Love to 25 years in prison. On August 15, 2011 the Tennessee Court of Appeals overturned Johnson's conviction on the basis there was insufficient evidence he was involved in the crime. The Court's ruling stated: "The mere fact that the appellant and Love were in close proximity to each other three times between 11:59 p.m. and 12:06 a.m. does not provide the substantial step necessary to support the appellant's conviction for facilitation to commit aggravated robbery. Therefore, the appellant's conviction must be reversed." (State v. Johnson, No. E2010-01363-CCA-R3-CD (Tenn: Ct of Crim Appeals 2011)) On February 8, 2012 the Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed Love's conviction and ordered dismissal of his conviction on the basis there was insufficient evidence to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. No crime scene evidence, surveillance video, or eyewitness identified Love as the perpetrator. The State's evidence was that he was black like the perpetrator, 7 hours after the robbery he was found sleeping near the crime scene, and he was wearing a "dark" hoody similar to what the perpetrator was wearing. The appeals court ruling stated: "Even viewing all reasonable inferences in favor of the State, we cannot conclude that any rational trier of fact could have found the Defendant's identity as the perpetrator established beyond a reasonable doubt. To connect the Defendant to the robbery one must rely solely on theory and supposition and not on credible evidence. Accordingly, we reverse and dismiss the judgment of the trial court." State v. Love, No. E2010-01782-CCA-R3-CD (Tenn Ct of Criminal Appeals, 2-8-2012)" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed Varion Johnson's conviction and ordered dismissal of his conviction on the basis their was insufficient evidence to link him to the crime. |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
23 |
Age When Released: |
25 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"State v. Johnson, No. E2010-01363-CCA-R3-CD (Tenn: Court of Criminal Appeals 8-15-2011) (Vacating conviction based on insufficient evidence of guilt.)" |
Information Location 1: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3389063507529390432&q=Varion+Johnson+and+Chad+Allen+Love&hl=en&as_sdt=4,43" |
Information Source 2: |
"Second conviction overturned in robbery, The Mountain Press, February 11, 2012" |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org