Dale Johnston

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	7
Year Crime:	1982
Year Convicted:	1984
Year Cleared:	1990
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Ohio
County or Region of Crime:	Hocking
City of Crime:	Logan
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Dale Johnston was wrongly convicted twice of murdering his stepdaughter, 18-year-old Annette Cooper, and her fiancé, Todd Schultz, in 1982 in Logan, Ohio. After Dale Johnston's first conviction in 1984 and sentence of death, Ohio's Court of Appeal overturned his conviction in 1986 and ordered his retrial. He was again convicted and sentenced to death after his retrial. The prosecution's key evidence at both trials was the testimony of prosecution expert Louise Robbins' expert testimony that a muddy impression in the cornfield where the victims' dismembered bodies were found came from the heel of Johnston's cowboy boot, and the testimony of a witness who "remembered" events after being hypnotized. Ohio's Supreme Court overturned Johnston's conviction and sentence in 1988 and ordered his retrial, based on the prosecution's concealment of exculpatory evidence and the prosecution's hypnosis of the witness. In 1990 the prosecution dropped the charges and he was released after having spent four years on death row, and seven years of wrongful imprisonment. In December 2008 Chester McKnight pled guilty to the murders and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Another man, Kenneth Linscott, was scheduled to stand trial in 2009 as McKnight's accomplice, however on June 17, 2009 he pled guilty to misdemeanor abuse of a corpse and his murder charge was dismissed. On October 31, 2012 Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Frye ruled that Johnston was wrongly convicted, paving the way for him to make a compensation claim to the Ohio Court of Claims. Frye granted Johnston’s request for summary judgment after he had previously denounced the state’s interpretation of Ohio's wrongful imprisonment law as “illogical ... absurd (and) mean-spirited.” The State appealed, and the Ohio Court of Appeals reversed Judge Frye's ruling. The Ohio Supreme Court accepted review of the ruling, and on October 28, 2015 ruled that Johnston can pursue his lawsuit. ( See, Johnston v. State, No. 2014-0530 (OH Sup. Ct., 10-28-2015) (Slip Opinion) The trial court found Johnston met the statutory innocence standard and the State appealed. The Ohio Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's ruling on June 30, 2016. (Dale Johnston v. State of Ohio, No. 12AP-1022 (OH Ct. of Appeals 10th Appellate Dist., 6-30-17)) Johnston appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, which on June 21, 2017 affirmed the appeals court's decision in ruling: "Upon consideration of the jurisdictional memoranda filed in this case, the court declines to accept jurisdiction of the appeal pursuant to S.Ct.PraciR. 7.08(B)(4)." (Dale Johnston v. State of Ohio, No. 2016-1705 (OH Sup. Ct., 6-21-17)) Consequently, the 83-year-old Johnston many years long effort for compensation ended without success."
Conviction Caused By:	"Louise Robbins' unreliable expert testimony about a 'shoeprint' found in the cornfield where the victims' dismembered bodies were found, the testimony of a prosecution witness based on memories recovered by hypnosis, and the prosecution's concealment of exculpatory evidence."
Innocence Proved By:	Ohio's Supreme Court overturned Johnston's conviction and sentence in 1988 and ordered his retrial based on the prosecution's failure to turn over exculpatory evidence and the prosecution's hypnosis of one witness. In 1990 the prosecution dropped the charges and he was released.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	Denied by State of Ohio.
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	49
Age When Released:	56
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"State v. Johnson, 529 N.E.2d 898 (Ohio 1988)"
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"State v. Johnston, 1986 WL 8799 (Ohio App.)"
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"An innocent man lost everything on death row, Dayton Daily News (Dayton, OH), February 22, 2009"
Information Location 3:
Information Source 4:	"It’s official: Man was wrongfully convicted, By Randy Ludlow (staff), The Columbus Dispatch, November 1, 2012"
Information Location 4:	http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/11/01/its-official-man-was-wrongfully-convicted.html
Information Source 5:	"Wrongfully Convicted Man Works To Clear Name In 1982 Double Murder, By Glenn McEntyre,10TV.com (Columbus, OH), March 10, 2015"
Information Location 5:	http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2015/03/10/columbus-ohio-wrongfully-convicted-man-works-to-clear-name-in-1982-double-murder.html
Book About Case:	""Mean Justice," Edward Humes, p. 456."
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Dale Johnston

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

7

Year Crime:

1982

Year Convicted:

1984

Year Cleared:

1990

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Ohio

County or Region of Crime:

Hocking

City of Crime:

Logan

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"Louise Robbins' unreliable expert testimony about a 'shoeprint' found in the cornfield where the victims' dismembered bodies were found, the testimony of a prosecution witness based on memories recovered by hypnosis, and the prosecution's concealment of exculpatory evidence."

Innocence Proved By:

Ohio's Supreme Court overturned Johnston's conviction and sentence in 1988 and ordered his retrial based on the prosecution's failure to turn over exculpatory evidence and the prosecution's hypnosis of one witness. In 1990 the prosecution dropped the charges and he was released.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Denied by State of Ohio.

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

49

Age When Released:

56

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"State v. Johnson, 529 N.E.2d 898 (Ohio 1988)"

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"State v. Johnston, 1986 WL 8799 (Ohio App.)"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"An innocent man lost everything on death row, Dayton Daily News (Dayton, OH), February 22, 2009"

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

"It’s official: Man was wrongfully convicted, By Randy Ludlow (staff), The Columbus Dispatch, November 1, 2012"

Information Location 4:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/11/01/its-official-man-was-wrongfully-convicted.html

Information Source 5:

"Wrongfully Convicted Man Works To Clear Name In 1982 Double Murder, By Glenn McEntyre,10TV.com (Columbus, OH), March 10, 2015"

Information Location 5:

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2015/03/10/columbus-ohio-wrongfully-convicted-man-works-to-clear-name-in-1982-double-murder.html

Book About Case:

""Mean Justice," Edward Humes, p. 456."

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