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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder and Rape |
Sentence: |
18 years to life imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
29 |
Year Crime: |
1980 |
Year Convicted: |
1981 |
Year Cleared: |
2016 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New York |
County or Region of Crime: |
New York |
City of Crime: |
New York City |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Clifford Jones was wrongly convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree rape in 1981 related to the rape of a woman in the stairwell of a Manhattan apartment building and the fatal stabbing of a man in the building's lobby on June 2, 1980. The assailant left behind a hat containing several hairs. Jones' prosecution was based on his identification by a heroin addict almost four months after the crimes, and picking him out of a lineup a month later. After his conviction by a jury in New York County (Manhattan), New York, Jones was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison for murder, and concurrent terms of 3 to 9 years and 1 1/2 to 4 1/2 years on the rape and attempted robbery counts, respectively. Jones' conviction was affirmed in 1982 by the Appellate Division of the NY Supreme Court, and in 1983 the Court of Appeal denied him leave to appeal. A post-conviction investigation of Jones' case resulted in the filing in October 2008 of a motion for DNA testing of crime scene evidence. DNA testing was agreed to by the prosecution of 3 of the 18 crime scene hairs. Jones filed a post-conviction motion under NYS CPL 440.10 to vacate his convictions, which was opposed by the New York County District Attorney's Office. The Supreme Court (trial court) judge denied Jones an evidentiary hearing and denied his motion. Jones appealed. The Appellate Division ruled the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in denying Jones' motion. On December 16, 2014 the New York Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's ruling when it determined the trial court judge abused his discretion in denying Jones' motion without holding an evidentiary hearing. The appeals court ruled the State did not present sufficient evidence to counter Jones' request for an evidentiary hearing. The Court's ruling overturned decades of precedent that a ruling by the Appellate Division that a trial judge did not abuse their discretion couldn't be reviewed by the Court of Appeals. Subsequent DNA testing of all 18 hairs and some fingernail scrapings excluded Jones as the assailant. On September 14, 2016 the motion by Clifford Jones to vacate his conviction that incorporated the new DNA evidence excluding him as the assailant was granted without opposition by the New York County District Attorney's Office. Jones had been released in June 2010 after serving his full sentence. After his release he had to register as a sex offender until his charges were dismissed." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Erroneous eyewitness identification. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On September 14, 2016 the motion by Clifford Jones to vacate his conviction based on new DNA evidence excluding him as the assailant was granted without opposition by the New York County District Attorney's Office." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
26 |
Age When Released: |
56 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Firm's 8 Years of Pro Bono Work Pay Off for Man Convicted of Murder, By Mark Hamblett, New York Law Journal, September 15, 2016" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202767503625/Firms-8-Years-of-Pro-Bono-Work-Pay-Off-for-Man-Convicted-of-Murder?mcode=1202615704879 |
Information Source 2: |
"People v. Jones, 2014 NY Slip Op 8760 (NY Court of Appeals, 12-16-2014) (New precedential ruling that the Ct. of Appeals could determine Supreme Court (trial court) abused discretion in denying evidentiary hearing in post-conviction petition based on new evidence, and thus overturn Appellate Div. ruling affirming the denial of hearing.)" |
Information Location 2: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10036955985756487971&q=Clifford+Jones+2014+murder+rape&hl=en&as_sdt=4,33" |
Information Source 3: |
"Man wrongfully convicted for rape, murder sues city, By Priscilla DeGregory and Elizabeth Rosner, New York Post, February 2, 2018" |
Information Location 3: |
https://nypost.com/2018/02/02/man-wrongfully-convicted-for-rape-murder-sues-city/ |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org