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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Second Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
15 years 2 months |
Years Imprisoned: |
11 |
Year Crime: |
2000 |
Year Convicted: |
2001 |
Year Cleared: |
2011 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
North Carolina |
County or Region of Crime: |
Buncombe |
City of Crime: |
Fairview |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Kenneth Manzi Kagonyera, Robert Wilcoxson III, Damian Miguel Mills, Larry Jerome Williams Jr., Teddy Lamont Isbell, Sr. were codefendants wrongly convicted in the shooting death of Walter Bowman in his Fairview, North Carolina home on September 18, 2000, by three intruders wearing bandanas over their faces and gloves. Kagonyera pled guilty on December 13, 2001 to second-degree murder and he was sentenced to 15 years and 2 months in prison; Wilcoxson pled guilty to second-degree murder on August 15, 2002 and he was sentenced to 15 years and 9 months in prison; Williams pled guilty to second-degree murder on February 25, 2002 and he was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison; Mills pled guilty to second-degree murder, attempted armed robbery, and to conspiracy to commit armed robbery on June 26, 2001, and he was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison; and, Isbell pled guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery on December 11, 2003 and he was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Isbell was released from prison on September 9, 2006; Williams was released September 9, 2009; and Mills was released October 31, 2010. When Kagonyera and Wilcoxson were the only defendants still imprisoned, a post-conviction investigation of their case by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission determined they didn't commit the crime based on a confession to the crime by a federal prisoner Robert Earle Rutherford, and DNA on a bandana recovered near the crime scene that matched the DNA of a man Rutherford had identified as an accomplice in the murder. Their case was referred for judicial review. After a 7 day evidentiary hearing a three-judge panel unanimously overturned their convictions and they were released on September 22, 2011, after each was in custody for almost 11 years. Based on the same evidence that exonerated their codefendants, Mills, Williams, and Isbell filed a post-conviction petition to vacate their convictions. On September 30, 2015 Buncombe County Superior Court Judge Joseph Crosswhite ruled that new evidence that included DNA and camera footage established the actual innocence of Damian Mills, Larry Williams and Teddy Isbell and ordered dismissal of the charges against the three men. In April 2012 Wilcoxson was awarded $545,591 in compensation by the State of North Carolina under the state law that provided for $50,000 for each year or part thereof that a person is wrongly imprisoned. Kagonyera's compensation claim was pending. On August 9, 2013 Wilcoxson filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Buncombe County, former Sheriff Bobby Medford and several detectives that was settled on July 8, 2015 for $5,125,000. On September 21, 2014 Kagonyera filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the same defendants as Wilcoxson, which was settled in April 2015 for $515,000. His settlement was ten times less than Wilcoxson's settlment because Kagonyera had prior convictions. Mills, Williams,and Isbell settled their claims against Buncombe County in July 2015. Mills settled for $512,500; Williams settled for $750,000; and Isbell settled for $240,000." |
Conviction Caused By: |
False confessions by defendants that implicated themselves and codefendants in the crime. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"After a 7 day evidentiary hearing a three-judge panel unanimously overturned their convictions and they were released on September 22, 2011." |
Defendant Aided By: |
North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission |
Compensation Awarded: |
"$515,000 (Buncombe County, April 2015)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
Yes |
Age When Imprisoned: |
20 |
Age When Released: |
31 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Judges free 2 men in N.C. innocence review, By Jon Ostendorff (staff writer), USA Today, September 23, 2011" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-09-22/innocence-prisoners-freed/50519198/1 |
Information Source 2: |
"Kenneth Kagonyera, Offender Public Information, 'North Carolina Department of Corrections, last viewed October 15, 2011" |
Information Location 2: |
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Information Source 3: |
"More than $500,000 awarded for wrongful Buncombe County conviction, By Clarke Morrison, Citizen-Times (Asheville, NC), April 27, 2012" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20120428/NEWS/304280033/More-than-500-000-awarded-wrongful-Buncombe-murder-conviction |
Information Source 4: |
"County reaches cash settlement in bungled murder case, By Tonya Maxwell (Staff writer), Citizen-Times, July 8, 2015" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/07/08/county-reaches-cash-settlement-bungled-murder-case/29866667/ |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org