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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Assault (Including Battery) |
Sentence: |
3-1/2 to 7 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
1.58 |
Year Crime: |
2009 |
Year Convicted: |
2012 |
Year Cleared: |
2014 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New Hampshire |
County or Region of Crime: |
Merrimack |
City of Crime: |
Concord |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Jamie Locke was wrongly convicted on June 27, 2011 of being an accomplice to attempted murder of a 19-year-old homeless man who was allegedly thrown over an embankment into the Merrimack River in Concord, New Hampshire in November 2009 after he stole another homeless person's boots. Locke, a 32 year old mother of four, was living in a homeless camp in Concord at the time she was arrested for the alleged crime. During her trial there was no testimony of how the the alleged victim wound up in the river, and he testified he had no memory of how he happened to be in the river, and that he could have accidentally fallen into the river himself. Locke testified she wanted the young man to leave the homeless camp, but denied throwing him into the river. The jury acquitted Locke of several charges, including first-degree assault, but after her conviction of being an accomplice to attempted murder and prior to her sentencing, in August 2011 the judge granted Locke's motion to set aside the guilty verdict on the ground her indictment for being an accomplice to attempted murder failed to allege facts constituting a crime in New Hampshire. Locke was released on a personal recognizance bond in September 2011, and that charge was dismissed in Decmeber 2011. After the judge's ruling in August 2011 -- that combined with the jury's verdicts acquitted Locke of all the charges in her indictment -- the Merrimack County District Attorney obtained a grand jury indictment of Locke that only alleged she committed second-degree assault, based on the same facts her previous indictment had been based on. Locke filed a motion to dismiss the indictment “on the basis that it alleges an offense for which [she] has already stood trial and been acquitted” and that to try her "would violate her state and federal constitutional guarantees against double jeopardy." The trial judge denied the motion. The alleged victim testified similarly to her first trial that he didn't know how he wound up in the river. After the jury convicted Locke in November 2012 she filed a motion to to set aside the verdict on the basis that for for double jeopardy purposes her second degree assault charge was the “same” as the first-degree assault charge she had been acquitted of by the jury after her first trial.The trial court denied Locke's motion and on January 4, 2013 Merrimack Superior Court Judge Larry Smukler sentenced Locke to 3-1/2 to 7 years in prison. Judge Smukler conceeded during the sentencing hearing that Locke had several good issues upon which to appeal her conviction. Locke's appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court was based on two arguments: First, her conviction violated her constitutional right against double jeopardy; or alternately, “the absence of any good reason not to [have brought] the second degree assault charge in the first trial should deprive the State of the opportunity to bring it after [she] was acquitted at that trial.” On June 13, 2014 the New Hampshire Supreme Court unanimously reversed Locke's conviction in announcing the new rule of law for all future defendants and defendants in the direct appeal process, that it was "adopting a common law rule of compulsory joinder of criminal charges arising from the same criminal episode." The Court stated, "we are troubled by the fact that the State brought the second degree assault charge against the defendant after the trial on the first set of charges concluded even though all of the charges arose from the same criminal episode. ... Moreover, “[m]ultiple prosecutions . . . give the State an opportunity to rehearse its presentation of proof, thus increasing the risk of an erroneous conviction for one or more of the offenses charged.” State v. Feliciano, 115 P.3d 648, 659 (Haw. 2005) (quotation omitted). “[T]he State with all of its resources and power should not be allowed to make repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offense.” [quoting Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 187 (1957). All quotes above from, State of New Hampshire v. Jamie Locke, No. 2013-0058 (NH Sup. Ct., 6-14-2014). Locke remained jailed on her 2012 conviction of bail jumping after she failed to appear for a bail revocation hearing on April 6, 2012 after she failed a drug test and admitted taking a Vicodin while awaitnig her second trial. " |
Conviction Caused By: |
"Prosecution's first indictment failed to allege facts supporting she committed the crime of being an accomplice to attempted murder, and her second indictment violated her common law right not to be tried on different occasions for separate crimes related to the same alleged criminal event." |
Innocence Proved By: |
"After her conviction of being an accomplice to attempted murder and prior to her sentencing, in August 2011 the judge granted Locke's motion to set aside the guilty verdict on the ground her indictment for being an accomplice to attempted murder failed to allege facts constituting the crime. On June 13, 2014 the New Hampshire Supreme Court reversed Locke's conviction of second-degree assault in announcing the new rule of law for all future defendants and defendants in the direct appeal process, that it was "adopting a common law rule of compulsory joinder of criminal charges arising from the same criminal episode." The Court stated, "we are troubled by the fact that the State brought the second degree assault charge against the defendant after the trial on the first set of charges concluded even though all of the charges arose from the same criminal episode." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
36 |
Age When Released: |
38 |
Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"State of New Hampshire v. Jamie Locke, No. 2013-0058 (NH Sup. Ct., 6-14-2014) (Reversing conviction)" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme/opinions/2014/2014041locke.pdf |
Information Source 2: |
"N.H. Supreme Court overturns Concord assault conviction, bans multiple trials involving the same incident, By Jeremy Blackman (Monitor staff), Concord Monitor (Concord, NH), June 14, 2014" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.concordmonitor.com/community/town-by-town/concord/12364019-95/nh-supreme-court-overturns-concord-assault-conviction-bans-multiple-trials-involving-the-same-inci |
Information Source 3: |
"Judge in Jamie Locke case urges her to appeal, By Tricia L. Nadolny (Monitor staff), Concord Monitor (Concord, NH), January 5, 2013" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/3640487-95/locke-smukler-judge-case |
Information Source 4: |
"Judge dismisses charge in attempted murder, By Maddie Hanna (Monitor staff), Concord Monitor (Concord, NH), December 23, 2011" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.concordmonitor.com/news/4460877-95/jamielocke-waynecoull |
Information Source 5: |
"Locke indicted on new charge of bail jumping, By Maddie Hanna (Monitor staff), Concord Monitor (Concord, NH), April 26, 2012" |
Information Location 5: |
http://www.concordmonitor.com/news/4401238-95/jamielocke-bailjumping |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org