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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Robbery (includes armed robbery) |
Sentence: |
4 years 6 months |
Years Imprisoned: |
3.58 |
Year Crime: |
1990 |
Year Convicted: |
1991 |
Year Cleared: |
1995 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Florida |
County or Region of Crime: |
Broward |
City of Crime: |
Fort Lauderdale |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Leroy McGee was wrongly convicted in April 1991 of robbing a Chevron gas station in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on July 31, 1990. The prosecution's case was solely based on his identification by the clerk who had been robbed, after McGee went to the station three weeks after the robbery to buy gas. No one else saw him, and his fingerprints were not found at the station. The victim ID'd the 23-year-old McGee even though he had told the police the robber had a mustache and was thin, while McGee was clean shaven and heavy set. McGee worked as a janitor at Fort Lauderdale High School, and he told his lawyer, Theota McClaine, that he was working at the time of the robbery, and his co-worker and time card could prove it. McGee's lawyer didn't subpoena McGee's co-worker and he attempted to introduce the wrong time card into evidence -- so no corroboration of McGee's testimony about his alibi was presented to the jury. His lawyer did not make a single objection during the trial. The jury convicted McGee, and he was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison. McGee's conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal in 1992, and he was released after serving 43 months. While he was imprisoned McGee wrote a letter to the Broward County Circuit court protesting his innocence and explaining his lawyer failed to introduce evidence proving his innocence, and Judge Paul Backman considered the letter to constitute a petition for a new trial. McGee's trial lawyer McClaine was disbarred in Florida in 1993 for mishandling client funds. Judge Backman appointed a lawyer Michael Wrubel to represent McGee who investigated his case and obtained an affidavit from McGee's co-worker, the correct timecard, and the additional evidence that the night of the robbery his wife drove him to work because his car was broken down -- while the robber drove away in a car. Wrubel filed the new evidence in July 1994 supporting McGee's lawyer had provided constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel, and Judge Backman held an evidentiary hearing. After McGee had completed his sentence Judge Backman granted McGee's petition in September 1995, ruling that McGee’s trial lawyer had provided “absolutely the worst performance in the courtroom I’ve ever seen.” In 2008 Florida enacted the Victims of Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act, and McGee filed a claim. The State agreed he was entitled to $179,000 -- $50,000 per year for his 3 years and 7 months in prison -- but it refused to accept it because the State refused to reimburse his attorney's fees, stating he would have to pay his lawyer out of his award. To resolve the stalemate McGee's lawyer, David Comras, agreed to represent him pro bono. The papers were signed on February 16, 2010 awarding McGee the $179,000. He was the first prisoner in Florida awarded compensation under the 2008 law. McGee told reporters, "I delayed taking this compensation to let the public know that there are a number of ways to improve the wrongful incarceration compensation statute. With the economy like it is, it was time to accept the compensation and continue this fight,”" |
Conviction Caused By: |
Mistaken eyewitness identification by the victim |
Innocence Proved By: |
Post-conviction petiton granted in September 1995 based on the ineffective assistance of his trial lawyer for failing to present evidence during his trial that proved McGee's actual innocence of the crime. |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
"$179,000 (State of Florida, Feb. 16, 2010)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
23 |
Age When Released: |
27 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Former Prisoner Accepts $179,000 for Wrongful Conviction Under New Florida Law, By David Reutter, Prison Legal News, September 2010, p. 27" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.wronglyconvicted.org/news/2010/sep/15/former-prisoner-accepts-179000-for-wrongful-conviction-under-new-florida-law/ |
Information Source 2: |
"Wrongly imprisoned Florida man seeks state compensation, By Jon Burstein, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, March 17, 2009" |
Information Location 2: |
"http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbwrongful03xxpnmar17,0,2552921.story" |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org