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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Child/Minor Sex Abuse (incl. molestation) |
Sentence: |
47 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
5 |
Year Crime: |
1985 |
Year Convicted: |
1988 |
Year Cleared: |
1994 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New Jersey |
County or Region of Crime: |
Essex |
City of Crime: |
Maplewood |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Margaret Kelly Michaels was wrongly convicted after an 11 month trial in 1988 of 115 counts of sexual abuse against 20 children at the Wee Care Nursery School in Maplewood, New Jersey. In 1993 the New Jersey Court of Appeals granted her a new trial in ruling the way the children were questioned by investigators and the trial judge deprived her of a fair trial. Kelly Michaels was released on bond after five years of wrongful imprisonment. With the veracity of the children's testimony in doubt, the state dropped all charges against her in December 1994." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Questionable testimony by the children allegedly abused. |
Innocence Proved By: |
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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: |
31 |
Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
Frontline: Innocence Lost |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/innocence/etc/other.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Nightmare at the Day Care: The Wee Care Case, By Lona Manning, Crime Magazine, January 14, 2007" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.crimemagazine.com/nightmare-day-care-wee-care-case |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org