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Wrongly
Convicted Database
Record
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Years
Imprisoned:
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16 |
Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
25 yrs to life imprisonment |
Year Convicted: |
1997 |
Year
Cleared:
|
2009 |
Location
of Trial:
|
California |
Result:
|
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary
of Case:
|
"Worngly convicted in July 1997 of murdering his wife on August 10, 1993. William Richards was sentenced to 25 yrs to life in prison. Richards conviction was after he had two trials end in hung juries. The prosecution's case was largely circumstantial, based on the fact that Richards was the person who found her body after he got off work. An expert also testified that a "bite mark" on her had was consistent with Richards' bite. In 2001 the California Innocence Project became involved in his case and in the fall of 2007 DNA testing of skin scrappings of the killer recovered from underneath his wife's fingernails excluded Richards. Richards filed a state habeas petition for a new trial based on among other things, the DNA evidence and the prosecution's bite mark expert repudiated his trial testimony as mistaken -- since the mark on her hand may not have been a bite. An evidentiary hearing was held on January 26, 2009. On August 10, 2009 San Bernardino County Judge Brian McCarville overturned Richards conviction, saying that the new evidence pointed '“unerringly to innocence,” Richards was exonerated after 16 years of incarceration, 4 prior to his conviction and 12 afterwards." |
Conviction
Caused By:
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"Prosecution's assumption he was guilty because he was the person who found his wife's body and an erroneous expert testimony that a "bite mark" on Richards' wife matched the bite of Richards." |
Innocence
Proved By:
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On August 10, 2009 San Bernardino County Judge Brian McCarville overturned Richards conviction, saying that the new DNA evidence pointed '“unerringly to innocence,”
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Defendant
Aided By:
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California Innocence Project |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Found? |
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Age
When Imprisoned:
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Age
When Released:
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Information Source 1: |
California Innocence Project Obtains Reversal of 12-Year-Old Murder Conviction, California Western News, August 10, 2009 |
Information
Location 1:
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http://blogs.cwsl.edu/news/2009/08/10/california-innocence-project-obtains-reversal-of-12-year-old-murder-conviction/ |
Information
Source 2:
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Legal advocates aiding man accused of killing wife, By Mike Cruz, Redlands Daily Facts, January 16, 2009 |
Information
Location 2:
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http://truthinjustice.org/william-richards.htm |
Information
Source 3:
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DNA, False Evidence Confirm Inmate did not Murder His Wife, By Franki Fitterer, California Western News, November 26, 2007 |
Information
Location 3:
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http://www.cwsl.edu/main/default.asp?nav=news.asp&body=news/Richards2007.asp |
Information
Source 4:
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Location 4:
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Information
Source 5:
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Information
Location 5:
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Ethnicity/Skin:
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Book
About
Case:
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Book
Information:
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Movie About Case: |
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Comments About Case: |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org