Herman Ray Rucker

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Charge:	Murder and Rape
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	2
Year Crime:	1981
Year Convicted:	1982
Year Cleared:	1983
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Ohio
County or Region of Crime:	Wayne
City of Crime:	Creston
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Herman Ray Rucker and Ernest R. Holbrook were co-defendants. Both men were wrongly convicted of raping and murdering a 12-year-old Tina Marie Harmon in Wayne County. Both men were sentenced to life in prison. Rucker was awarded a new trial and he was acquitted in June 1983. The Beacon Journal, in a 1984 investigative series that was 14 pages long, profiled the convictions of Rucker and Holbrook Jr. The series was titled, ''Evidence never added up.'' It raised questions about the testimony and circumstantial evidence used to convict Holbrook and Rucker, and detailed the evidence pointing to Robert Buell as the killer. Buell was convicted in April 1984 (and later executed) for a similar murder of an 11-year-old girl. Three months after the series was published authorities announced that evidence linked Buell to the killing and Holbrook was released on May 5, 1984. A key witness against Holbrook and Rucker recanted and was sent to prison for perjury. Holbrook was awarded compensation of $83,940 by the Ohio Court of Claims on January 5, 1986. Rucker never filed a claim. In March 2010 DNA testing matched Buell to Harmon's murder."
Conviction Caused By:	A key informant witness was convicted of perjury and sentenced to prison.
Innocence Proved By:	New evidence linked another man to the murder.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"DNA cracks 1981 murder of girl, Staff report, Beacon Journal, March 12, 2010"
Information Location 1:	http://www.ohio.com/news/dna-cracks-1981-murder-of-girl-1.167214
Information Source 2:	"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 126+."
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"“In Spite of Innocence: Erroneous Convictions in Capital Cases,” Michael L Radelet, HugoAdam Bedau, and Constance E. Putnam, Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1996 pb ed. with new forward, 315 ( © 1992)."
Information Location 3:
Information Source 4:	"Ernest R. Holbrook, Jr. V. State of Ohio"
Information Location 4:	http://www.cco.state.oh.us/scripts/ccoc.wsc/ws_civilcasesearch_2007.r?mode=5&CaseNo=198503522
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
Book About Case:	"The loss of innocents- child killers and their victims, By Cara Elizabeth Richards, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (2000), pp. 69-70"
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Herman Ray Rucker

Charge:

Murder and Rape

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

2

Year Crime:

1981

Year Convicted:

1982

Year Cleared:

1983

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Ohio

County or Region of Crime:

Wayne

City of Crime:

Creston

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

A key informant witness was convicted of perjury and sentenced to prison.

Innocence Proved By:

New evidence linked another man to the murder.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"DNA cracks 1981 murder of girl, Staff report, Beacon Journal, March 12, 2010"

Information Location 1:

http://www.ohio.com/news/dna-cracks-1981-murder-of-girl-1.167214

Information Source 2:

"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 126+."

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"“In Spite of Innocence: Erroneous Convictions in Capital Cases,” Michael L Radelet, HugoAdam Bedau, and Constance E. Putnam, Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1996 pb ed. with new forward, 315 ( © 1992)."

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

"Ernest R. Holbrook, Jr. V. State of Ohio"

Information Location 4:

http://www.cco.state.oh.us/scripts/ccoc.wsc/ws_civilcasesearch_2007.r?mode=5&CaseNo=198503522

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

"The loss of innocents- child killers and their victims, By Cara Elizabeth Richards, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (2000), pp. 69-70"

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: