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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Drug Related (Possession or sale) |
Sentence: |
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Years Imprisoned: |
2 |
Year Crime: |
2008 |
Year Convicted: |
2008 |
Year Cleared: |
2010 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New Jersey |
County or Region of Crime: |
Camden |
City of Crime: |
Camden |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated (Not released due to other charges.) |
Summary of Case: |
"Jerman Russ was wrongly convicted in 2008 of possessing crack cocaine based on a false report written by Camden City, New Jersey police officers. Jerman Russ pled guilty when his public defender told him he would be convicted and receive a much harsher sentence if he went to trial. Proof that the evidence against Russ was faked by the police was discovered during an FBI investigation of the Camden City Police Department. Russ' conviction was vacated on January 5, 2010, but he remained imprisoned on other charges. Russ was one of the 99 defendants wrongly convicted between 2007 and 2009 of drug charges in Camden, New Jersey based on evidence planting, fabrication of reports and evidence, and perjury by five Camden City police officers to obtain their convictions. Eighty-eight of the defendants who cumulatively spent 109 years in prison shared in the $3.5 million January 2013 settlement of federal civil rights known as the Camden Police Cases. Althouth the Camden County Prosecutors Office has declined to provide specific information about the overturned convictions, because the files are sealed by court order, the names of at least 76 defendants was disclosed in news stories and in documents related to the federal lawsuit. Eleven other unnamed defendants wrongly convicted as a result of the same police corruption sued for malicious prosecution in New Jersey state court and were awarded money damages. At least 171 defendants had their drug convictions dismissed. Four Camden police officers involved in the scandal were convicted of federal criminal charges: Sgt. Dan Morris, Jason Stetser and Kevin Parry pled guilty in 2012 to conspiracy under plea agreements and received sentences that ranged from 8 months to 37 months in federal prison. The fourth officer, Antonio Figueroa, was convicted after a trial of violating the civil rights of suspects, and he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, which was later reduced to eight years and one month. Figueroa is scheduled to be released on September 16, 2019, after which he will serve three years of supervised release." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Police misconduct of fabricating the evidence against Jerman Russ. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"Proof that the evidence against Russ was faked by the police was discovered during an FBI investigation of the Camden City Police Department. Russ' conviction was vacated on January 5, 2010." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
22 |
Age When Released: |
24 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Camden County convictions are vacated after federal corruption probe, AP Story, February 18, 2010" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/camden_inmate_surprised_to_lea.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Jury: Camden not liable for rogue cops, By Jim Walsh, Courier-Post, April 18, 2016" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/crime/2016/04/18/camden-cops-alanda-forrest/83190832/ |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org