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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Child/Minor Sexual Assault |
Sentence: |
15 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
3.25 |
Year Crime: |
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Year Convicted: |
2011 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New Jersey |
County or Region of Crime: |
Hudson |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"S. S. was wrongly convicted in 2011 of sexually assaulting his 6-year-old daughter in Hudson County, New Jersey. S. S.'s conviction was based on videotaped admissions he made to detectives -- after he had repeatedly denied doing anything inappropriate with his daughter -- when they continued interrogating him after he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. After his conviction by a jury S. S. was sentenced to 15 years in prison. S.S.'s conviction was overturned on appeal for reasons unrelated to his admissions. S. S. was released on bail after 3 years and 3 months in custody, pending his retrial. While preparing for his second trial S.S.'s lawyers filed a motion to suppress his statement that was granted by the trial judge. The prosecution appealed the judge's ruling, which the New Jersey Court of Appeals reversed based on the tone of S.S.'s voice, and not the actual words he was saying that he wanted to remain silent. The New Jersey Supreme Court accepted review of the appeals court's ruling. On June 21, 2017 the NJ Supreme Court unanimously ruled that S.S.'s statement was inadmissible. The Court ruled that "Elevating the importance of tone over the import of words, as the Appellate Division did here, can lead to injecting a high degree of subjectivity into analysis." With no evidence to prosecute S.S., the Hudson County District Attorney's Office filed a motion to dismiss the charges that was granted in July 2017. S.S. was only identified in Court documents by his initials." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Police misconduct of continuing to interrogate S.S. after he invoked his right to remain silent. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On June 21, 2017 the NJ Supreme Court unanimously ruled that S.S.'s statement was inadmissible. The Court ruled that "Elevating the importance of tone over the import of words, as the Appellate Division did here, can lead to injecting a high degree of subjectivity into analysis." With no evidence to prosecute S.S., the Hudson County District Attorney's Office filed a motion to dismiss the charges that was granted in July 2017." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
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Information Source 1: |
"Why a man who admitted to sexually assaulting his 6-year-old daughter is walking free, By Michaelangelo Conte, The Jersey Journal, July 20, 2017" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2017/07/charges_dropped_against_man_who_admitted_sexually.html |
Information Source 2: |
"New Jersey v. S.S., No. 077486 (A-84-15) (NJ Supreme Court, 6-21-2017) (Affirming trial court's order suppressing S.S.'s videotaped statement on the basis the police continued to interrogate him after he invoked his 5th Amend. right to remain silent.)" |
Information Location 2: |
http://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/supreme-court/2017/a-84-15.html |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org