Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Damone Savage

 

Charge:

Firearm possession (including sale)

Sentence:

7 years

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

2013

Year Convicted:

2013

Year Cleared:

2016

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

New York

County or Region of Crime:

Erie

City of Crime:

Buffalo

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"Damone Savage was wrongly convicted on November 12, 2013 of illegal firearms possession in Buffalo, New York. Savage was arrested after an noticed Savage “staring” at him and his fellow officer as they made a traffic stop in a parking lot across the street from where Savage and another man were walking on January 18, 2013. After finishing with the traffic stop the officers began following Savage, and he was arrested after one of the officers claimed he saw Savage drop a holster on the ground and after the policeman left his vehicle, he picked up the holster and discarded a handgun into a bush. Savage's pretrial motion to dismiss the indictment for an illegal search was denied, and he then pled guilty to one count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, with the proviso that he could appeal the judge's ruling denying his motion to suppress the search as unconstitutional. On March 30, 2016 the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, unanimously ruled the trial judge erred denying Savage's suppression motion, it reversed Savage's conviction, and it ordered dismissal of his indictment because the police lacked "particularized reason" for stopping and searching Savage solely because he was "staring" at a police officer involved in a traffic stop, as Savage was walking nearby in a "higher-crime" area of Buffalo. The appeals court ruled that because the police’s interest in Savage was unjustified from its inception, “every subsequent stage of the encounter” was invalid."

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"On March 30, 2016 the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, reversed Savage's conviction and ordered dismissal of his indictment because police lacked "particularized reason" for stopping and searching Savage solely because he was "staring" at a police officer involved in a traffic stop, as Savage was walking nearby in a "higher-crime" area of Buffalo."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Information Source 1:

"People v. Damone Savage, KA 13-02055 (NY Sup. Ct., Appellate Division, Fourth Department (3-30-2016) (Reversing conviction and ordering dismissal of indictment because police lacked "particularized reason" for stopping and searching Savage solely because he was "staring" at a police officer involved in a traffic stop, as Savage was walking nearby in a "higher-crime" area of Buffalo.)"

Information Location 1:

http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad4/clerk/decisions/2016/03-25-16/PDF/0029.pdf

Information Source 2:

"Court Overturns Conviction of Man Who 'Stared' at Officers, By Joel Stashenko, Law.com, March 29, 2016"

Information Location 2:

http://www.law.com/sites/articles/2016/03/29/court-overturns-conviction-of-man-who-stared-at-officers/?slreturn=20160230123358

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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