Michael Lee Sipin

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Charge:	Vehicular Homicide (Incl. Culpable negligence)
Sentence:	3 years
Years Imprisoned:	1.5
Year Crime:	2000
Year Convicted:	2002
Year Cleared:	2005
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Washington
County or Region of Crime:	King
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated
Summary of Case:	"Michael Lee Sipin was wrongly convicted of driving a car in which a person was killed when it crashed, based on the prosecution's reliance on crash simulation software (PC-CRASH) that was not generally accepted as producing accurate results. Eyewitnesses saw the other man driving the vehicle, and he said the other man was driving, however the computer software's simulation produced a scenario in which he was driving. At the time of Sipin's 2002 trial the software had not been used in any published legal cases in Washington. The Washington Court of Appeals reversed Michael Sipin's conviction on February 14, 2005 on the basis that testimony concerning the PC-CRASH simulation software had not been deemed reliable under Washington State's Frye standard. The State's motion for reconsideration was granted. On November 21, 2005 the CoA again reversed, on the same basis as it did in February 2005, but the CoA's new opinion was substituted for the previous opinon."
Conviction Caused By:	Erroneous expert testimony based on use of computer automobile crash simulation computer software that had not yet been thoroughly tested for reliability and accuracy.
Innocence Proved By:	"The Washington Court of Appeals reversed Michael Sipin's conviction on February 14, 2005 on the basis that testimony concerning the PC-CRASH simulation software had not been deemed reliable under Washington State's Frye standard. The State's motion for reconsideration was granted. On November 21, 2005 the CoA again reversed, on the same basis as it did in February 2005, but the CoA's new opinion was substituted for the previous opinon."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Washington v. Michael L Sipin, No. 51647-7-I (WA Court of Appeals Div I, 11-21-2005)"
Information Location 1:	http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=wa&vol=2005_app/516477MAJ&invol=4
Information Source 2:	"Man wins new trial in car-accident death, by Susan Gilmore (staff), The Seattle Times, February 16, 2008"
Information Location 2:	http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002181501_pccrash16m.html
Information Source 3:	"Vehicular Homicide Conviction Tossed Over Use of Simulation Software, Staff and AP, King County Journal, February 23, 2005, p. A1, A13."
Information Location 3:
Information Source 4:	"Inmate Too 'Injured' To Serve Prison Time - KIRO tv (Seattle, WA) - 05-12-2003"
Information Location 4:	http://www.kirotv.com/investigations/2347688/%20http://www.kirotv.com/investigations/2197565/detail.html
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Michael Lee Sipin

Charge:

Vehicular Homicide (Incl. Culpable negligence)

Sentence:

3 years

Years Imprisoned:

1.5

Year Crime:

2000

Year Convicted:

2002

Year Cleared:

2005

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Washington

County or Region of Crime:

King

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous expert testimony based on use of computer automobile crash simulation computer software that had not yet been thoroughly tested for reliability and accuracy.

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Washington v. Michael L Sipin, No. 51647-7-I (WA Court of Appeals Div I, 11-21-2005)"

Information Location 1:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=wa&vol=2005_app/516477MAJ&invol=4

Information Source 2:

"Man wins new trial in car-accident death, by Susan Gilmore (staff), The Seattle Times, February 16, 2008"

Information Location 2:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002181501_pccrash16m.html

Information Source 3:

"Vehicular Homicide Conviction Tossed Over Use of Simulation Software, Staff and AP, King County Journal, February 23, 2005, p. A1, A13."

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

"Inmate Too 'Injured' To Serve Prison Time - KIRO tv (Seattle, WA) - 05-12-2003"

Information Location 4:

http://www.kirotv.com/investigations/2347688/%20http://www.kirotv.com/investigations/2197565/detail.html

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: