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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Drug Related (Possession or sale) |
Sentence: |
6 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
2 |
Year Crime: |
1948 |
Year Convicted: |
1949 |
Year Cleared: |
1951 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
California - Federal Case |
County or Region of Crime: |
Alameda |
City of Crime: |
Oakland |
Result: |
Pardoned |
Summary of Case: |
"John Stoppelli, aka "The Bug", was wrongly convicted on June 13, 1949 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco of the illegal sale of heroin and concealment of heroin. Stopelli's prosecution was solely based on the fingerprint analysis by Internal Revenue Agent W. Harold Greene, who testified, that John Stoppelli's fingerprint of the ring finger of his left hand was on one of the 12 packages of heroin seized in an Oakland, California raid on October 31, 1948. Stoppelli's alibi was that on the day of the raid he was almost 3,000 miles from Oakland, meeting with his probation officer in New York City, where he lived. The four men arrested during the raid told federal authorities that Stoppelli wasn't involved. During the trial of those four men and Stoppelli, the jury believed the fingerprint expert -- the prosecution's only witness against Stoppelli -- to convict him. Stoppelli's four codefendants were also convicted. The trial judge denied Stoppelli's motion for a directed verdict of acquittal after the prosecution rested, and also denied his pre-sentence motion for a new trial that was in part based on "The verdict is not supported by substantial evidence." Stoppelli was sentenced to concurrent sentences of six years in prison for concealment of heroin, five years for the sale of heroin, and payment of a $100 fine. Stoppelli appealed his conviction, arguing that the circumstantial expert fingerprint evidence was insufficient in the absence of any direct testimony linking him to any of the defendants or the crimes he was convicted of committing. On June 26, 1950 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal in a majority 2 to 1 decision affirmed Stoppelli's conviction. The majority decided the circumstantial expert fingerprint evidence was sufficient for the jury to have found him guilty, and their ruling stated: "There is nothing at all about this case indicative of injustice or substantial error. In fact we believe a just result was achieved. It should not be disturbed." (Stoppelli v. United States, 183 F.2d 391 (9th Cir. 1950)) In his dissent, Chief Judge Denman wrote: "... where the inferences to be drawn from a single fact proven are as strong for innocence as they are for guilt, the judgment of conviction must be reversed. The judgment should be reversed." (Id..) Stoppelli's conviction became final on October 23, 1950 when the U.S. Supreme Court denied his Writ of Certiorari. The FBI laboratory later determined the prints did not match Stoppelli. Stoppelli filed a motion for a new trial, with the judge ruling the FBI's analysis wasn't new evidence, but simply an evaluation of "old" evidence presented at trial. Stoppelli then sought an executive pardon based on the new evidence of his innocence. After serving two years in prison, President Harry Truman granted John Stoppelli a pardon that commuted his sentence on the basis of the new evidence of his innocence." |
Conviction Caused By: |
"Erroneous "expert" fingerpint testimony that Stoppelli's fingerprint was on a package of heroin recovered from the crime scene." |
Innocence Proved By: |
FBI lab report that Stoppelli's fingerprints didn't match those on the package of heroin led to pardon by President Truman. |
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: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
""Never Plead Guilty: The Story of Jake Ehrlich," John Wesley Noble and Bernard Averbuch, Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, N.Y., 1955, pp. 295-298. " |
Information Location 1: |
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Information Source 2: |
"Stoppelli v. United States, No. 12373 ((9th Cir., 11-23-1949) (Transcript of Record for appeal)" |
Information Location 2: |
https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/ca9/briefs/govuscourtsca9briefs2602/gov.uscourts.ca9.012373.b.01.pdf |
Information Source 3: |
"Stoppelli v. United States, 183 F.2d 391 (9th Cir. 1950) (Affirming conviction)" |
Information Location 3: |
http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/183/391/266529/ |
Information Source 4: |
""That’s Not My Fingerprint, Your Honor", By Hans Sherrer, Justice Denied magazine, Issue 25 (January 2007), 11" |
Information Location 4: |
http://justicedenied.org/issue/issue_25/brandon_mayfield.html |
Information Source 5: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org