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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder and Kidnapping |
Sentence: |
25 years to life imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
16 |
Year Crime: |
1985 |
Year Convicted: |
1986 |
Year Cleared: |
2014 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New York |
County or Region of Crime: |
Kings |
City of Crime: |
New York City |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Posthumously - Died in prison |
Summary of Case: |
"Willie Stuckey Jr. and David McCallum were codefendants wrongly convicted in 1986 of murdering and kidnapping Nathan Blenner in New York City on October 20, 1985. McCallum and Stuckey were both teenagers, and their convictions were based on their confessions that both recanted as coerced by the police. Both were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. After taking office in January 2014 Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson began a review of 130 cases that were possible wrongful convictions obtained by his predecessor in office. After reviewing McCallum and Stuckey's case, Thompson determined that "not a single piece of evidence" linked to the two men to the crime. On October 15, 2014 DA Thompson's motion to vacate the convictions and dismiss the charges against McCallum and Stuckey was granted, and McCallum was released after almost 29 years in custody. Stuckey was exonerated postumously because he died in prison in December 2001 from a heart attack. The exonerations of McCallum and Stuckey were the 10th and 11th in the first 10 months after Thompson took office. Stuckey's estate, administered by his mother Rosia Smith Nealy, filed a wrongful imprisonment compensation claim with the New York State Court of Claims that was settled in 2016 for $2,016,000." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Police misconduct of coercing false confessions from McCallum and Stuckey. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On October 15, 2014 DA Thompson's motion to vacate the convictions and dismiss the charges against McCallum and Stuckey was granted, and McCallum was released after almost 29 years in custody. Stuckey was exonerated postumously because he died in prison in 2001." |
Defendant Aided By: |
Kings County Conviction Integrity Unit |
Compensation Awarded: |
"$2,016,000 (State of New York, 2016)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
16 |
Age When Released: |
32 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Wrongfully convicted Brooklyn man goes free after 29 years in prison, DA slams tactics of original prosecution, By Oren Yaniv, New York Daily News, October 16, 2014" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/brooklyn-da-slams-predecessor-record-wrongful-convictions-article-1.1975298 |
Information Source 2: |
"After decades in prison, man freed at NY prosecutor's request, By Sebastien Malo (Staff writer), Daily Press (Newport News, VA), October 15, 2014" |
Information Location 2: |
"http://www.dailypress.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-usa-crime-confessions-20141015,0,3317111.story" |
Information Source 3: |
"Exonerated convict watches story of his life at Heights Casino, By Nate Chura (Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle), Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 22, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2015/12/21/exonerated-convict-watches-story-his-life-heights-casino |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org