Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Christopher Sudsbury

 

Charge:

Drug Related (Possession or sale)

Sentence:

30 days in jail converted to 240 hours community service

Years Imprisoned:

2

Year Crime:

2014

Year Convicted:

2014

Year Cleared:

2016

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Maine

County or Region of Crime:

Waldo

City of Crime:

Belfast

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

"Christopher Sudsbury was wrongly convicted in October 2014 of aggravated trafficking of a Schedule W drug, for selling a strip of the drug Suboxone in January 2014. The trial judge denied Sudsbury's motion for a judgment of acquittal after the State rested its case, and the jury convicted him. Sudsbury was sentenced in December 2014 to 8 years in prison. On February 4, 2016 the Maine Supreme Judicial Court reversed Sudsbury's conviction based on the prosecution's failure to introduce sufficient evidence that he sold a schedule W drug, because, as the State conceded to the Supreme Court, the State of Maine did not classify Suboxone as a schedule W drug. The Court stated in its ruling: "Given the State’s conceded failure of proof, we must vacate the judgment of conviction. To do otherwise would subject Sudsbury to double jeopardy in violation of the federal and state constitutions. We remand for the entry of a judgment of acquittal." Sudsbury was immediately released after more than two years in custody from the time of his arrest. (Maine v. Sudsbury, 2016 ME 25 (ME Sup.Jud. Ct., 2-4-2016)"

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"On February 4, 2016 the Maine Supreme Judicial Court reversed Sudsbury's conviction based on the prosecution's failure to introduce sufficient evidence that he sold a schedule W drug, because, as the State conceded to the Supreme Court, the State of Maine did not classify Suboxone as a schedule W drug."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

41

Age When Released:

43

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"State of Maine v. Christopher Sudsbury, 2016 ME 25 (No. Wal-14-533) (Maine Supreme Judicial Court, 2-4-2016) (Reversing conviction based on the prosecution's failure to introduce sufficient evidence that Sudsbury sold a schedule W drug, because, as the State conceded to the Supreme Court, the State of Maine did not classify Suboxone as a schedule W drug, or an illegal drug at all.)"

Information Location 1:

http://www.courts.maine.gov/opinions_orders/supreme/lawcourt/2016/16me25su.pdf

Information Source 2:

"High court overturns Belfast man’s conviction on drug charge, By Judy Harrison (BDN Staff), Bangor Daily News, February 9, 2016"

Information Location 2:

https://bangordailynews.com/2016/02/08/news/midcoast/high-court-overturns-belfast-mans-conviction-on-drug-charge/

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

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