Steve Titus

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Charge:	Rape
Sentence:	Exonerated After Conviction But Prior to Sentencing
Years Imprisoned:	1
Year Crime:	1980
Year Convicted:	1981
Year Cleared:	1981
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Washington
County or Region of Crime:	King
City of Crime:	Seattle
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Steve Titus was wrongly convicted in March 1981 of raping a 17-year-old girl on October 12, 1980 on a secluded road near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Titus was arrested by Port of Seattle police. Seattle Times reporter Paul Henderson became interested in Titus' case when seven months after his conviction an identical rape was committed. Henderson's investigation led to evidence the girl had been sexually assaulted by serial rapist Edward Lee King, who lived in Kent, a few miles from the airport. Prior to his sentencing Titus filed a motion for a new trial based on the new evidence, which was granted on June 8, 1981. Three weeks after that the King County District Attorney's Office filed a motion to dismiss the charges that was granted in June 1981. In July 1981 King was charged with three rapes, including the one Titus had been convicted of committing. King later pled guilty to four rapes, including the one Titus' had been convicted of committing. Henderson won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for his series of articles about the injustice done to Steve Titus. Titus was 35 when he died of a heart attack on February 6, 1985, three weeks before his $20 million dollar lawsuit against the Port of Seattle was scheduled to begin. Titus' son settled the case in 1986 for $2.6 million to be paid over a 20 year period."
Conviction Caused By:	Eyewitness error and police misconduct / prosecutorial misconduct
Innocence Proved By:	Actual culprit discovered
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"$2.6 million (Port of Seattle, 1986)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	30
Age When Released:	31
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Witness for the Defense, Dr Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham"
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	""Predator" by Jack Olson"
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"Guilt in rape case may hang on the tick, tick, tick of clock, By Paul Henderson (Seattle Times staff reporter), The Seattle Times, May 29, 1981"
Information Location 3:
Information Source 4:	"Man unjustly convicted of rape dies, By Associated Press, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.), February 9, 1985"
Information Location 4:
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
Book About Case:	"Predator by Jack Olson, Delecorte, 1991"
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):
Book Information (2):
Movie About Case:
Comments About Case:

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Steve Titus

Charge:

Rape

Sentence:

Exonerated After Conviction But Prior to Sentencing

Years Imprisoned:

1

Year Crime:

1980

Year Convicted:

1981

Year Cleared:

1981

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Washington

County or Region of Crime:

King

City of Crime:

Seattle

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Eyewitness error and police misconduct / prosecutorial misconduct

Innocence Proved By:

Actual culprit discovered

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"$2.6 million (Port of Seattle, 1986)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

30

Age When Released:

31

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Witness for the Defense, Dr Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham"

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

""Predator" by Jack Olson"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"Guilt in rape case may hang on the tick, tick, tick of clock, By Paul Henderson (Seattle Times staff reporter), The Seattle Times, May 29, 1981"

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

"Man unjustly convicted of rape dies, By Associated Press, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.), February 9, 1985"

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

"Predator by Jack Olson, Delecorte, 1991"

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: