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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Drug Related (Possession or sale) |
Sentence: |
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Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
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Year Convicted: |
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Year Cleared: |
2010 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New Jersey |
County or Region of Crime: |
Camden |
City of Crime: |
Camden |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"One of at least 171 defendants wrongly convicted between 2007 and 2009 of drug charges in Camden, New Jersey based on evidence planting, fabrication of reports and evidence, and perjury by five Camden City police officers to obtain their convictions. Eighty-eight of the defendants who cumulatively spent 109 years in prison shared in the $3.5 million January 2013 settlement of federal civil rights cases known as the Camden Police Cases. Althouth the Camden County Prosecutors Office has declined to provide specific information about the overturned convictions, because the files are sealed by court order, the names of at least 76 defendants was disclosed in news stories and in documents related to the federal lawsuit. Eleven other unnamed defendants wrongly convicted as a result of the same police corruption sued for malicious prosecution in New Jersey state court and shared the award of $340,000 in compensation. At least 72 defendants who did not share in the settlement of the two lawsuits had their drug convictions vacated and the charges dismissed based on the police misconduct. In 2009 Camden defendant Alanda Forrest filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that alleged the city police either ignored or improperly investigated many complaints of officer miscondut. In April 2016 a federal court jury ruled that Forrest had not proven by a preponderance of the evidence that actions of the "rogue" officers was the result of inadequate supervision by the Camden police department. Consequently, the city was not liable to pay Forrest damages. Four Camden police officers involved in the scandal were convicted of federal criminal charges: Sgt. Dan E. Morris, Jason Stetser and Kevin Parry pled guilty in 2012 to conspiracy under plea agreements and received sentences that ranged from 8 months to 37 months in federal prison. The fourth officer, Antonio Figueroa, was convicted after a trial of violating the civil rights of suspects, and he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, which was later reduced to eight years and one month. Figueroa is scheduled to be released on September 16, 2019, after which he will serve three years of supervised release." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Police corruption/misconduct of fabricating the evidence used to convict the defendant. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"Conviction vacated based on proof that the evidence against the defendant was fabricated by Camden PD Officers, which was discovered during an FBI investigation of the Camden City Police Department." |
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: |
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Information Source 1: |
"Camden Agrees to Pay $3.5M to Victims of Police Corruption, Press Release, American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, January 10, 2013" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.aclu.org/news/camden-agrees-pay-35m-victims-police-corruption |
Information Source 2: |
"Officers accused of planting evidence on drug suspects, Courier Post (Camden, NJ), October 15, 2010" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20101015/NEWS01/10150354/Officers-accused-of-planting-evidence-on-drug-suspects |
Information Source 3: |
"Camden County convictions are vacated after federal corruption probe, AP Story, February 18, 2010" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/camden_inmate_surprised_to_lea.html |
Information Source 4: |
"Camden drops charges against 185 people after police misconduct investigation, By Associated Press, NJ.com, March 19, 2010" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/camden_drops_charges_against_1.html |
Information Source 5: |
"Jury: Camden not liable for rogue cops, By Jim Walsh, Courier-Post, April 18, 2016" |
Information Location 5: |
http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/crime/2016/04/18/camden-cops-alanda-forrest/83190832/ |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org