Umoru Usufu

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Charge:	Robbery and Conspiracy to commit robbery
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	25
Year Crime:
Year Convicted:	1981
Year Cleared:	2006
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Nigeria
County or Region of Crime:
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Wrongly convicted in 1981 along with two co-defendants, Danladi Abdullahi and Sumaila Sokoto of conspiring to rob and robbing with an offensive weapon, a woman of N200.00 on September 12, 1981. The three men were sentenced to 21 years imprisonment for the conspiracy and to death by hanging for the robbery. After they had completed the prison sentences, the three were awaiting the death sentence when on April 23 2003, a Lagos lawyer, Mr. Sylvia Ogwemoh brought an appeal on behalf of Usufu to the Court of Appeal challenging the verdict on six grounds of appeal together with three issues for determination. The Ct of Appeals ruled that contradictions in the victim's extra-judicial statement to the police and her oral evidence at the defendant's trial had rendered her oral evidence unreliable. The Court also ruled as a matter of law (based on Nigerian precedents) that the five witness statements that the prosecution had concealed from the defense were exculpatory. In conclusion, in December 2006 the Court quashed Usuf's conviction and sentence and ordered that a judgement of acquittal be entered. Since his two co-defendants were convicted on the same evidence, the same order was entered for them."
Conviction Caused By:	"False, and possibly perjurious testimony of the alleged robbery victim."
Innocence Proved By:	Convictions quashed and order that judgment of acquittal ordered by Nigeria's Court of Appeals in December 2006.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"Conviction for robbery conspiracy not inferred from substantive offence, This Day (Johannesburg, SA), December 11, 2006"
Information Location 1:	http://allafrica.com/stories/200612120748.html
Information Source 2:	"Man escapes hanging 25 years after conviction, Guardian (UK), December 11, 2006"
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Umoru Usufu

Charge:

Robbery and Conspiracy to commit robbery

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

25

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

1981

Year Cleared:

2006

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Nigeria

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"False, and possibly perjurious testimony of the alleged robbery victim."

Innocence Proved By:

Convictions quashed and order that judgment of acquittal ordered by Nigeria's Court of Appeals in December 2006.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Conviction for robbery conspiracy not inferred from substantive offence, This Day (Johannesburg, SA), December 11, 2006"

Information Location 1:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612120748.html

Information Source 2:

"Man escapes hanging 25 years after conviction, Guardian (UK), December 11, 2006"

Information Location 2:

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Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: