Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

Go to Database Search Page

Go to  Database Index Page

Bernard Webster

 

Charge:

Rape

Sentence:

30 years

Years Imprisoned:

20

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

1982

Year Cleared:

2002

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Maryland

County or Region of Crime:

Baltimore

City of Crime:

Baltimore

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

"Bernard Webster was wrongly convicted of raping a 47 year old woman by the erroneous eyewitness testimony of the victim and two people who said they saw him in the area where the rape occurred. Two witnesses at his trial testified that at the time of the rape Webster was playing basketball many miles from where it occurred. Webster initially became a suspect because he had been arrested for stealing a pocketbook from someone at the Towson, MD federal building, although that was totally unrelated to the woman's rape. In 2000 Michele Nethercott, with the MD Innocence Project located samples of the attackers sperm stored in a Baltimore hospital. DNA tests excluded Webster and he was released from prison after 20 yrs of wrongful incarceration on November 7, 2002. Webster awarded $900,000 in compensation in January 2003 by the State of Maryland - with the money was to be paid over a 10 year period."

Conviction Caused By:

"False eyewitness identification by the victim and two people who erroneously claimed to have seen Bernard Webster at the apartment building where the victim lived on the day the rape occurred. There was also false testimony by the state's crime lab technician that blood found at the crime scene matched Webster's, when it didn't, and the prosecutor engaged in misconduct by falsely claiming that a key found on Webster was to the victim's apartment, when it wasn't."

Innocence Proved By:

DNA test excluded him as the then 47 year old woman's attacker.

Defendant Aided By:

"Michele Nethercott, head of the Maryland public defender's Innocence Project (primary) and assisted by Innocence Project NY"

Compensation Awarded:

"$900,000 (State of Maryland, Jan. 2003)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

19

Age When Released:

40

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

""Wrongfully held 20 years, Md. man to be freed today," Stephanie Hanes (staff), Baltimore Sun, 11-7-02"

Information Location 1:

http://www.sunspot.net/bal-te.md.webster07nov07.story

Information Source 2:

""Webster freed from wrongful term in prison," Stephanie Hanes (staff), Baltimore Sun, 11-7-02"

Information Location 2:

"http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-freed1107,0,6567181.story?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadlines"

Information Source 3:

""Inmate Freed After 20 Years," (AP), NY Times, 11-7-02"

Information Location 3:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Man-Freed.html

Information Source 4:

"Wrongly Convicted Man to Get Compensation, AP, Baltimore, January 7, 2003"

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case:

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

Hosted on forejustice.org and mirrored on justicedenied.org .