Exonerated After 31 Years in Prison
Exonerated After 31 Years in Prison
URBANA, Ill. (CN) - An innocent man spent 31 years in prison for the rape and murder of a little girl: eight of them after he had been exonerated by DNA evidence, the man claims in court.
Andre Davis sued the Village of Rantoul, Ill.; Provena Covenant Medical Center; former Rantoul police Det. Larry Zonfrilli; former Rantoul police Officer Montgomery Portis; former Police Chief Eldon Quick; and Dr. Jose Raquel, a former Illinois Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent.
Davis says in his federal complaint that the defendants fabricated evidence to wrongfully convict him.
"Andre Davis spent over thirty-one years in prison for a crime he did not commit," the complaint states. "He was wrongfully convicted in 1981 of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 3-year-old Brianna Stickle as a result of the unconstitutional actions of the police officers and emergency room doctor who are named as defendants in this suit. Despite evidence implicating Brianna's next door neighbor, Maurice Tucker, the defendant police officers failed to pursue Tucker at the time of the crime, and instead coerced, manipulated and fabricated evidence to create a false case against plaintiff. Other than a medical report that was fabricated by the defendant emergency room doctor during his examination of plaintiff, there was no 'hard' evidence - fingerprints, serology, DNA or other physical evidence of any kind - linking plaintiff to the Brianna Stickle murder. However, the force of the defendants' misconduct was enough to secure a conviction in two separate trials. Years later, plaintiff was exonerated when new DNA evidence excluded him as the donor of the semen left on the bedding where the rape and murder of Brianna Stickle occurred, and established that Maurice Tucker and another as of yet unidentified male were the sources of the semen. After this DNA evidence came to light, plaintiff wrongfully spent another eight years in prison until he was released and fully exonerated. Through this civil rights action, plaintiff seeks accountability and compensation for the massive injuries inflicted upon him from the persons responsible for this miscarriage of justice."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/07/09/59183.htm
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This tends to happen to African Americans more often.
Gee...I wonder why 
