False rape accusations exist, and they are a serious problem.

By Cathy Young, Slate

In the emotionally charged conversation about rape, few topics are more fraught than that of false allegations. Consider some responses to the news that singer-songwriter Conor Oberst had been falsely accused of sexual assault. Last December a woman writing in the comments section of the website xoJane, going by the name Joanie Faircloth, claimed Oberst raped her when she was a teenager. The charge spread across the Internet; Oberst denied it and brought a libel suit against Faircloth when she refused to retract the story. In July she completely recanted, admitting that she had made it all up to get attention. Yet instead of showing sympathy for the ordeal of the musician—one known for being supportive of feminist issues—some chided him for taking legal action to defend himself against a false, career-damaging charge. In the Daily Dot, pop culture critic Chris Ostendorf decried the lawsuit, arguing that it could intimidate real victims of rape and that it promoted the idea of men as victims of false accusations—even though that’s exactly what Oberst was. After Oberst dropped the suit, Bustle’s Caroline Pate praised his decision and referred to the saga ...

A Georgia state jury awarded $50,000 to a woman for false arrest and imprisonment by Sentinel Offender Services, a private probation company. The award was the outcome in the first trial of more than a dozen lawsuits filed against the company.

Kathleen Hucks was sentenced to two years of misdemeanor probation in April 2006. In 2008, her sister paid off the $3,256 Hucks owed the court. Sentinel, however, kept Hucks under its supervision because she had not completed a risk-reduction class or shown proof of drug and alcohol treatment.

It was not until 2012 that Hucks was finally released from probation, but only after she was jailed after Sentinel obtained an arrest warrant because she had failed to pay accumulated fees of nearly $300.

Hucks was repeatedly hospitalized between 2006 and 2012 for seizures and a heart problem. Upon her arrest, her husband took her medication to the jail but it was not accepted. Three days later she had a seizure. “She could have died,” her husband testified.

For the next three weeks, Hucks sat in jail awaiting a hearing. Within minutes of appearing before the court, she was ordered released because her sentence had expired in 2008 – four ...

By Equal Justice Initiative

Forty-five years after Phillip Chance traveled from his home in Detroit, Michigan to visit family in rural Choctaw, Alabama, he died in an Alabama prison.

During that visit in 1971, 15-year-old Phillip Chance and his older brother went with their cousin to a local convenience store, where their cousin robbed and killed the store clerk. Phillip cooperated with the police and told them where his cousin hid the stolen money, but the Alabama prosecutors claimed Phillip and his brother helped plan the robbery and charged all three black teenagers with the murder of the white clerk. Phillip’s lawyer advised him to plead guilty and assured Phillip he would get out of prison in a year based on good behavior. Phillip pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment with parole.

Phillip was sent to an adult prison, where he was such an exemplary prisoner that he earned his way from a maximum-security prison to a work-release program, where he was assigned to drive a Department of Corrections van. In 1981, despite his excellent behavior and trustworthiness, the Alabama parole board denied Mr. Chance parole, asserting that he was a threat to the community. A few days later, Mr. Chance walked ...

In 1997, Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez were convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls. The women came to be known as the “San Antonio Four.”

With help from the Innocence Project of Texas, all four were eventually exonerated. Rivera had been paroled in 2012 but the other women were released on bail in 2013 after new evidence came to light. According to a November 23, 2016 ruling by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, “They are innocent. And they are exonerated. This court grants them the relief they seek.” See: Ex parte Mayhugh, 2016 Tex. Crim. App. Unpub. LEXIS 1057 (Tex. Crim. App. 2016).

“I still can’t grasp the fact of just being free, finally, after all this time,” said Ramirez. “Unbelievable. It’s been a long time coming, 22 years now,” Vasquez added. “I called my mom, my family, and we’re just filled with joy today. We’re so thankful,” stated Rivera.

District Attorney Nico LaHood said of the ruling, “It has been a long legal process for these women and our office has worked with the defense to ensure justice was done in this case. With today’s announcement, we believe the Texas Court of ...

Five former prisoners who were wrongfully convicted in a home invasion murder have received settlements and compensation totaling nearly $8 million following a botched investigation and misconduct by the sheriff’s office in Buncombe County, North Carolina.

Three masked men entered the Fairview home of Walter R. Bowman on September 18, ...

On September 28, 2016, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced charges against convicted murderer Osborne Wade, 42, in connection with the brutal sexual assault and murder of a child in 1992. The charges followed an extensive investigation by the State’s Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit, which revealed that Mark Maxson, now 55, had been wrongfully convicted for the crime in 1994.

As a result, the charges against Maxson were dismissed and he was released after serving approximately 22 years of a life sentence. Elliot Zinger, one of Maxson’s attorneys, said they will seek a certificate of innocence to have his conviction expunged, which would entitle him to up to $200,000 in compensation from the state. Zinger has also filed a lawsuit on Maxson’s behalf against the Chicago police detectives who allegedly coerced, beat and threatened his client into providing an unsigned confession.

Cook County prosecutors announced that DNA evidence from six-year-old Lindsey Murdock, Jr.’s clothing was a match to Wade, who subsequently confessed to the crime and wrote letters of apology to Murdock’s family.

Judge James Brown called the case the worst he’d seen in 14 years on the bench.

“I’m left with a case where an individual sat in ...

On December 31, 2015, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that six wrongfully convicted former prisoners could sue Gage County, Nebraska for conspiring to manufacture false evidence; further, law enforcement officials involved in the investigation that led to the wrongful convictions were not entitled to qualified immunity. [See: PLN, March 2016, p.16].

Joseph White was convicted in 1989 of raping and murdering Helen Wilson, 68. To convict him, prosecutors used the testimony of his co-defendants, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Thomas W. Winslow, James L. Dean, Kathleen A. Gonzalez and Debra Shelden, all of whom pleaded guilty to related charges. Collectively they were known as the Beatrice Six.

In 2008, DNA evidence exonerated the Beatrice Six, who were pardoned or had their convictions overturned. They filed independent lawsuits against Gage County, then-Sheriff Jerry O. DeWitt and two of his employees under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985. They claimed the defendants led a reckless investigation, manufactured false evidence, conspired to manufacture false evidence and coerced false testimony. Wilson’s murder was eventually linked to Bruce Allen Smith, who died in 1992.

Initially, a consolidated trial in the lawsuits resulted in a hung jury. The defendants then filed motions under Federal Rule of ...

The district attorney who prosecuted Glenn Ford, a Louisiana man exonerated after spending 30 years on death row, called capital punishment “an abomination that continues to scar the fibers of this society.” That statement was made in a column expressing remorse for his role in convicting an innocent defendant.

Ford, 64, was charged with the November 5, 1983 murder of a Shreveport jeweler during a robbery. In late 2013, credible evidence came to the attention of prosecutors “supporting a finding that Glenn Ford was neither present at nor a participant in the robbery and murder of Isadore Rozeman.” He was released from prison on March 10, 2014 and given a $20.04 debit card by prison officials.

Under Louisiana law, Ford was entitled to $330,000 in compensation for his wrongful conviction. However, a state court judge denied compensation, stating Ford likely had a role in the robbery that resulted in Rozeman’s death as he was in possession of items taken during the robbery.

“I can take no comfort in such an argument,” wrote A.M. “Marty” Shroud III, the lead prosecutor at Ford’s trial, in a March 2015 column published in the Shreveport Times. “As a prosecutor and officer of the court, ...

In an opinion handed down on December 31, 2015, the Supreme Court of Kansas modified the requirement that a criminal defendant be exonerated prior to suing the attorney who represented him (the “exoneration rule”). Under the modification, reversal of a conviction or other post-conviction relief may count as a form for exoneration.

George Michael Garcia hired attorney Charles Ball to represent him in a probation revocation hearing during which he stipulated to the violation. The court violated the probation and remanded him to the Kansas Department of Corrections (DOC) to serve his originally imposed prison term. However, the journal entry of sentencing erroneously directed Garcia to serve 12-months post-release supervision following his 9-month prison term. This violated state statute, K.S.A. 22-3716(e), which prohibits post-release supervision following a prison sentence due to the revocation of probation.

The DOC sent the district court a letter informing it of the erroneous post-release supervision requirement, but also stating; that it would abide by the court’s order until it was ordered to do otherwise. The court never corrected the erroneous sentence.

Following his release, Garcia was convicted of another offense. Because it was committed while he was on post-release supervision, the sentence was enhanced. While ...

An Ohio Court of Appeals held a trial court improperly granted summary judgment to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) in a lawsuit claiming invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The suit was brought by Clarence Elkins, Sr., who was convicted in 1999 on multiple felony charges and sentenced to life. He was subsequently exonerated and released from prison. He obtained a declaration of being wrongfully imprisoned and received $7.84 million in settlements from the State of Ohio and City of Barberton. [See: PLN, June 2012, p.34; July 2011, p.11]. His ex-wife and son also received settlements.

Prior to receiving their settlements, the ex-wife and son filed for bankruptcy. Once they received the settlements, the federal government made a claim for unpaid taxes on the settlement funds. As part of that claim, the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice issued a subpoena to ODRC requesting production of copies of documents related to medical treatment Elkins received while imprisoned. ODRC responded by providing the records.

In response to Elkins’ suit, ODRC moved for summary judgment, which the trial court granted. On appeal, Elkins made four assignments of error. The appellate court made a ...