James Calvin Tillman is a man who was wrongfully convicted of rape, and served 18.5 years in prison before being

exonerated Exoneration occurs when the conviction for a crime is reversed, either through demonstration of innocence, a flaw in the conviction, or otherwise. Attempts to exonerate convicts are particularly controversial in death penalty cases, especially w ...

by DNA testing on July 11, 2006. Tillman, of East Hartford Connecticut, was convicted of

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

in the first degree,

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

in the first degree,

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

and

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

in the third degree in 1989, and freed in 2007.

Crime

Tillman, a black man, was wrongfully convicted for an attack on a white woman in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

that occurred on January 22, 1988. The victim entered her car in an outdoor parking lot at approximately 12:45 A.M. after leaving a bar. Her attacker opened the driver's side door of her car and raped her.

Judicial appeal

Tillman appealed the conviction in the Supreme Court of Connecticut in 1991 (220 Conn. 487, 600 A.2d 738). The Supreme Court upheld the conviction finding that the jury array was not unconstitutionally assembled, alleged errors in jury instruction did not warrant a new trial and certain field notes were not improperly excluded from

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...

. Tillman argued that the

jury selection Jury selection is the selection of the people who will serve on a jury during a jury trial. The group of potential jurors (the "jury pool", also known as the ''venire'') is first selected from among the community using a reasonably random method. ...

was improper because

court clerk A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court, administer oaths to witn ...

s had excused a number of potential

jurors A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England duri ...

due to financial hardship. He claimed that the minority candidates were more likely to face this hardship and that this contributed to the fact that there were no African American males on his jury. The court noted that in a

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

trial that drew from the same array there were three black persons chosen to serve. Tillman also raised several issues regarding instructions to the jury. When considering the victim's testimony he had requested that the jury be told that they "may consider...whether the witness was physically impaired or under stress when observing the perpetrator." The jury might have found the victim to have been impaired because she had been drinking and because she had a large cut over her eye that required seven stitches and eventually closed the eye completely. The court instead instructed the jury that it could assess the victim's "ability to observe facts correctly...degree of stress...and opportunity to observe the person." In addition he challenged the court's decision not to limit his own contradictory statement to a police detective. The detective testified that he asked Tillman how he got some cuts and bruises on the major knuckles of his hands. The defendant originally said that he was not sure but later said that he did not get them from "punching no girl". The detective had not told Tillman that the victim had been punched; however he had shown him a picture of the girl after her attack from which he could reasonably deduce that fact. Tillman was not allowed to raise this point on appeal. The final argument in Tillman's appeal was that the court had improperly excluded a notebook containing field notes from a police department social worker. The notes did not pass proper evidentiary requirements. Within the notes was a statement from the lead detective on the case indicating that fingerprints not matching Tillman's were found on the driver's side door of the vehicle, where the perpetrator had entered. The finding was reported in court as being fingerprints on the passenger side door.

Verdict upheld

Tillman's verdict was affirmed in 1991 and again in 1999 when he claimed ineffective assistance of counsel before the Appellate Court of Connecticut (54 Conn.App. 749, 738 A.2d 208). The main holding in that case was that counsel did not have to press every conceivable argument during a case but should focus on a few strong arguments.

Exoneration

In 2007 DNA testing organized by the Innocence Project was performed on semen found on the victim's pantyhose. After excluding the DNA of the victim's husband, the study found five different samples of DNA, all identified as coming from the same unknown individual and inconsistent with Tillman's DNA, leading to his exoneration and release 18 years into the 45-year sentence.

Aftermath

James Tillman worked as a clerk at the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC), mentors at-risk children and has serves in ministry for the Hopewell Baptist Church. The Governor of Connecticut offered him $500,000 in compensation for his wrongful incarceration. Several members of the state legislature introduced a bill to provide Tillman with total compensation of $5,000,000 for the 18.5 years that he wrongfully spent in jail. On May 16, 2007, the Connecticut legislature unanimously voted to present Tillman with $5 million to assist him in living comfortably following his wrongful imprisonment. The legislature stated that they were touched by his attitude following his release.Susan Haigh, ''Conn. to give exonerated man $5M,'' Associated Press, May 17, 2007.

References