Cowans -- Error or Misconduct?

[L.J.Steele]

The Boston Phoenix' latest story on the Cowans debacle.

http://www.thephoenix.com/article_ektid20471.aspx

The main point of the story is that Cowans and the Boston Police Dept. settled for $6.4 million, but the explanation for the error remains a mystery.

While the examiners involved weren't IAI members, it seems to me that IAI has an interst in pushing Boston to release the testimony and exhibits used in Cowans' trial (which are public documents after all). That gives y'all a chance to comment on whether this was a mis-ID or fraud.

[RL Tavernaro]

Lisa,

Thank you for the article reference... interesting reading. As a long-time believer in government transparency and accountability, I also believe the exhibits and documentation should be made public.

A minor point, however, regarding the settlement with Cowans:

The City of Boston recently paid him $3.2 million to settle claims that the police department violated his civil rights. And, under the terms of its wrongful-conviction compensation law, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts paid him an additional $500,000.

If my math is correct, that would total $3.7 million.

I believe the $6.4 million you quote is a total paid this year (so far) for several different wrongful-convictions.
Regards, RLT

[L.J.Steele]

If my math is correct, that would total $3.7 million.

I believe the $6.4 million you quote is a total paid this year (so far) for several different wrongful-convictions.
Regards, RLT

You are correct -- that's what I get for posting from the hip...

[Ian Rudden]

Here is a link to an article in the Popular Mechanics. Besides the Cowan case the remarks by prosecutors regarding other identification methods is quite interesting.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... 10536.html

[L.J.Steele]

Here is a link to an article in the Popular Mechanics. Besides the Cowan case the remarks by prosecutors regarding other identification methods is quite interesting.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... 10536.html

Interesting. Anyone know if the illustration is the Cowans prints from the trial?

[Ian Rudden]

If it is then we are in real trouble! But I don't think it is.

Judging by the wording in the caption below the images I would guess that it is an example of what an id should look like(for the layperson).

Lets hope we get to see the actual Cowan images soon.

[Ian Rudden]

If it is then we are in real trouble! But I don't think it is.

Judging by the wording in the caption below the images I would guess that it is an example of what an id should look like(for the layperson).

Lets hope we get to see the actual Cowan images soon.

[Charles Parker]

Another article on the Cowans Case from the "DNA Informant"

Massachusetts - The city of Boston has agreed to pay $3.2 million to a Roxbury man whose wrongful conviction in the shooting of a police officer in 1997 led to the temporary shutdown of the Police Department's fingerprint unit and sweeping changes in how such evidence is collected and analyzed.

Stephan Cowans spent 6 1/2 years in prison after police falsely linked him to a fingerprint left by the man who shot and wounded Sergeant Gregory Gallagher in a Roxbury backyard. While behind bars, he contracted hepatitis C, according to his lawyers, and missed his mother's funeral, before finally being exonerated by DNA evidence early in 2004 through the New England Innocence Project.


The award to Cowans equals what is believed to be the largest amount the city has ever paid in a wrongful conviction case. In the other case, the city agreed in March to pay $3.2 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Neil Miller, who served 10 years in prison after being convicted of raping a 19-year-old Emerson College student in 1989 before DNA tests proved another man had committed the crime.



Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/ema ... ref14.html

I was not aware that he was exonerated by DNA Evidence. I had thought (wrongly I suppose) that his defense had gotten the FBI to check the prints.

DNA to the rescue.

[Ian Rudden]

I was not aware that he was exonerated by DNA Evidence. I had thought (wrongly I suppose) that his defense had gotten the FBI to check the prints.

Just curious, is the "he" you are referring to Cowans or Miller?

[Charles Parker]

Ian, it was Cowans. But I went back and read the entire article that you posted to and there it was.

I am getting old, I may have confused it with the one where the two retired FBI examiners were hired by the defense, they noted the error, testified and they still found the individual guilty.

I better not guess where that one was at.

[g.]

Charles,

That case, I believe you are referring to, is the Ricky Jackson case from Upper Darby, PA. (Vernon McCloud and George Wynn were hired for defense, said no ident, but Jackson was still found guilty b/c two local cops and an out of state IAI certified examiner all said ident. He served almost 2 years before being released. That was NOT an innocence project case, but one where the FBI and IAI pressed on an injustice. Presumably they (the IAI) could get involved b/c a certified examiner was involved in an obvious erroneous individualization.

g.