Alan Newton - Mistaken Witness ID

Newton, Alan ; sexual assault, robbery, assault; NRE: mistaken witness identification, false/misleading forensic evidence

N4 [39] "In the case of Alan Newton, the accused was convicted in 1985 of a rape he did not commit and spent 21 years in prison. The injustice could have at least been reduced by emerging DNA technology, but the authorities took 11 years to find the rape kit after Newton requested testing in 1994. Ironically, the kit was ultimately found in the precise location in which it should have been, suggesting that the police property clerk had simply failed to look for it for over a decade. When the kit was finally sent over for testing, the DNA analysis proved that Newton as innocent."

2001 WL 799846; S.D.N.Y. 7/13/01; writ denied

"The evidence against Newton was extremely strong."

[The 'judge' who wrote this was Gerard E.Lynch. ]

from Records and Briefs :

[83] "In June 1984, Newton was arrested and charged with a violent rape and robbery that someone else had committed. The case against Newton was weak. The victim, V.J., was severely intoxicated at the time she was attacked and was able to give only a vague description of her assailant...Her account of the attack changed materially as the investigation progressed...Although V.J. initially identified Newton in a lineup, she subsequently wavered...Notwithstanding that the police had collected a Rape Kit from V.J. at the hospital, and had taken Newton's sneakers and the victim's sweater for blood testing and shoe-print anlysis, the prosecution presented no physical evidence linking Newton to the crime...And Newton presented a credible alibi."

"Patricia Ryan, an OCME [Office of the Chief Medical Examiner] scientist, received the Rape Kit...She later reported to the court that the slides in the Rape Kit did not contain any spermatozoa that could be subjected to serology testing...But the testing of the very same slides that was performed during discovery in the case proved that Ryan's unequivocal statement was false. The slides in the Rape Kit actually contained abundant, readily visible spermatozoa." [Latter emphasis original]

NRE synopsis (by the Innocence Project):

"At about 4:00 A.M. on June 23, 1984, the 25-year-old victim stopped at a convenience store in the Bronx...As the victim was leaving the store, she was grabbed from behind by another customer, who put a box cutter to her throat and pushed her from behind into a blue and white Grand Prix and drove away. After a few minutes, the car stalled as they were going up a hill and the assailant got out and lifted the hood. The victim could not get out of the car because the passenger side door handle was broken off. The assailant dragged her to a nearby park, orally sodomized her, raped her, and attempted to take her money and cigarettes. She then went to find a cab, and the assailant returned, grabbed her again and took her to a nearby abandoned building. There, they struggled and he raped her again. In order to prevent her from identifying him, the perpetrator then cut the victim's face with the razor, blinding her in the left eye. He took her money and cigarettes, telling her that if she called the police he would come back and kill her. She saw the back of the assailant as he ran away and then passed out. When the victim regained consciousness, she went to a call box and summoned the police."

"The victim described the assailant as 'a black male, approximately twenty- seven years [old], wearing a beige shirt, pants.' She later described the assailant as five seven or five eight, 160 pounds, short afro, mustache. She could not tell if the person was dark or light skinned because it was so dark out. She told a detective at the hospital that he was 'physically large' and that his name was 'Willie.'

"While still in the hospital recovering from surgery, the victim viewed nearly two hundred photographs on June 24 and 25, 1984, and selected Alan Newton's photos. On June 28, 1984, police picked up the victim from the hospital and brought her in to view a lineup. She identified Newton in the lineup and again at trial.

"On June 27, 1984, the convenience store clerk from which the victim was abducted identified Newton in a photo lineup, and in a live lineup the next day.

"At trial, Newton mantained his innocence and presented an alibi defense. According to Newton, after going to see the movie Ghostbusters in Brooklyn with his fiance, her daughter, and other relatives, he went back to his fiance's home in Queens. They stayed up late watching television, he spent the night, and had breakfast there in the morning. Newton's fiance and her daughter corrobrated his alibi.

"In May 1985, Newton was acquitted of all charges stemming from the incident in the park, but was convicted of the charges related to the victim's attack in the abandoned building."

"On July 6, 2006, Alan Newton was freed and walked out of a Bronx courthouse after the Innocence Project and the Bronx [DA's] Office filed a joint motion to vacate Newton's conviction.

"Newton filed a federal civil rights lawsuit and a jury awarded him $18 million. A judge vacated the verdict, but in 2015, a federal appeals court reinstated the award. In 2016, a judge reduced the award to $12 million. The city agreed to pay an additional $2.9 million in legal fees.

"Newton also filed a lawsuit in [Manhattan state] court seeking damages from the state of New York. He was awarded a total of $1,544,000 for post-conviction pain and suffering, loss of future income and medical expenses. In March 2020, he settled a claim in the New York Court of Claims for $1,450,000."

[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]