Joseph Abbitt - Mistaken ID

North Carolina Abbitt, Joseph; NC; NRE: mistaken witness identification

from NRE synopsis (by The Innocence Project):

"Joseph Abbitt was exonerated on September 2, 2009 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after serving 14 years in prison for two convictions of rape based in part on eyewitness misidentifications."

"In the early morning hours of May 2, 1991, two sisters, ages 13 and 16, awoke in their home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to get ready for school, only to discover an intruder had entered through a kitchen window. The intruder raped the two girls at knifepoint and bound their hands and feet. The attacker was in the home for more than an hour before leaving."

"Although the opportunity to see the attacker's face was limited, the victims told investigators that their attacker looked like Joseph Abbitt, a man who had previously lived in the neighborhood and had been a visitor to their home. The girls separately identified Abbitt in a photographic lineup and police focused on him as the primary suspect. Rape kits were collected from the victims along with other evidence from the crime scene including bedding and clothing. DNA testing conducted on a piece of clothing did not match Abbitt, but the clothing wasn't tied directly to the crime. Other DNA tests were inconclusive.

"Police issued a warant for Abbitt's arrest, but learned upon investigation that he had left the state. Abbitt was located in 1994 in Texas, being held in jail for bounced check charges. He was transported back to North Carolina."

"Abbitt was tried before a jury in June 1995. At trial, the victims testified that Abbitt was the man who attacked them. Abbitt maintained an alibi that he was working the day of the crime, and although his employer testified, he could not provide a time card due to the four-year time lapse from the crime to the trial. Based almost exclusively on the eyewitness identfications by the two young victims, Abbitt was convicted of rape, burglary and kidnapping and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus an additional 110 years.* Abbitt appealed his conviction but it was upheld in May 1996."

[* It's not clear what North Carolina is attempting to accomplish by imposing such a sentence. Yes, this was a horrific crime. But obviously, no human being is capable of serving more than one life sentence. Perhaps lawmakers thought they were sending some sort of message by adopting such potential punishments. However, if such sentences can be imposed in the absence of death or even serious injury to victims, the actual message being sent may be that all potential witnesses should simply be eliminated.]

"In 2005, Abbitt applied to The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence for assistance with his case. The organization accepted the case and began to seach for evidence that could be subjected to DNA testing.

"At the time of Abbitt's conviction, police were not required to preserve evidence after conviction. Although most of the evidence from the crime scene had been destroyed by the county clerk's office, a few items, including the rape kits, were located at the Winston-Salem police department. New DNA testing conducted on the evidence was initially inconclusive, but a second round of testing on one of the rape kits excluded Abbitt as the perpetrator.

"Abbitt was set free and officially exonerated on September 2, 2009. After Abbitt's charges were dismissed, the state sent some of the physical evidence in the case to an outside laboratory for testing in an effort to identify potential suspects.

"The company reported in 2010 that Abbitt's DNA was found on a sample taken from a bedsheet at the house. The police said there had been a rush to exonerate Abbitt after his DNA had been excluded from samples taken from the rape kits. But one of his attorneys said the new evidence did not inculpate Abbitt; the victim's mother had testified that she had sex with Abbitt, which explained why his DNA was on a sheet.

'Abbitt could have obtained $750,000 in state compensation, but he never received the required gubernatorial pardon. He filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit that was dismissed in 2013. Abbitt died in a traffic accident in March 2015."

[So, Abbitt is wrongly convicted of sexually abusing two girls, and given a life sentence. Fourteen years later he's finally exonerated and released. And then, het gets nothing. (And we thought New York was bad.)]

[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]