Lynn Dejac - False Accusation
Dejac (Peters), Lynn ; murder; NRE: perjury/false accusation, no crime
C24 "The story begins on Valentine's Day 1993, when 13-year-old Crystallyn Girard was found dead in her South Buffalo home. Girard's mother, Lynn Dejac Peters, was charged with strangling her daughter.
"Peters' former boyfriend, Dennis Donohue, who was initially a suspect, passed a polygraph test and then testified before the grand jury that indicted the mother. By appearing before the grand jury, Donohue received immunity from prosecution. Peters was convicted and sentenced to a 25-year-to-life prison term.
"More than a decade later, tests that were not available at the time of trial showed that male DNA was on the victim, a blood smear on her bedroom wall and on her bedding. Donohue, who was later convicted of strangling another woman, could not be excluded as the source of the DNA found on and around Girard.
"After Peters' conviction was vacated in 2008, then Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark showed Girard had not been murdered at all, but died from an accidental cocaine overdose."
NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):
"In the early morning hours of February 14, 1993, police were summoned to the Buffalo...home of Lynn Dejac and found the woman's 13-year-old daughter, Crystallyn Girard, dead in her bed.
"Dejac, 30, told police she had spent the night at a wedding reception with a boyfriend, Dennis Donohue, where they had been drinking and using cocaine. She said they had returned home and quarreled and both left. Dejac said she went to a tavern where she spent several hours drinking. She found the girl dead in bed whe she got home.
"An autopsy performed by the Erie County Medical Examiner's office determined the girl was strangled. A small amount of cocaine was detected in the body, but the narcotic was said to have played no role in her death.
"Donohue became a suspect after Dejac said that she believed he had come back to the apartment after their quarrel while she was still gone. He was arrested several days later, but after passing a polygraph examination, he was released. He later was granted full immunity in return for his testimony against Dejac.
"In May 1993, Wayne Hudson , a childhood friend of Dejac told police she had confessed to killing her daughter. At the time, Hudson was facing forgery charges and a possible life sentence in prison as a repeat offender.
"Dejac was arrested on December 10, 1993..."
"Dejac went to trial...in April 1994 and presented no witnesses. Hudson testified that she confessed to him. Donahue testified to their quarrel and night of drinking and drugs."
"In 2007, DNA tests revealed the presence of a man's DNA in skin cells found in a smear of blood on a wall in Crystallyn's bedroom, on bedding and in the vaginal cavity of the girl, who was menstruating at the time."
"On November 28, 2007, Erie County Senior Judge Michael L. D'Amico vacated the conviction and Dejac was released pending a new trial.
"On February 13, 2008, prosecutors disclosed that new autopsy findings showed that Crystallyn died of a cocaine overdose, not strangulation.
"The charges against Dejac were dismissed on February 28, 2008.
"In May 2008, Donohue was convicted of the strangulation murder of Joan Giambra in September 1993. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
"In November 2012, Dejac, who later changed her name to Lynn Peters, settled a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state for $2.7 million. She settled a compensation claim against the State of New York for $2.6 million.
"Dejac was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and died in June 2014."
