Joseph abbitt
Joseph Lamont Abbitt was exonerated on September 2, 2009 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after serving 14 years in prison for two rapes he didn't commit. He was convicted based in part on eyewitness misidentifications.
The Crime In the early morning of May 2, 1991, two sisters, ages 13 and 16, awoke in their Winston-Salem, North Carolina, home to get ready for school only to discover an intruder had entered their home 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 over an hour before leaving. The Investigation and Identification 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 warrant 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. The Trial 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 identifications 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. The Post-Conviction Appeals and Exoneration In 2005, Abbitt applied to The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence for assistance with his case. The organization accepted his case and began to search 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 kit, 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. He was set free and officially exonerated on September 2, 2009, after serving 14 years in prison for crimes he didn't commit. Summary courtesy of the Innocence Project,http://www.innocenceproject.org/. Reproduced with permission. |
County: Forsyth
Most Serious Crime: Child Sex Abuse Additional Convictions: Sexual Assault, Kidnapping, Burglary/Unlawful Entry Reported Crime Date: 1991 Convicted: 1995 Exonerated: 2009 Sentence: Life Race: Black Sex: Male Age: 31 Contributing Factors: Mistaken Witness ID Did DNA evidence contribute to the exoneration?: Yes |
Press coverage
(September 8, 2009) “An Injustice Righted with Help of DNA” The Greensboro News and Record. Retrieved from <infoweb.newsbank.com>
When Joseph Abbitt walked out of a Forsyth County courtroom last week as a free man, he joined six other wrongly convicted state prisoners exonerated by DNA evidence. Nationwide, the total is 241 since more sophisticated testing became available.
Witnesses had misidentified three quarters of them, including Abbitt. Honest human error is unavoidable, but how victims are asked to identify suspects, particularly in lineups, often is flawed. For some, it's a process of elimination. For others, pressure from police to make a choice.
An updated state law requiring that physical evidence be preserved in case new information surfaces is a move in the right direction. But that may be of little comfort to the wrongly convicted denied access to material relevant to an appeal because it has been destroyed or can't be found.
Abbitt's case bears a striking resemblance to those of Darryl Hunt and Ronald Cotton, whose convictions also were overturned. Both were freed after DNA tests showed they couldn't have committed the crimes for which they were imprisoned. Hunt, of Winston-Salem, served 19 years behind bars for a 1984 murder and rape that he always maintained he didn't commit. In his case, the real perpetrator eventually confessed. Much the same for Cotton of Mebane, who had served 11 years of a 50-year term. Following a series of frustrating appeals, the verdict was overturned.
The first step to finding delayed justice is admitting mistakes happen. In the aftermath of the high-profile Hunt case, Forsyth District Attorney Tom Keith's office mailed letters to the hundreds of inmates in state prisons from his county advising that they could pursue now-available DNA testing. Of the responses, only Abbitt's was taken on by the N.C. Center for Actual Innocence, a nonprofit group that helps inmates who believe they were wrongly convicted.
But the job is only half-finished. The person who raped the two teenaged sisters 14 years ago has gone unpunished. There won't be finality until the real perpetrator is caught. Abbitt, 49, emerged as a reasonable suspect. He'd previously been convicted of a sex-related crime. Circumstantial evidence pointed in his direction. But, in fact, he was innocent.
Justice is an inexact science but more safeguards are needed to see that it isn't compromised. Greater reliance on scientific advances and less-biased suspect identification are good starting points. As in the cases of Cotton and Hunt before him, the state will compensate Abbitt for his years in prison. However, no amount of money can make up for such a miscarriage of justice.
When Joseph Abbitt walked out of a Forsyth County courtroom last week as a free man, he joined six other wrongly convicted state prisoners exonerated by DNA evidence. Nationwide, the total is 241 since more sophisticated testing became available.
Witnesses had misidentified three quarters of them, including Abbitt. Honest human error is unavoidable, but how victims are asked to identify suspects, particularly in lineups, often is flawed. For some, it's a process of elimination. For others, pressure from police to make a choice.
An updated state law requiring that physical evidence be preserved in case new information surfaces is a move in the right direction. But that may be of little comfort to the wrongly convicted denied access to material relevant to an appeal because it has been destroyed or can't be found.
Abbitt's case bears a striking resemblance to those of Darryl Hunt and Ronald Cotton, whose convictions also were overturned. Both were freed after DNA tests showed they couldn't have committed the crimes for which they were imprisoned. Hunt, of Winston-Salem, served 19 years behind bars for a 1984 murder and rape that he always maintained he didn't commit. In his case, the real perpetrator eventually confessed. Much the same for Cotton of Mebane, who had served 11 years of a 50-year term. Following a series of frustrating appeals, the verdict was overturned.
The first step to finding delayed justice is admitting mistakes happen. In the aftermath of the high-profile Hunt case, Forsyth District Attorney Tom Keith's office mailed letters to the hundreds of inmates in state prisons from his county advising that they could pursue now-available DNA testing. Of the responses, only Abbitt's was taken on by the N.C. Center for Actual Innocence, a nonprofit group that helps inmates who believe they were wrongly convicted.
But the job is only half-finished. The person who raped the two teenaged sisters 14 years ago has gone unpunished. There won't be finality until the real perpetrator is caught. Abbitt, 49, emerged as a reasonable suspect. He'd previously been convicted of a sex-related crime. Circumstantial evidence pointed in his direction. But, in fact, he was innocent.
Justice is an inexact science but more safeguards are needed to see that it isn't compromised. Greater reliance on scientific advances and less-biased suspect identification are good starting points. As in the cases of Cotton and Hunt before him, the state will compensate Abbitt for his years in prison. However, no amount of money can make up for such a miscarriage of justice.