The Innocence Network, 2023
Alan Newton claims to be a victim of a miscarriage of justice. Vanessa Podkin works at the Innocence Project in New York; she agreed to defend him. The Innocence Network, 2023
June 23rd 1984: ‘A woman in the Bronx was sexually assaulted; in the middle of the night she had gone to the neighbourhood store … A man grabbed her, pulled her into a car, took her to two different locations where he raped her, and it was a very brutal crime; he also cut her eye and blinded her in one eye during the attack.’ ibid. Vanessa
‘His photograph was kept by the police … Any encounter with the police no matter how small then puts you at great risk for a wrongful conviction.’
‘None of us knew how to drive at the time.’ ibid. friend
The charges were based solely on two eyewitness accounts – the victim and the employee of the store in front of which the victim was abducted. ibid.
‘Even at the time there was reason to question those identifications.’ ibid. Vanessa
Despite the prosecution’s weak case, on May 31st 1985 Alan was sentenced to 40 years in prison. ibid.
DNA testing: ‘They’re saying that the evidence doesn’t exist’ … The tests on the clothes led nowhere … Monday November 7th found the kit! – that is amazing!’ ibid.
June 14th 2006: the DNA tests finally arrived: ‘Alan Newton is excluded as a contributor to the mixture of DNA …’ ibid.