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Dona McAdams started photographing "The Face of Innocence" because
of her interest in social issues and incarceration and release as
a result of science. She conducts participatory photography workshops
with New York City mental health and homeless populations, teaches
photography at The Point in the South Bronx, and has authored two
books: Caught in the Act, a book of performance photographs,
and The Garden of Eden, about people living with schizophrenia.
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| WILLIAM
HARRIS
was a talented young athlete, with college scholarships and a bright
future ahead of him. Harris' promising future collapsed in December
1984, when a young woman was sexually assaulted near her home in Rand,
West Virginia. Based in large part upon the questionable forensic
science of police serologist Fred Zain, Harris was charged with the
crime and sentenced to 10 to 20 years in the maximum security West
Virginia Penitentiary. |
LARRY
HOLDREN
as charged with six counts of sexual assault in December 1982, when
a woman who was jogging along a boulevard in Charleston, West Virginia,
was dragged into a culvert and repeatedly assaulted. Holdren was convicted
upon the eyewitness testimony of the victim and the eyewitness testimony
of an off-duty FBI agent, who testified that he was nearby and observed
a person he identified as Holdren near the scene of the crime. Holdren
was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in the West Virginia Penitentiary.
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JIM
RICHARDSON
returned to his home in Cross Lanes, West Virginia, late one night
in May 1988. As he climbed his porch steps, he smelled smoke and noticed
his neighbor's house bursting into flames. He kicked open the neighbor's
door and rescued a three-year-old child from the flames. When the
fire was extinguished, the body of the child's mother was found in
the charred ruins. The victim had been bound and gagged, and sexually
assaulted. When State Police serologist Fred Zain claimed to have
found Jim's genetic markers in the sexual assault fluids, Richardson
was transformed from hero to villain. He was charged and convicted
of rape, murder and arson, and sentenced to life imprisonment without
the possibility of parole. |
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GEORGE
CASTELLE is the Chief Public Defender in Charleston,
West Virginia and represented the three individuals described here.
A 1993 investigation commissioned by the West Virginia Supreme Court
resulted in a finding of fraud in every case handled by State Trooper
Fred Zain where there was sufficient evidence left to review. Castelle
continues to work to expose questionable forensic police practices
that lead to the conviction and imprisonment of innocent individuals.
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RESOLUTION
OF THE CASE:
Harris was freed when the remaining sexual assault evidence was
tested for DNA. The DNA results cleared Harris of all charges.
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RESOLUTION
OF THE CASE:
Holdren was released after 15 years in prison when DNA testing of
the sexual assault fluids conclusively proved that he had not committed
the crime. |
RESOLUTION
OF THE CASE:
Richardson was freed when DNA testing of the remaining crime scene
evidence failed to connect him in any way to the crime. |
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