Cornelius Dupree

Last updated
Cornelius Dupree Jr.
Born (1959-09-22) September 22, 1959 (age 64)
CitizenshipUnited States
Known for Miscarriage of justice
Criminal charge Robbery – 1979
Criminal penalty75 years imprisonment
Criminal status Paroled – Summer 2010
Exonerated – January 2011
SpouseSelma Perkins Dupree

Cornelius Dupree Jr. (born September 22, 1959) is an American who was declared innocent of a 1980 conviction for aggravated robbery, which was alleged to have been committed during a rape in 1979.[ citation needed ] He was paroled in July 2010 after serving 30 years of a 75-year prison sentence in Texas. Prosecutors cleared him of the crime after a test of his DNA profile did not match traces of semen evidence from the case. [1] Dupree, who was represented by the Innocence Project, spent more time in prison in Texas than any other inmate who was eventually exonerated by DNA evidence. [2]

Contents

Rape and robbery case

On November 23, 1979, a 26-year-old woman and a male companion were the victims of a carjacking after visiting a liquor store in Dallas, Texas. [3] The abductors drove the woman to a park nearby, where they raped her. The perpetrators decided not to kill her, but kept her rabbit fur coat. About two days later, two men were seen trying to sell the coat at a grocery store two miles away. The victims' car was found in the parking lot. Dupree and Anthony Massingill were arrested the following month because they resembled suspects from a different sexual assault and robbery case. However, Dupree did not match the description of the perpetrators of the November carjacking. [4]

Trial and appeals

The 26-year-old victim picked out Dupree and Massingill from a police lineup, but her male companion did not. Dupree was charged with armed robbery and rape, but was never tried on the rape charge. In 1980, he was convicted and sentenced to 75 years in prison for aggravated robbery. Three of Dupree's appeals were rejected by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Two of the appeals were denied because he refused to admit to being a sex offender. [5] He declined early release in 2004 in exchange for attending a treatment program for offenders because he felt it would have amounted to admitting guilt. [3] Dupree later said, "Whatever your truth is, you have to stick with it." [5]

Dupree continued to write letters to people and organizations around the state in his bid to prove his innocence. [6]

Exoneration

In 2006, the Innocence Project took Dupree's case and carried out a forensic examination of the case evidence in 2010. He was represented by a legal team that included project co-founder Barry Scheck. [7] Dupree was paroled in July 2010 and married his longtime fiancée Selma Perkins the day after his release. [5] Soon afterwards, test results indicated that the evidence contained DNA from two men, neither of whom were Dupree or Massingill. [3] Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins stated, "Our Conviction Integrity Unit thoroughly reinvestigated this case, tested the biological evidence and based on the results, concluded Cornelius Dupree did not commit this crime." [8] Under the Tim Cole Compensation Act of Texas, the strongest compensation legislation in the United States, Dupree is entitled to $80,000 for every year in prison, which amounts to $2.4 million, plus a lifetime annuity. The money can be received in a lump sum and is not subject to federal income tax. [7] Massingill was also absolved of the 1979 crime, but remains in prison on a different sexual assault conviction that is also being contested. [9]

Between 2001 and 2011, 41 wrongly convicted prisoners were freed in the state of Texas through DNA testing, more than in any other state. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. The group cites various studies estimating that in the United States between 1% and 10% of all prisoners are innocent. The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld who gained national attention in the mid-1990s as part of the "Dream Team" of lawyers who formed part of the defense in the O. J. Simpson murder case.

Kerry Max Cook is an American former death row inmate who was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 21-year-old Linda Jo Edwards in 1977. On June 19, 2024, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals determined that he was actually innocent, citing a litany of prosecutorial misconduct and errors.

Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment. Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by opponents of capital punishment, while proponents say that the argument of innocence concerns the credibility of the justice system as a whole and does not solely undermine the use of the death penalty.

The Georgia Innocence Project is a non-profit corporation based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Its mission "is to free the wrongly prosecuted through DNA testing, to advance practices that minimize the chances that others suffer the same fate, to educate the public that wrongful convictions are not rare or isolated events, and to help the exonerated rebuild their lives."

Richard Alexander is an Indiana man who was wrongfully convicted of rape and later exonerated by DNA evidence. Years later, on September 17, 2020, Alexander was charged with the murder of Catherine Minix, who was found stabbed to death. Minix had previously filed a protective order against Alexander for domestic violence.

This is a list of notable overturned convictions in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Watkins</span> American lawyer, district attorney (1967–2023)

Craig Marcus Watkins was an American lawyer who was the district attorney for Dallas County, Texas from 2007 to 2015. He became the first elected African-American district attorney in Texas when he was elected in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Cole</span> American victim of miscarriage of justice

Timothy Brian Cole was an American military veteran and a Texas Tech University student wrongfully convicted of raping a fellow student in 1985.

Anthony Massingill is an American who was convicted in a Dallas, Texas court of a 1979 rape and robbery for which recent DNA test results support his claim of innocence. He was jointly convicted in the case along with Cornelius Dupree who was on January 4, 2011, fully exonerated of the charges. Massingill is being represented by the Texas Wesleyan Innocence Project and is likely to be cleared at a later hearing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Morton (criminal justice)</span> American wrongly convicted of murder

Michael Morton is an American who was wrongfully convicted in 1987 in a Williamson County, Texas court of the 1986 murder of his wife Christine Morton. He spent nearly 25 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA evidence which supported his claim of innocence and pointed to the crime being committed by another individual. Morton was released from prison on October 4, 2011, and another man, Mark Alan Norwood, was convicted of the murder in 2013. The prosecutor in the case, Ken Anderson, was convicted of contempt of court for withholding evidence after the judge had ordered its release to the defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarence Elkins</span> American wrongfully convicted for murder and rape

Clarence Arnold Elkins Sr. is an American man who was wrongfully convicted of the 1998 rape and murder of his mother-in-law, Judith Johnson, and the rape and assault of his wife's niece, Brooke Sutton. He was convicted solely on the basis of the testimony of his wife's six-year-old niece who testified that Elkins was the perpetrator.

This is a list of notable overturned convictions in Canada.

The innocent prisoner's dilemma, or parole deal, is a detrimental effect of a legal system in which admission of guilt can result in reduced sentences or early parole. When an innocent person is wrongly convicted of a crime, legal systems which need the individual to admit guilt — as, for example, a prerequisite step leading to parole — punish an innocent person for their integrity, and reward a person lacking in integrity. There have been cases where innocent prisoners were given the choice between freedom, in exchange for claiming guilt, and remaining imprisoned and telling the truth. Individuals have died in prison rather than admit to crimes that they did not commit.

The Illinois Innocence Project, a member of the national Innocence Project network, is a non-profit legal organization that works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people and reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Innocence Project</span> American legal non-profit organization

The California Innocence Project is a non-profit based at California Western School of Law in San Diego, California, United States, which provides pro bono legal services to individuals who maintain their factual innocence of crime(s) for which they have been convicted. It is an independent chapter of the Innocence Project. Its mission is to exonerate wrongly convicted inmates through the use of DNA and other evidences.

Lewis "Jim" Fogle is an American man who was wrongly convicted in 1982 for the murder of a 15-year-old girl. Fogle's conviction was vacated on DNA evidence in 2015, after he was forced to spend 34 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Semanchik</span> American wrongful conviction advocate

Michael "Mike" Semanchik is the Executive Director of The Innocence Center (TIC) and former Managing Attorney at the California Innocence Project (CIP). As part of his work with CIP, he has been involved in many cases involving the exoneration of previously convicted prisoners, working closely with the organization's director, Justin Brooks, and also preparing petitions for many of CIP's clients. After working at CIP while still a law student at California Western School of Law, following graduation in 2010 he became an investigator and then a staff attorney there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alissa Bjerkhoel</span> American wrongful conviction advocate

Alissa Leanne Bjerkhoel is an American litigation coordinator at the California Innocence Project (CIP), a law school clinic that investigates cases of factual innocence while training law students. Bjerkhoel was born in Truckee, California, and later graduated from California Western School of Law (CWSL) after previously obtaining a B.A. degree She has been an attorney with CIP since 2008. Bjerkhoel has served as counsel for CIP on numerous criminal cases, and achieved the legal exoneration of a number of convicted prisoners. Bjerkhoel serves as CIP's in-house DNA expert and also serves as a panel attorney with the nonprofit law firms Appellate Defenders, Inc. (ADI) and Sixth District Appellate Program (SDAP). She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Bjerkhoel has won a number of awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Clutter</span> American wrongful conviction advocate

Bill Clutter is an American private investigator, wrongful conviction advocate, and author. He is the co-founder of the Illinois Innocence Project and founder of the national wrongful conviction organization Investigating Innocence. His work on the Donaldson v. Central Illinois Public Service Company case led him to write the book Coal Tar: How Corrupt Politics and Corporate Greed Are Killing America's Children, which is the story of an epidemic of neuroblastoma in Taylorville, Illinois, caused by exposure to coal tar.

References

  1. ↑ McKinley Jr., James C. (January 3, 2011). "Texas: DNA Evidence Clears Man After 30 Years". The New York Times . Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  2. ↑ Emily, Jennifer (January 3, 2011). "Dallas County man cleared in 1979 robbery, rape will be Texas' longest-serving exoneree". The Dallas Morning News . Archived from the original on January 6, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Robinson, Eugene (January 7, 2011). "A test of DNA and courage". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  4. ↑ "DNA Clears Texas Man Who Spent 30 Years In Prison". National Public Radio. Associated Press. January 3, 2011. Archived from the original on January 5, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Gardner, David (January 4, 2011). "Texan declared innocent after 30 years in prison". NBC News . Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
  6. ↑ "DNA restores man's freedom". Dallas: WMBF News. January 5, 2011. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  7. 1 2 "Texan Declared Innocent After 30 Years In Prison". National Public Radio. Associated Press. January 4, 2011. Archived from the original on January 8, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  8. ↑ Carlton, Jeff (January 3, 2011). "Man who spent 30 years in jail for armed robbery is finally proved innocent after DNA test". AOL News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on January 6, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  9. ↑ Emily, Jennifer (January 4, 2011). "DNA clears US man Cornelius Dupree Jr after 30 years in jail". Herald Sun . Melbourne. Associated Press . Retrieved January 4, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.