Georgia Man Was Falsely Imprisoned for 17 Months Due to Mistaken Fingerprints
Fingerprints are considered to be insurmountable evidence. However, in the case of a convicted Georgia man, a routine check of the supposed offender’s identification revealed the huge mismatch: his fingerprints were inaccurately identified as those of a criminal, and he had, consequently, been falsely Imprisoned for 17 months for a robbery that he didn’t commit. The question then is simple: Is $145,000 enough to compensate for a wrongful conviction? Many would believe it is, especially for a period of a mere 17 months. Perhaps it has brought the formerly-guilty-incarcerated-but-now-innocent-and-free man a little sense of justice.
The Georgia resident served 17 long months in Rikers Island, a sentence that still haunts him like a bad dream. According to an article, the man reportedly described it with a relatively jarring perspective. “It’s just a nightmare knowing that someone innocent can be picked up off the street and held.”
These recent events undoubtedly raise many questions as to how such a false conviction could take place. According to the report, the falsely accused and incarcerated man was in Atlanta, a full 880 miles away from Howard Beach, where the robbery took place. He was arrested for the crime nearly a year after it was committed when a partial index fingerprint has supposedly deemed a match to the man’s own fingerprint that had previously been collected in Brooklyn during a traffic violation and arrest for driving with a suspended license.
Needless to say, there are many complexities surrounding the grounds for an arrest, and several determining factors that need to be taken into consideration before an individual is declared guilty of a crime. Although law enforcement performs many great services to the public, they are not immune to making mistakes. If you have been charged with any kind of theft offense in New York, experienced New York theft defense attorneys can investigate your case to ensure that your rights were not violated during your arrest and will not be infringed upon during your criminal trial.