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Kenneth Marsh's release marks fourth California Innocence Project victory
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 11, 2004 - The California Innocence Project, a law school clinical program at California Western School of Law in San Diego, has secured the freedom of four men in the last year and a half, three of them in the past four months. Jason Kindle, Adam Riojas, John Stoll, and as of Tuesday Aug. 10, Kenneth Marsh (see description of case below), served a combined 55 years for crimes they didn’t commit.
"All these cases ended with the absolute right result," said Professor Justin Brooks, executive director of the California Innocence Project. "We had faith that each one of these men was 100 percent innocent, and the many hours of work we put in on these cases finally paid off."
The California Innocence Project, as part of the national innocence projects network, is a non-profit program based at California Western School of Law in which law professors and students work to free wrongly convicted prisoners in California. California Western Professor Jan Stiglitz, who has represented inmates in more than 100 appeals, helped create the project because no one in California had the resources to look into claims of innocence. "We know these cases are difficult to win, but we’re the last chance for those wrongfully convicted," Stiglitz said.
"Working on actual cases, and ultimately serving the justice system in California, is an opportunity for a law student that cannot be equaled," said California Western Dean Steven R. Smith. "I am proud that our law students’ work is impacting the lives of so many in such a positive way."
Brooks and Stiglitz founded the project in 2000. Since then they have reviewed the claims of more than 3000 inmates, putting the most time into cases where there is evidence of actual innocence. To exonerate these four men, law professors and students at California Western spent thousands of hours tracking down and re-interviewing witnesses, examining new evidence, filing motions, securing expert witnesses, and advocating in all appropriate forums for the release of the project's clients.
Please read a synopsis of each man’s story below.
Kenneth Marsh, San Diego
Conviction: Second-degree murder on Nov. 28, 1983 - sentenced to 15 years to life
Release: Tuesday, Aug. 10 after nearly 21 years in prison
Kenneth Marsh was convicted in November 1983 of murder in the death of 33-month-old Phillip Buell, who died in March 1983 from a head injury sustained while under Marsh’s care. Although the incident was originally treated as an accident, San Diego prosecutors later charged Marsh with the murder of young Phillip. At trial, the prosecution’s medical experts claimed that the only way Phillip could have sustained the injuries was through abuse. The defense did not bring in experts to refute that testimony and failed to provide evidence that Phillip had a pre-existing bleeding disorder, which exacerbated the impact of his fall.
The California Innocence Project, along with attorney Tracy Emblem, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on Marsh’s behalf in October 2002, seeking a new trial after they uncovered evidence that proved Marsh’s innocence. At the defense’s request, the San Diego District Attorneys Office hired an outside medical expert to review all of the evidence. After reviewing this evidence he was "unable to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt, or to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that [Phillip] was a victim of child abuse." San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis asked the court to grant Marsh’s habeas corpus petition. The D.A. stated that she does not object to his release while awaiting the possibility of a new trial. Marsh was release on Aug. 10.
John Stoll, Bakersfield, Calif.
Conviction: 17 counts of child molestation in September 1985
Released: May 2, 2004 after serving nearly 20 years in prison
John Stoll was convicted of child molestation in one of several infamous Kern County California sex ring prosecutions that took place in the mid-1980s. He was convicted solely on the 1984 testimony of six boys, ages seven to nine - there was no physical evidence presented at trial. After the California Innocence Project, along with the Northern California Innocence Project, took on Stoll’s case they uncovered new evidence and soon were granted an evidentiary hearing. In January 2004, four of the witnesses who testified against Stoll as children recanted their testimony and admitted that the stories of sexual abuse they told as children were lies and that law enforcement officials coerced them into making false allegations against Stoll. At the conclusion of the hearing, Stoll’s conviction was overturned and he was freed after 20 years.
Adam Riojas, Oceanside, Calif.
Conviction: Second-degree murder, 1991
Released: April 26, 2004 after serving 13 years in prison
Adam Riojas of Oceanside, Calif., was convicted of second-degree murder in 1991 for the death of Jose Rodarte in Los Angeles. At trial, Riojas maintained his innocence, asserting that he was at home in Oceanside at the time of the murder, but he was convicted largely based on faulty eyewitness identification. Riojas’s father, Adam Ramirez Riojas Sr., who is physically similar to his son, told family members shortly before his death three years ago that it was he, and not his son, who had actually been involved in the killing. The California Innocence Project appeared on Riojas’ behalf at his parole hearing. At one point a district attorney stated, on the record, that he was "seriously concerned that this inmate may have been wrongfully convicted," after hearing testimony related to Riojas Sr.’s confession. Riojas was released April 26, 2004 after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger chose not to block the unanimous decision of the parole board, which had granted Riojas parole for the second consecutive year.
Jason Kindle, Los Angeles
Conviction: Armed robbery in Oct. 2000, sentenced to 70 years to life for third strike
Released: Feb. 3, 2003
Jason Kindle was convicted of armed robbery for the 1999 robbery of a Los Angeles Office Depot. Kindle, who at the time was a janitor at the Office Depot, was accused of the robbery and convicted, mainly because of a laundry list of store cleaning instructions that was found in his home. Police and the district attorney believed it was robbery to-do list, when in fact the list contained notes Kindle took during a training course with Cover-all Cleaning, his employer. Kindle’s conviction was also based on inaccurate voice recognition testimony. As the California Innocence Project, working with a local Los Angeles attorney, reexamined the evidence presented at trial they discovered a videotape of the robbery that definitively proved that the actual perpetrator was 6’6" - Kindle is a head shorter at 6’. The charges were ultimately dismissed because of this new evidence, and Kindle was released.
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