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It was a frighteningly close call for Charles Tubbins. The 23-year-old Buffalo man was already charged with murder and indicted by a grand jury for a crime he did not commit. All that was required for a wholesale miscarriage of justice was for the plea negotiations to begin, presenting Tubbins with the horrifying options of standing trial or admitting to a crime he didn't commit in hopes of a lesser sentence. It didn't come to that because DNA evidence found at the crime scene exonerated Tubbins and implicated another man, Ahkeem R. Huffman. To his credit, Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita moved quickly to dismiss the charges, but the case raises the same issues that have led to lengthy prison sentences for other innocent people in Erie County - issues of which law enforcement and the State Legislature are fully aware, but haven't seen fit to address. Tubbins was ensnared by the same human error that put Anthony Capozzi in prison for rapes he did not commit: witness misidentification. Eyewitness testimony was the only evidence against Tubbins, who, his lawyer noted, has no prior criminal convictions, no history of violence, no prior felony or misdemeanor.

Phillipa Alice Costello Original Article06/25/2013Phillipa Alice Costello, aged 28-years, from Ivy House in Dishforth near Thirsk, has been sentenced by Teeside Crown Court to 8-months imprisonment for perverting the course of justice. On 12 Ap...

The male summer camp student who reported a man attempted to rape him on the Iowa City pedestrian mall in the middle of the afternoon last week made up the story, police said Wednesday. The Iowa City Police Department is not filing charges against the juvenile. The department also is not releasing his name, as it doesn't identify juveniles. He was attending a summer camp at the University of Iowa, but left Iowa City after reporting the attack on July 15. The alleged victim was taken to the hospital last Monday after he reported being attacked around 1 p.m. in an alley off of the pedestrian mall. He told police his assailant was a slender white male, about six foot three inches tall.

"Natasha Foster, from the Ballymoney Road in the Co Antrim town, was said by her defence to be "a woman scorned" when she appeared before Antrim Crown Court on Friday. Her lawyer Michael Smith told Judge Desmond Marrinan that the false accusation had been made out of "anger and revenge". He explained that Foster had desperately wanted to get back with a former lover and had consensual sex with him. But he later texted her saying that he was not interested in getting back into a relationship. The lawyer told the court: "After he sent the text, she was distraught and hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." He further revealed that Foster later went to her doctor and admitted that she was a "compulsive liar" and that she was prescribed medication."

A man who spent 20 years in prison before being cleared of rape and murder charges by DNA evidence has won an initial battle in his bid to hold Lake County police and prosecutors financially responsible. Ruling on motions to dismiss Juan Rivera's lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber let almost every allegation in the suit go forward. The ruling allows Rivera to keep trying to hold prosecutors liable for his ordeal. A successful lawsuit against prosecutors is rare because they enjoy broad legal immunity, experts said. Leinenweber also declined to dismiss a defamation claim, meaning authorities could still be liable for publicly insisting on Rivera's guilt even after DNA indicated he didn't kill 11-year-old Holly Staker in Waukegan in 1992. At issue are quotes from police and a prosecutor reported in the media, including an officer's assertion, reported by The New York Times shortly before Rivera was freed, that he was "guilty as the day is long."

"A postman who has served 17 years in prison for an attempted rape he has always denied has walked free after DNA evidence was heard at the Appeal Court. Victor Nealon, 53, was living in Redditch, Worcestershire, when he was convicted of attacking a woman in January 1997 and jailed for life. New DNA evidence revealed the presence of another man's genetic material, three Appeal Court judges were told. Mr Nealon's barrister said the evidence was "dynamite" for his client."

Police say a woman has recanted her claim of being raped by a hitchhiker she picked up in Douglas County on Saturday. The investigation determined the woman's statement couldn't be supported and she then admitted making a false report of the sexual assault, according to a news release from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. The 32-year-old woman originally said she picked up a man who was hitchhiking while she was driving between Arcola and Mattoon Saturday afternoon. According to the sheriff's office, she said she had the man sit in her vehicle's back seat because the front was full packages. Then, she said, he put a rope around her neck and began to strangle her, then ordered her to stop in a location between two grain bins where the attack took place.

For Caleb Warner, weekends still revolve around sports and hanging out with his friends. But life hasn't been so carefree in the four years since he met a young woman. "We met at a party," Warner told America Tonight. "And, I don't know, we just kinda made eye contact. And, you know, one thing led to another." On Dec. 13, 2009, Warner, then a junior at the University of North Dakota, attended a party thrown by his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta. There, he met a freshman who caught his eye. They played beer pong in the basement of the fraternity house, later making out. Soon after that, they would head into a side room to have sex. When they were done, Warner says they exchanged numbers and went their separate ways. "I liked her," Warner said. "She was, she was fun. She was a fun person to hang out with."

A FALSE claim of rape by a Ramsgate teenager was "a cry for help" according to her mother. The 19-year-old made the allegation that she had been a victim of sexual assault in Boundary Park at 2am last Friday. Police cordoned off the park and had forensic officers on the scene following the claim and put out an appeal to find the "suspect," described as aged between 40 and 45, 6ft tall, of large build and with wrinkles on his face, particularly around the cheeks. But the following evening police said they were no longer appealing for information and revealed the woman who had made the allegation had been formally cautioned for wasting police time.

Original ArticleIf he was exonerated, then isn't the crime in which he was accused of off his record? If so, why did the police think he was unregistered when he didn't need to in the first place?10/28/2013By Cynthia Dizikes A man who was exoner...

HAMPTON -- The woman who was at the center of the case of a wrongly-convicted man was in Hampton District Court Tuesday on a perjury charge. Elizabeth Coast waived her right to a preliminary trial for felony perjury charges. It will now go to the Grand Jury to be certified for trial. Coast recanted her sexual assault allegation against Johnathon Montgomery, saying she lied at the 2008 trial to avoid scrutiny by her parents after she was caught looking for sexually explicit websites. Governor Bob McDonnell issued a conditional pardon for Montgomery in November, 2012 and ordered his immediate release from the prison. Montgomery spent 4 years in Greensville Correctional Center after being wrongfully convicted.

I am a feminist. I have marched at the barricades, subscribed to Ms. magazine, and knocked on many a door in support of progressive candidates committed to women's rights. Until a month ago, I would have expressed unqualified support for Title IX and for the Violence Against Women Act. But that was before my son, a senior at a small liberal-arts college in New England, was charged-by an ex-girlfriend-with alleged acts of "nonconsensual sex" that supposedly occurred during the course of their relationship a few years earlier. What followed was a nightmare-a fall through Alice's looking-glass into a world that I could not possibly have believed existed, least of all behind the ivy-covered walls thought to protect an ostensible dedication to enlightenment and intellectual betterment. It began with a text of desperation. "CALL ME. URGENT. NOW."

HAMPTON - A woman who falsely accused a Hampton man of sex crimes pleaded guilty Tuesday morning. Elizabeth Coast faces up to 10 years in prison for perjury when she's sentenced on August 19. During her the trial in June 2008, she said Johnathon Montgomery forced her to perform oral sex. He was convicted and sent to prison. He was released just before Thanksgiving 2012 after more than four years behind bars after Coast admitted she lied to avoid scrutiny by her parents after she was caught looking for sexually explicit websites. Governor Bob McDonnell issued a conditional pardon for Montgomery and ordered his immediate release. The prosecution said Coast confessed to a police officer friend that she lied and added the she and Montgomery had never done anything.

A Myrtle Beach woman was ordered to serve five years on probation for filing false police report regarding a sexual assault in February 2010, according to police. Janelle Martinez, 24, pleaded guilty June 10 of this year to filing a false police report and was sentenced to five years in prison, but that sentence was suspended upon her service of five years on probation, according to Myrtle Beach police. Officers were called February 6, 2010 by Martinez who said she was the victim of a kidnapping and sexual assault by three men in a hotel room at the Patricia Grand Resort, according to a police report. Martinez told police the men held her down while one of them sexually assaulted her. Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2011/06/24/2239799/myrtle-beach-woman-guilty-of-false.html#storylink=cpy

Keeley Horrocks, 20, of Grant Street, Burnley, admitted perverting the course of justice when she appeared at Bolton Crown Court. Horrocks reported the incident in January 2010, which led to the arrest of the man. Det Con Chris Whalley said that Horrock

An "irresponsible and wicked" woman was jailed for three years today after she slashed her body, hair and clothing to convince police she was the victim of a serious sexual assault. A judge told Leyla Ibrahim, 22, she was dishonest from "first to last" a

A woman who claimed a taxi driver sexually assaulted her at knifepoint in his cab has been jailed after he used a recording application on his smartphone to expose her lies. Astria Berwick, 27, slashed herself in the face with a knife in an effort to convince police that she had been attacked and groped by Mohammed Asif. The driver was arrested within three hours and taken to a police station in handcuffs.

A teenager could face police action after making false allegations of sexual assault. Several Surrey Police units descended on the Cox Lane area of Ewell following allegations of a serious sexual assault between 6am-7am on Sunday.

A teenager who claimed to have been seriously sexually assaulted in Ewell yesterday has admitted that she fabricated the story, police have announced. Police units rushed to the Cox Lane area of Ewell where the incident was said to have occurred between 6am and 6.30am on Sunday, June 30. It had been reported to them by a third party at 6.45am after a woman in her late teens was found in a distressed state.

Original Article08/28/2013By JORDAN MICHAEL SMITH On a summer day in 1980, 19-year-old Andre Davis stepped off a train 125 miles south of his native Chicago. He expected his visit would last the summer. Little did he know he wouldn't return home...