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Confession allowed in Innocence Project case
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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A Baltimore City judge Tuesday refused to throw out a two-decade-old confession in a murder case in which the state’s Innocence Project alleges the wrong men were convicted.
The ruling by Circuit Judge John Themelis saves the strongest part of prosecutors’ case against James Owens, 48, who was given a new trial after he was convicted of murdering a young woman two decades ago.
His co-defendant, James Thompson, 48, has been denied a new trial, despite recent DNA evidence, that defense attorneys said, clears the men.
“I find no reason whatsoever to deny the state the opportunity to introduce the testimony of Thompson,” Themelis ruled Tuesday.
The two men were convicted of first-degree murder in 1988 in the death of Colleen Williar, 24. On the witness stand, Thompson admitted to burglarizing Williar’s house and masturbating, while Owens beat, raped, stabbed and strangled her.
The two men have remained behind bars despite defense attorneys’ announcement that new DNA results excluded them as the originators of semen on Williar’s body. The attorneys also said a bloodstain on Thompson’s pants came from a man.
“He falsely confessed,” Owens’ attorney Stephen Mercer said of Thompson.
Mercer called to the witness stand Tuesday an expert, Richard Leo, who reviewed Thompson’s confession and found it unreliable.
“Mr. Thompson got a lot of facts wrong,” Leo said of his statement. “He doesn’t demonstrate actual or probative knowledge” of the crime.
Leo said most of Thompson’s confession is proven incorrect by either DNA evidence or police reports.
Themelis is expected to rule today on whether Mercer can order the testing of a DNA sample from a convicted felon he believes might be involved with the crime.
lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com
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4:42 AM MST on Wed., Jul. 16, 2008 re: "Confession allowed in Innocence Project case"
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The Undertaker said:
This is disappointing.
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