The ripple of the Walter E. Ellis case has reached far and wide over the last few months. Ellis was charged in September with allegedly killing seven Milwaukee prostitutes. That led to a discovery that Ellis had an inmate give DNA in his name in 2001. That fact would have been shocking enough, but as prosecutors started building their case they realized that at least 12,000 DNA samples were missing from the state's database.
Click to View a Timeline of Events Involved with the Walter E. Ellis Case
As a result, old cases were opened, and three Milwaukee men were found to have been wrongfully convicted of crimes that Ellis allegedly committed. Ellis' DNA was found at each crime scene.
Three Milwaukee Men Were Released or Acquitted in Cases as a Result of New DNA Testing and Evidence
Curtis McCoy was acquitted in a homicide, Chaunte Ott was convicted and spent 13 years in prison before being released last year, and just yesterday it was announced that William D. Avery will be released as well.
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced that 2,100 homicide cases going back to 1992 will be investigated further to see if new DNA testing "could either confirm or cast doubt upon the defendant's guilt." This review will involve Milwaukee prosecutors and other criminal experts, and should take three to four months.
The Review of 2,100 Cases Could Free the Wrongfully Accused
This review is crucial because in some convictions, it could mean that the wrong inmate is doing time. While DNA evidence may have been taken during the original investigation for some cases, there might not have been a confirmation on the identity of the DNA, meaning that it didn't rule out the person convicted. Such was the case with Avery, who is due back in court in September. Prosecutors will look at his case along with thousands of others.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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